Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or Sailor Moon. Any ficcer worth their salt knows Rumiko Takahashi and Naoko Takeuchi own them, respectively ;).
Thanks for the reviews! They help me work on this fic, even through college. Basically, the initial story elements with Akane and stuff were more status quo. If I wanted to make Akane look bad, Ranma would be a little different in personality and be severely negatively affected by her actions. As it is, they don't really do anything in the long run. Still, thanks for the kick in the pants Spanner. It made me think a bit, which I believe helped a lot :)
Glomp: Pretty much a powerful hug. It's what Shampoo always does to Ranma. Happosai does it to women's chests. In the manga, it usually says glomp in the background whenever it happens.
Thanks to my pre readers who I forgot to mention last chapter: Kuno Baby and Ranger5.
Formatting might be a little mashed. Unfortunately, I can't seem to quick edit the stupid thing, and since it won't take my .doc files, I have to use .txt, which ffnet does weird things to
Chapter 5 -----------------------
Elion almost suffered a bout of evil laughter. He tried to resist, and ended up cackling manically. He was observing the flows of energy in Nerima, and Elion felt that now was the time for him to come back from his defeats.
"There are many powerful energy flows. However, a lot of them seem to run on negative power. It's going to be dangerous, but I should be able to deal with this." Elion said, smirking. He began floating down towards his target. It wouldn't have surprised any of the denizens of Nerima that one of the greatest focuses of negative emotions in Nerima was the Tendo dojo. "There are two great powers at this location... both definitely of the kind that I need. This shouldn't be too hard."
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Ranma-chan was running along the fence, trying to get back to the dojo before Makoto left. Makoto, however, was running along the ground in a parallel street, trying to get back to where Ranma had landed. Due to their focus on the point of arrival instead of the path they were taking they completely missed each other.
What neither of them missed, however, was a sense of darkness, of emotions twisted and warped from the "normal" balance that all people had, to something far worse.
Ranma skidded to a halt, her body tensing. She had felt this power before, possessed by the being known as Elion. "He's coming here? I can sense him ahead. Is he... at the dojo? If he's hurt anybody..." Ranma growled. Ranma catapulted from the fence, landing on the roof of one of the ever-present houses. Like a rabbit, she was off, bouncing from building to building in long effortless leaps.
Makoto, whose ki senses weren't nearly as developed, still felt a sudden flash of despair, coming from the Dojo she had just left. The sudden "wrongness" caused her to stop in her tracks.
'What is this feeling?' Makoto wondered to herself, before frowning. 'It feels so heavy, like it is weighing on my soul.'
Makoto backed up against the wall of a house, opening her communicator, and quickly hailed the other Senshi. In less than a minute their faces appeared inside the wrist communicator.
"Guys, I can't be sure, but I think there is something happening in Nerima." Makoto said anxiously.
"Yeah, Rei says she feels something powerful and evil. She says it feels just like that Elion guy we fought." Usagi said over the communicator. However, the voice sounded a little loud. With a twitch in her eye, Makoto went to the other side of the wall.
Backed up against the wall, with big sweat drops on their heads, stood the other five Sailor Senshi in civilian garb, their communicators open. They closed the communicators, chuckling nervously.
"You guys were going to spy on me..." Makoto said dangerously to them.
"Well, can you blame us?" Usagi asked sweating. Ami had buried her face in her hands while Rei and Minako shook their heads. Chibi-Usa put on a face of innocence.
Makoto sighed. "At least you guys are here." Makoto said. She turned to Rei. "You've felt Elion's presence?"
Rei nodded. "His aura is pretty strong and distinctive. Even more so when he is actively using his power. He is up to something. We don't have much time." Rei said, pulling out her henshin wand. The others nodded and pulled theirs out as well.
-
Elion floated to the ground, and with a casual, nearly flippant gesture tore down the door to the Tendo dojo. The sliding pane crashed inwards while Elion held up his hand, pulsing with dark power. He stepped inside, small trails of darkness being left behind his boots.
"Who are you!?" Akane yelled at Elion as she came into the den from the kitchen. As she saw Elion however, she took a step backwards. "What are you?" She asked, fearful. Something was very off about this man. His aura indicated that he was no martial artist she was familiar with, the pulsing blackness something Akane had never seen before.
"Don't worry my dear. I merely want your energy." Elion said. He smirked as he held up his hand, pointing his finger at Akane.
Akane growled. "You want my what?" She asked. Her response to the intrusion was to reach for the emotion that had pulled her though so many of the trials in her life. She reached for the comforting fire that was her anger. Like a well-trained steed the emotion responded and anger flooded her being as she leapt forward, her fists quickly flying forward with deadly intent. However, Elion simply released the coil of darkness he had been holding on his fingertips. The blacked stream flew forward, impacting with Akane's body. Akane collapsed to the ground as streams of energy started flowing out of her.
"Such anger and power. This will certainly create a fine gath... what the hell?!" Elion asked, shocked. The streams of energy had swirled around and coalesced, forming themselves into the shape of an extraordinarily beautiful woman. She had long, purple hair with twin buns in the top, tied into a pigtail at the back. She wore a spatula strapped to a shoulder harness, and wore a simple chef's uniform. Small, upswept parts of her uniform seemed to form themselves into miniature horns, and the coloration of her skin was oddly red.
The gatherer's appearance was not what had shocked Elion, however. What shocked him, was that as soon as the gatherer formed it had immediately fallen to the ground, and sat there with a blank expression.
"What are you doing? Get up!" Elion yelled at it. The beautiful woman simply stared at him. "You good for nothing!" Elion berated it. Its eyes flashed and it suddenly stood, glaring at him. Elion took a step back. However, she didn't make any moves, and seemed content to stare at Elion, her eyes boring into him.
Elion grimaced. "Not exactly what I anticipated. But I think I can work around this. Follow me, you stupid thing." Elion told her. The gatherer's eyes lit up with red energy. However, it made no move other than to move around and stand behind him.
Akane stared up at the strange thing that had been formed from her negative energy, and the man who had formed it. Akane felt so tired, and empty. Small tears began to form in her eyes before she fell unconscious, her energy reserves completely depleted.
Elion left the unconscious girl lying on the floor. Dark, wispy energy again began to curl around his hand, as he headed through the house. He sensed another source of negative energies nearby, this one far more versatile as it was filled with anger, greed, cowardice, selfishness, deceit, fear and a host of other negative emotions.
He found the source lying on the ground, apparently asleep. Elion raised his eyebrows. 'Far be it for me to be this lucky.' He said to himself. 'Strange that such a creature would have strong negative power, but my senses do not lie.'
Elion held up his hand, pointing at the sleeping panda on the ground. The dark energies lanced out, striking through the panda. Like with Akane, streams of energy began to pulse and spin around the room. They soon coalesced, forming the shape of Elion's next gatherer.
"What the heck is up with you people?" Elion asked rhetorically. The energies had formed together, creating an extremely short, fat, bald ancient old man. Elion scowled. "And what exactly does this have to do with your emotions? Fortunately, my plan does not hinge and what shape you take form, for which I am most glad." Elion said, before he pointed to the first gatherer he had created.
"Stand beside him." Elion ordered her. She slowly shuffled over and stood beside the strange old man.
The black mantle of energy that had flowed around Elion twisted itself off of him and formed itself into a ball in front of him. Elion began to chant, the ball of black power pulsing to the rhythm. He spoke no words, just meaningless phrases that somehow seemed to fit.
The dark ball of power suddenly launched itself at the two gatherers, surrounding them in darkness. Elion collapsed to the ground, kneeling as the black energy crackled. Quickly, it soon faded away, revealing something completely different than what had been there before.
Any resemblance to any real figures had gone. What stood in the gatherers' place was a seven-foot tall demon. It looked like a tall man with a somewhat attractive face. Long, black hair streamed behind from its head. Two streams of pulsating multi colored energy flowed from its back, while a long, whip like tail flowed out of the simple pants it was wearing.
Elion managed to pick himself up, climbing to his feet. He observed his handiwork with a smirk. "And that is that." Elion said smugly. "The merger has pretty much reduced any meaning to the emotion, relying almost entirely on their potency. This should be plenty to deal with anyone in the area."
"I'll be back for you fools." Elion promised, before he pointed upwards, and catapulted into the air, blasting through the roof of the Tendo home. The new gatherer followed, the streams of energy on its back flowing outward and acting like wings.
Elion had barely avoided Ranma, as she hurled through the broken down door. She panted heavily as she looked around.
"Hey, tomboy! Are you all right?" Ranma asked, kneeling down beside the falling girl. Akane made no movement however. Only the rising and falling of her chest gave any indication that she was even alive.
"Damn!" Ranma cursed. She moved through the house, finding her fallen father... exactly where she had left him earlier that day.
"Yo pops, wake up!" Ranma cried while kicking the downed panda. Like Akane, Genma made no motion to even awaken. The normally vibrant energies that ran through them both had severely diminished, the trickle of energy a far cry from the torrents they normally possessed.
"I'll make you pay for this Elion!" Ranma yelled heavenwards. She grabbed some hot water from the sink; not even noticing the mess the kitchen was, before the now male Ranma leapt out of the dojo and onto the roofs. He could still felt Elion's presence. The, well, whatever he was left a trail of darkness as easy to track as oil on snow. Ranma spun, and began to head unerringly towards where the darkness was greatest.
-
Elion had wasted no time. As soon as he found a large crowd, the gatherer swooped down and began to absorb the energy of the people. They panicked and screamed, but before they could get anywhere they found themselves incredibly tired. Most fell where they stood, but here and there a few managed a few staggering steps, while the strongest among them took no more than five steps, before she collapsed to the ground.
"Those Sailor Senshi have proven to have extremely quick reaction times." Elion said aloud. "Get as much energy as you can! We will need the power." Elion told it, before floating up onto a building and cloaking himself in shadows.
The gatherer nodded emotionlessly. With all of its emotions in balance, it had no problem ignoring the irrational cries they made towards him. The gatherer simply flew in the air, multicolored ribbons of power flowing into his body. As they flowed, he grew in size. His skin turned ebony black, while the wings of energy on his back lengthened. At the edge of its vision, it was aware of several strands of blackness beginning to weave through the area, but paid the energies of its master no mind.
"Looks like I won't be disappointed." Elion said from his position on the roofs. The five Senshi and the Senshi in training had arrived. "Do they have some kind of fortune teller? This is a completely different part of the city." Elion muttered.
"Stop it!" Moon yelled at the gatherer as the other Senshi arrayed themselves to her side. The gatherer turned its head to face her, but the streams of energy flowing into it did not stop.
"I don't think it's going to stop this time, just because you told it to." Mars said. "You have to do something a bit more drastic. Burning Mandala!" Mars yelled, her arms outstretched. She placed her hands together, rings of fire appearing and being launched at the gatherer, who almost idly flew higher into the air, the burning rings passing under it. The gatherer snorted as the streams of energy stopped flowing and disappeared.
"You will die." The gatherer said simply, in a strangely human voice, with no echo or hissing. It raised a hand, palm outwards facing the Senshi. A pulsing, green light appeared and shot to the ground in the middle of the Senshi, who scattered.
"Your aim is terrible!" Jupiter yelled at it. The pulsing orb embedded itself in the ground. Small tendrils of energy started to reach out from it.
"Let's do it!" Chibi-Moon, the Senshi from the future, cried.
"Right!" The others said. They began to position themselves to blast the monster into dust. The gatherer simply pointed. Slowly, they turned around to see the pulsing ball that they had thought had simply been a simple blast of energy. Small, short offshoots of energy had grown from it. With a high-pitched squeal, the ball of energy suddenly spun, the small offshoots growing great lengths into raw streams of energy. The streams crashed into each of the Senshi who were unable to move in time, knocking them around and onto the ground and into walls. Chibi-Moon slammed her head and collapsed into unconsciousness, while the others suffered severe bruising.
Slowly, the Senshi picked themselves up from the ground. Sailor Moon rushed over to Chibi-Moon, cradling her head.
"Chibi-Moon, Chibi-Moon!" Sailor Moon cried, shaking her. Chibi-Moon groaned, but otherwise stayed unconscious. Sailor Moon sighed in relief before setting her carefully back on the ground.
"Crescent Beam Shower!" Sailor Venus yelled, pointing her finger up in the air. A bright yellow beam fired from her finger, before shattering into many smaller beams that crashed in the area around the gatherer. It seemed to skate in the air, flowing backwards through the air as the beams crashed into the ground, creating several small craters.
"Shabon Spray Freezing!" Mercury cried desperately, her arms outstretched. Freezing bubbles shot out of her hands, obscuring the area. "Jupiter, use your power!" Mercury exclaimed.
Sailor Jupiter nodded. She crossed her arms over her chest while an antenna rose from her tiara. "Supreme Thunder!" Jupiter yelled, launching high voltage electricity through the mist. Wind rose suddenly, the mist flowing along, covering the Senshi just as the electricity was released. It traveled through, running several thousand volts of electric current through each of the Senshi. They collapsed to their knees, their bodies no longer able to obey their commands.
The mist blew past them as the electricity dispersed, revealing the gatherer. It simply floated in the air, palm outstretched towards them. Another pulsing ball of energy began to form from its palm. Weakly the Senshi stood.
"Crush of Low Orbit!" A voice called from above. The Senshi, Elion, and the gatherer all looked up. The gatherer's vision, however, was filled with Chinese style shoes as a high velocity foot crashed into its face from above. Its flight failed as it fell to the ground, and Ranma bounced off, doing a flip in mid air landing on his feet and facing the gatherer.
"The tomboy may be uncute and violent, and my old man may lie and steal and cheat a lot, but I'm not going to let you do whatever you want to them." Ranma told the gatherer, anger in his voice.
From his perch, Elion snorted. "Well, looks like they are all here. Time to take them down." He said, before shrugging, and making a gesture with his hands.
The gatherer used its wings of energy to pull itself in to the air. Ranma smirked and dug his feet into the ground, ready for its next move.
However, instead of preparing any kind of attack, the gatherer began to fly backwards, moving away from them.
"Where are you going!?" Ranma demanded of it. Mars suddenly blinked. She began to sense something that she could have sworn hadn't been there before.
"We have to separate! Something big is going to happen!" Mars yelled, before leaping away from the others. They scattered, as Elion let go of the cloak of darkness, making him visible.
"Its good to see you all again." Elion began conversationally. His eyes narrowed. "I'm really going to miss you. VOID BOMB!!!" He abruptly screamed out. As he yelled the words, black streams of energy that had previously been invisible suddenly appeared. The formed themselves into a ring around the Senshi, who hadn't separated far enough, and Ranma, who hadn't realized what was happening.
The energy began to rise higher as it constricted itself. Soon, a dome of swirling darkness surrounded them fully. The dome began to constrict, moving closer and closer. Step by step, Ranma and the Senshi backed themselves closer, until they touched back to back.
Elion smiled. "This whirling cyclone of dark energy will simply close in on you, before exploding into a bomb of nothingness. It has been nice seeing you." Elion taunted. He yawned theatrically as a rose crashed into the barrier he had flashed around himself, before letting it fade. The rose disintegrated, causing dust particles to fly into his face, but not otherwise harming him.
He turned to the tuxedo-clad figure that had arrived. "Ah yes, and here you are." Elion said.
Tuxedo Kamen grimaced. The Senshi were in quite a precarious position, and his enemy was apparently unaffected by his standard attack. He whipped out his cane and leapt at Elion, who formed a beam of darkness into the shape of a sword. He panted, but brought the sword up, stopping the cane from crushing his skull.
"I've been really meaning to deal with you, ever since last time." Elion said through gritted teeth. "That loss you handed me was intolerable!" He yelled out, leaping to the offensive. His sword was a blur as he swung at Tuxedo Kamen, who was hard pressed to block his strikes.
Meanwhile, Ranma and the Senshi were desperately thinking of ways to get out of their current predicament. Mercury had her computer open and was typing swiftly, analyzing the energy swirling around them. Mars had begun a chant, her spiritual energies slowing the advance of the darkness. Sailor Moon had picked up Chibi-Moon when the energies started, and was carrying her. Slowly, her hand was inching towards her broach. Jupiter and Venus simply stood, both trying to figure out something, but failing.
"I've managed to analyze this energy. It's pretty much as Elion said. A swirling cyclone of darkness that will erupt once it hits us. I can't figure out anything to do!" Mercury cried. Tears started to trickle down her cheeks. "I just can't think of anything!" The normally cool headed Senshi of Mercury yelled.
The energy had darkened even further, turning pitch black. Slowly, as the sides came closer, the top came down.
"Moko Takabisha!" Ranma yelled, thrusting a small blue ball of energy into the surrounding walls of darkness. The ball seemed to disappear into the blackness, completely vanishing.
"No way am I trying the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken." Ranma muttered. "Stupid pops says he knows so much about demons. Why didn't he teach me any techniques for escaping from demon traps, then?"
"There's one thing I think will work, but I really wish I didn't have to try it." Ranma said. The Senshi turned their heads towards him as he continued, "I know a technique that works off of heat to create a tornado. This energy doesn't have heat, but the technique may work still work on it!"
"What can we do?" Jupiter asked him. Ranma looked thoughtful for a second. He nodded himself and turned his heads towards Mercury.
"I remember your powers dealing with cold. You need to ice down the other Senshi. Once that's done, you need to circle me. When I yell out, thrust your fists to the sky! I'll use my technique. Hopefully, the energies will hopefully mix together, forming a whirlwind. With any luck, it will stay around us and not touch us."
"What if it doesn't work?" Venus asked, with a quivering voice.
Ranma gulped. "Then I think that's it for us. But you have the best martial artist in the world to help you! It's all gonna be okay." Ranma said. "It's the best I can think of."
Moon nodded. The preternatural calm that descended upon her in truly desperate situations where her friends could be seriously hurt kept any hint of crying or tears out of her voice. "We have to. Lets do it!"
Mercury turned around, facing them all. With a cry of, "Shabon Spray Freezing!" she hurled massive amounts of freezing bubbles at the others. The bubbles spread around, chilling them to the bone. However, they remained unfrozen, the powers of the Sailor Senshi protecting them, while Ranma had slipped into the soul of ice and didn't mind the extra cold. The Senshi organized themselves around Ranma, forming a circle.
Outside of the dome of whirling darkness, Tuxedo Kamen and Elion continued their duel. After his initial rush, Elion had begun to fight conservatively. Tuxedo Kamen had fought recklessly, sending blow after blow at Elion in any direction he thought he could get through. Invariably, Elion managed to evade or block his blow, increasing Tuxedo Kamen's desperation.
Elion leapt backwards, lowering his sword. Both panted raggedly. "I'm almost out of power." Elion admitted. "But the others are almost out of life!"
Tuxedo Kamen turned his head, and gulped as he saw how close together the dome was. Then he saw nothing, as the gatherer that had been avoiding the fight suddenly swooped in and crashed its fist into Tuxedo Kamen's head while he was distracted.
Elion chuckled, before his legs buckled, dropping him on his behind. "I got him." Elion rasped. He turned and faced the Void Bomb he had created. "I guess Zandain was right. Plans do help."
Inside the Void Bomb, Ranma and the Senshi were enacting their own plan. Ranma stood in the middle of the circle of Senshi. They all shivered, the freezing brought on by Mercury's attack keeping them extremely cold.
"Do it NOW!" Ranma exclaimed. As one, the Senshi thrust their fists to the air, as Ranma spun and leapt in a spiral uppercut. Cold energy drifted upwards from them, mixing in with the spiraling darkness. As Ranma pumped his ki into the soul of ice, the chill began to react with the darkness as it was mixed thoroughly by the spiral. Ranma frowned, as nothing seemed to happen.
Suddenly, the energy began to tower as it swirled. The darkness began to fade as an immense wind replaced it. The dome dispersed as a massive tornado sprang up, swirling high into the sky. Large chunks of dirt and rubble were pulled into the tornado, spewing out at the top. In the center, the Senshi and Ranma had begun to float, pulled upwards slightly by the sheer force, even in the eye of the storm. The tornado dug downwards into the ground, creating a gigantic crater rivaling that of the perfected Shi Shi Hokodan.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the roaring winds began to fade. Ranma and the Senshi were gently set and the ground. They could finally see again, the darkness having dispersed totally.
"Oh no..." Moon said softly. Many chunks of dirt had landed on several of the unconscious people.
Ranma looked worried for a second, before he relaxed. "Don't worry. It looks like no rubble actually made it to any of the people. I bet they'll have killer headaches when they wake up, but should be ok." Ranma reassured her. He then catapulted up onto the rooftop, where Elion was staring slack jawed at them.
Elion slowly pulled himself to his feet. He staggered for a second, before righting himself. He began to back away as Ranma advanced menacingly on him.
"Gatherer, finish him off!" Elion ordered. "I don't know where you got the raw strength to cancel my void bomb, but my gatherer will take care of you now!" Elion exclaimed.
The demon shaped monster launched itself at Ranma. Ranma crossed his arms as the gatherer formed a fist and ploughed into Ranma, knocking them both off the building. Like he had done before, Ranma flipped and righted himself in midair, while the gatherer simply flew to the ground and landed.
"You have great strength." The gatherer said slowly. "It will not be enough."
Ranma growled. "Your going down!" He told it. Ranma charged forward, spinning around the power packed punch it shot at him, grabbing onto its hand, and hurling it away from him. To his surprise, after a second it flew back, going past him in the opposite direction he had thrown it.
"Tsk, tsk Ranma, throwing things at harmless old ladies." Cologne said, staff pointed outwards.
"Nihao, Ranma!" Shampoo chirped. She would have run forward to hug him, but Cologne had warned that it might not be a good idea at this time.
"Old ghoul!" Ranma exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
Cologne raised an eyebrow. "I live in this city. You would think more people would be here, except for the fact that a dark power is keeping them away. Pretty weak, however." Cologne said. "I felt an incredible force here just a bit ago, and I came to see if you were in over your head."
"I'm not in over my head! Now that Elion is out of tricks, this guy should be a piece of cake." Ranma said.
"Oh really? And how do you know that Elion, whoever he is, is out of tricks? Furthermore, why don't you take a look at the monster I just whacked, and tell me how easy he is going to be." Cologne ordered, pointing behind Ranma.
Ranma spun, and would have gotten a fist in the face if he hadn't sensed it at the last moment and dodged it, before he spun and struck the gatherer with a kick from behind, sending it to the ground. It easily rolled to its feet and stood, looking none the worse for wear.
Cologne eyed it appraisingly. "What a strange being. It has no physical body to speak of. Most interesting." She said to herself.
"Venus Love-Me Chain!" a voice yelled out. The gatherer spun just to get a chain of linked hearts wrapped around its legs. Sailor Venus pulled hard, dragging the gatherer to the ground.
"Shine Aqua Illusion!" Sailor Mercury yelled, doing a spin and launching a freezing wave of ice at the gatherer. Its face twisted in panic, the first actual emotion it had shone, before it stretched its legs wide, breaking the chains. It tumbled out of the way, the Shine Aqua Illusion freezing the ground where it had just been.
Ranma cracked his knuckles. "I got this, ghoul. It's going down." Ranma told Cologne. Before he had even taken a step forward, Shampoo began to berate him.
"Ranma big idiot! Listen to great grandmother. Did you not see? It no even pay attention to great grandmother's hit!" Shampoo yelled at him.
Cologne nodded. "I don't think a physical attack will work against this menace. Notice it goes to great lengths to avoid the Sailor Senshi's attacks, but doesn't really bother to avoid yours? You need to use an alternate method of attack." Cologne said.
Ranma's eyes twitched. "And why don't you help?" he asked Cologne.
Cologne simply shrugged and grinned at him. "Because it's always nice to see a great battle. You just can't get the same feeling if you participate. Besides, I'm just an old lady who has nothing to do but play matchmaker with her great granddaughter. I couldn't be of any help." Cologne told him, a twinkle in her eye.
Ranma stared at her. "That really isn't quite right..." He trailed off. He turned his head to see the sight of the gatherer doing what seemed to be midair gymnastics while the Senshi tried to pelt it with their attacks. A tiara was doing flybys, while the gatherer had actually started to look annoyed. "Guess I had better do it." Ranma said.
Ranma took up position behind the gatherer. He began hopping back and forth as the occasional fire ring, ball of ice, and blast of electricity missed the gatherer and struck past it. As the attacks started to slack, the Senshi noticing his position, Ranma smirked.
'Got you.' Ranma thought to himself, before thrusting both palms forward, the confidence of his mind pulling ki from his body and into a large ball of blue energy. Without saying anything, Ranma released the ball of self-esteem.
The gatherer spun around, sensing the energy, only to get beaned in the head by the Moon Tiara as it stopped paying attention. Its eyes crossed just as the Moko Takabisha impacted with it.
"Yeaaargh!!!" A voice cried. With the sound of a loud clap, the gatherer split into its two component gatherers. The female one that had been created from Akane began to scream as its body began to vibrate, before exploding in a blast of energy.
"Why that look like Shampoo?" Shampoo asked, surprised.
"I don't know, Great Granddaughter." Cologne told her. "Although I want to know why that other one looks like Happy... if Happy had spent twenty years doing nothing but laying around and eating."
Ranma's mouth dropped in shock as he saw the reaction to his Moko Takabisha. "Why did it explode so violently? None of the other one's I've used the attack on have had that effect." Ranma asked aloud. "Unless... opposite emotion."
Ranma began to think aloud. "If they are formed out of the emotion ki from a person, then they would probably have a counter emotion. That's why the Moko Takabisha was so powerful." Ranma decided. "But... that monster was formed out of the opposite of confidence... and if the other one is from pops, then that one was from... Akane?" Ranma gasped.
The other gatherer, the overweight Happosai look alike, staggered around. Its eyes were glazed, while it tried to make sense of its surroundings. Ranma paused for a second, before he leapt forward.
"Its time for this to end." Ranma told it. In his mind, he recalled almost everything positive that had happened in his life, and the way it made him feel. As the gatherer looked at him, eyes clearing, Ranma began to glow with a cascading rainbow of power.
"Anything Goes, Saotome School spontaneous technique! Open Palm Prismatic Blow!" Ranma yelled as he thrust his open palm into the gatherer's chest, all his ki flowing into his hand. The energy flowed into the gatherer, whose eyes widened gigantically as it felt the power. In an explosion of multicolored energy, the gatherer's strength failed it as it dissipated.
Ranma collapsed to the ground, drained of all emotion. He started to come back to himself as he felt hands shaking him.
"Ranma, Ranma!" Shampoo called to him. "You all right?" She asked as he looked up to her.
Shampoo hugged him, hard. "Shampoo so happy you okay!" She cheerfully said as she pressed her chest to his face.
"Let him breathe, Great Granddaughter." Cologne said. With a pout, Shampoo let go, causing Ranma to fall backwards before scrambling to his feet.
He turned, just in time to see Elion raggedly hold up his hand and disappear. "Looks like he got away." Ranma muttered. He turned to the Senshi, who were panting from all of their exertions.
"It's nice to see you fighting and all, but how did you get here so fast?" Ranma asked them.
"Well... we have special powers that let us home in on evil?" Sailor Moon suggested nervously.
"Oh, that makes sense." Ranma said. He peered at Jupiter. "But you look awfully familiar. I could have sworn I've seen you before. Before I had seen you, I mean. As in before the first fight." He told her. She shook her head violently. "Oh, okay. Just checking." Ranma said.
Ranma then remembered the entire reason he had come after Elion in the first place. "Akane! Pops! I have to go see if they are all right! See you later, old lady!" He exclaimed, before landing on top of a roof in a mighty leap. Bouncing from roof to roof, he was soon lost to the sight of the Senshi.
Cologne eyed the Senshi as Ranma left. "So, you are the famous Sailor Senshi," She said to them.
"That's right! We are the Sailor Senshi! We fight for love and justice and punish evil in the name of the moon!" Sailor Moon exclaimed cheerfully.
"Right, you wouldn't happen to be from a certain kingdom that existed several thousand years ago, would you?" Cologne asked Sailor Moon.
Moon's eyes widened. "How did..." She said, before putting on an expression of innocence. "Nope, not at all." She said, sweating.
Cologne laughed. "Well, that answers that question. Feel free to come down to the Cat Café anytime... I have some questions I'm curious about. I'll even give you lunch for free," Cologne told them. "Go ahead and come without your transformations. That disguise field you all have is quite nice, but not powerful enough to block my vision." With a hop onto her staff, Cologne bounced away, Shampoo following close behind.
"That is one scary old woman." Mars said.
"I don't know. She seemed kind of friendly." Moon protested. They all looked up on the roof where Elion had been as they heard a groaning sound. "Who's that?"
The Senshi leapt on top of the roof, Moon stumbling as she saw what had made the sound. "Mamo-chan!" Moon exclaimed, rushing to his side. She carefully set Chibi-Moon down beside him and cradled his head. "What happened to you?" She asked as his eyes flickered open.
Tuxedo Kamen's eyes widened. "Usako, you're alive?" He asked, shocked.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Moon asked him. Tuxedo Kamen stared at her as if she was crazy.
"When I came, you were surrounded by an immense dark energy! I fought Elion, but couldn't beat him. I was knocked out in the fight. I had thought you were dead." He said. "I'm happy that you are all right." He said, hugging her.
Moon braced herself and pulled Tuxedo Kamen to his feet. "Mars, can you carry Chibi-Moon, please?" Moon asked her. Mars nodded and picked up the young Senshi.
"What happened to her?" Tuxedo Kamen asked, concerned.
"She got knocked out, kind of like you did." Venus said. "She should be awake soon."
Tuxedo Kamen nodded. "All right, lets get out of here. The people should be waking up soon." He said, before leaping off the building.
As the others prepared to follow him, Jupiter held back. "You guys go ahead and go, I still need to talk to Ranma." She said.
"Why?" Moon asked her. Jupiter looked down at her feet.
"I need to find out what is going on. That Akane girl I talked to mentioned several other girls who were after him. I need to find out the truth. That hug the purple haired girl gave him was a bit more than friendly. Maybe I don't have a chance after all. But I refuse to leave without trying. I've spent far too long thinking about him to just leave without knowing the truth." Jupiter explained.
The others nodded. "Okay, we will leave you alone then." Moon said.
"Make sure to call us if you need us. We will be back in no time." Mercury promised.
Jupiter nodded as the other Senshi leapt off the building. After a few seconds of thought, Jupiter leapt off as well, looking around before detransforming back to Makoto.
-
Ranma arrived at the Tendo dojo to see Soun trying to reattach the door to the house. Upon sighting Ranma, energy billowed around him forming into the legendary scare tactic, Demon Head.
"RANMA! WHERE WERE YOU!?" The massive head of energy yelled at Ranma, causing him to skitter backwards.
"I was trying to get the person who hurt everyone!" Ranma protested. The demon head paused for a second, before fading away. "Where were YOU anyways!?" Ranma demanded of Soun, who began to look nervous.
"Well... I was helping Kasumi get groceries. No problem with that is there?" He asked quickly.
"You mean you left the house as soon as you knew Akane wanted to cook." Ranma said. He moved past the Tendo patriarch and through the broken down door. The first thing he heard was an immense bellowing. Following the sound, he found his father, in panda form, still on the floor and still sleeping.
"I can't believe this. The old man really CAN sleep through everything." Ranma muttered. "Kasumi?" Ranma called.
"Ranma, you're back." He heard Kasumi say. "Do you mind checking on Akane? I put her to bed, and I'm too busy trying to clean up this mess."
"Uh, sure thing." He called, before heading up the stairs to Akane's room. He slowly opened the door and peaked inside. With nothing flying his way, he opened the door and walked over to Akane's bed. She shifted restlessly at his approach, and opened her eyes.
"How are you doing, tomboy?" Ranma asked.
"Ranma..." Akane said. "I'm so tired. This strange man came. I don't know what happened, just that I have never felt so tired in my life."
"Don't worry. I took care of him." Ranma said. "Don't know why he bothered with you, though."
"Ranma!" Akane growled, before sighing. "I'm too tired. Go hit yourself with my desk, I can't do it properly myself. Just... leave quietly." Akane said, yawning, before closing her eyes and rolling over.
Ranma tip toed out of the room and closed the door behind him. "Hope you get better soon, Akane." He whispered. "I gotta go find Makoto now."
-
"That was a colossal failure... Elion." A multi toned voice stated. Elion could not see the source. All around him was an impenetrable blackness.
"I threatened to rip you apart and drain your energies. Unfortunately, you don't even have anything left worth draining. As such, consider yourself dismissed. Maybe someday I will have a use for you. Until that day, I don't want to ever see you again." The voice finished.
Elion collapsed to the ground and bowed. "Thank you for your mercy, Master!" He exclaimed
"It is hardly mercy." The voice said. "Leave, now!" It thundered. Elion vanished.
"You really didn't decide to destroy him?" A female voice asked.
"He did serve a purpose... Zandain. You were able to grab quite a bit of energy, enough to recoup from our losses while our enemy was distracted. However, we now have to design a new type of gatherer. That young man possesses a great power, enough to easily destroy one of our current gatherers." The multi toned voice said.
"I'll get right on it." The female voice said, before there was silence.
Thanks for the reviews! They help me work on this fic, even through college. Basically, the initial story elements with Akane and stuff were more status quo. If I wanted to make Akane look bad, Ranma would be a little different in personality and be severely negatively affected by her actions. As it is, they don't really do anything in the long run. Still, thanks for the kick in the pants Spanner. It made me think a bit, which I believe helped a lot :)
Glomp: Pretty much a powerful hug. It's what Shampoo always does to Ranma. Happosai does it to women's chests. In the manga, it usually says glomp in the background whenever it happens.
Thanks to my pre readers who I forgot to mention last chapter: Kuno Baby and Ranger5.
Formatting might be a little mashed. Unfortunately, I can't seem to quick edit the stupid thing, and since it won't take my .doc files, I have to use .txt, which ffnet does weird things to
Chapter 5 -----------------------
Elion almost suffered a bout of evil laughter. He tried to resist, and ended up cackling manically. He was observing the flows of energy in Nerima, and Elion felt that now was the time for him to come back from his defeats.
"There are many powerful energy flows. However, a lot of them seem to run on negative power. It's going to be dangerous, but I should be able to deal with this." Elion said, smirking. He began floating down towards his target. It wouldn't have surprised any of the denizens of Nerima that one of the greatest focuses of negative emotions in Nerima was the Tendo dojo. "There are two great powers at this location... both definitely of the kind that I need. This shouldn't be too hard."
-------------------------
Ranma-chan was running along the fence, trying to get back to the dojo before Makoto left. Makoto, however, was running along the ground in a parallel street, trying to get back to where Ranma had landed. Due to their focus on the point of arrival instead of the path they were taking they completely missed each other.
What neither of them missed, however, was a sense of darkness, of emotions twisted and warped from the "normal" balance that all people had, to something far worse.
Ranma skidded to a halt, her body tensing. She had felt this power before, possessed by the being known as Elion. "He's coming here? I can sense him ahead. Is he... at the dojo? If he's hurt anybody..." Ranma growled. Ranma catapulted from the fence, landing on the roof of one of the ever-present houses. Like a rabbit, she was off, bouncing from building to building in long effortless leaps.
Makoto, whose ki senses weren't nearly as developed, still felt a sudden flash of despair, coming from the Dojo she had just left. The sudden "wrongness" caused her to stop in her tracks.
'What is this feeling?' Makoto wondered to herself, before frowning. 'It feels so heavy, like it is weighing on my soul.'
Makoto backed up against the wall of a house, opening her communicator, and quickly hailed the other Senshi. In less than a minute their faces appeared inside the wrist communicator.
"Guys, I can't be sure, but I think there is something happening in Nerima." Makoto said anxiously.
"Yeah, Rei says she feels something powerful and evil. She says it feels just like that Elion guy we fought." Usagi said over the communicator. However, the voice sounded a little loud. With a twitch in her eye, Makoto went to the other side of the wall.
Backed up against the wall, with big sweat drops on their heads, stood the other five Sailor Senshi in civilian garb, their communicators open. They closed the communicators, chuckling nervously.
"You guys were going to spy on me..." Makoto said dangerously to them.
"Well, can you blame us?" Usagi asked sweating. Ami had buried her face in her hands while Rei and Minako shook their heads. Chibi-Usa put on a face of innocence.
Makoto sighed. "At least you guys are here." Makoto said. She turned to Rei. "You've felt Elion's presence?"
Rei nodded. "His aura is pretty strong and distinctive. Even more so when he is actively using his power. He is up to something. We don't have much time." Rei said, pulling out her henshin wand. The others nodded and pulled theirs out as well.
-
Elion floated to the ground, and with a casual, nearly flippant gesture tore down the door to the Tendo dojo. The sliding pane crashed inwards while Elion held up his hand, pulsing with dark power. He stepped inside, small trails of darkness being left behind his boots.
"Who are you!?" Akane yelled at Elion as she came into the den from the kitchen. As she saw Elion however, she took a step backwards. "What are you?" She asked, fearful. Something was very off about this man. His aura indicated that he was no martial artist she was familiar with, the pulsing blackness something Akane had never seen before.
"Don't worry my dear. I merely want your energy." Elion said. He smirked as he held up his hand, pointing his finger at Akane.
Akane growled. "You want my what?" She asked. Her response to the intrusion was to reach for the emotion that had pulled her though so many of the trials in her life. She reached for the comforting fire that was her anger. Like a well-trained steed the emotion responded and anger flooded her being as she leapt forward, her fists quickly flying forward with deadly intent. However, Elion simply released the coil of darkness he had been holding on his fingertips. The blacked stream flew forward, impacting with Akane's body. Akane collapsed to the ground as streams of energy started flowing out of her.
"Such anger and power. This will certainly create a fine gath... what the hell?!" Elion asked, shocked. The streams of energy had swirled around and coalesced, forming themselves into the shape of an extraordinarily beautiful woman. She had long, purple hair with twin buns in the top, tied into a pigtail at the back. She wore a spatula strapped to a shoulder harness, and wore a simple chef's uniform. Small, upswept parts of her uniform seemed to form themselves into miniature horns, and the coloration of her skin was oddly red.
The gatherer's appearance was not what had shocked Elion, however. What shocked him, was that as soon as the gatherer formed it had immediately fallen to the ground, and sat there with a blank expression.
"What are you doing? Get up!" Elion yelled at it. The beautiful woman simply stared at him. "You good for nothing!" Elion berated it. Its eyes flashed and it suddenly stood, glaring at him. Elion took a step back. However, she didn't make any moves, and seemed content to stare at Elion, her eyes boring into him.
Elion grimaced. "Not exactly what I anticipated. But I think I can work around this. Follow me, you stupid thing." Elion told her. The gatherer's eyes lit up with red energy. However, it made no move other than to move around and stand behind him.
Akane stared up at the strange thing that had been formed from her negative energy, and the man who had formed it. Akane felt so tired, and empty. Small tears began to form in her eyes before she fell unconscious, her energy reserves completely depleted.
Elion left the unconscious girl lying on the floor. Dark, wispy energy again began to curl around his hand, as he headed through the house. He sensed another source of negative energies nearby, this one far more versatile as it was filled with anger, greed, cowardice, selfishness, deceit, fear and a host of other negative emotions.
He found the source lying on the ground, apparently asleep. Elion raised his eyebrows. 'Far be it for me to be this lucky.' He said to himself. 'Strange that such a creature would have strong negative power, but my senses do not lie.'
Elion held up his hand, pointing at the sleeping panda on the ground. The dark energies lanced out, striking through the panda. Like with Akane, streams of energy began to pulse and spin around the room. They soon coalesced, forming the shape of Elion's next gatherer.
"What the heck is up with you people?" Elion asked rhetorically. The energies had formed together, creating an extremely short, fat, bald ancient old man. Elion scowled. "And what exactly does this have to do with your emotions? Fortunately, my plan does not hinge and what shape you take form, for which I am most glad." Elion said, before he pointed to the first gatherer he had created.
"Stand beside him." Elion ordered her. She slowly shuffled over and stood beside the strange old man.
The black mantle of energy that had flowed around Elion twisted itself off of him and formed itself into a ball in front of him. Elion began to chant, the ball of black power pulsing to the rhythm. He spoke no words, just meaningless phrases that somehow seemed to fit.
The dark ball of power suddenly launched itself at the two gatherers, surrounding them in darkness. Elion collapsed to the ground, kneeling as the black energy crackled. Quickly, it soon faded away, revealing something completely different than what had been there before.
Any resemblance to any real figures had gone. What stood in the gatherers' place was a seven-foot tall demon. It looked like a tall man with a somewhat attractive face. Long, black hair streamed behind from its head. Two streams of pulsating multi colored energy flowed from its back, while a long, whip like tail flowed out of the simple pants it was wearing.
Elion managed to pick himself up, climbing to his feet. He observed his handiwork with a smirk. "And that is that." Elion said smugly. "The merger has pretty much reduced any meaning to the emotion, relying almost entirely on their potency. This should be plenty to deal with anyone in the area."
"I'll be back for you fools." Elion promised, before he pointed upwards, and catapulted into the air, blasting through the roof of the Tendo home. The new gatherer followed, the streams of energy on its back flowing outward and acting like wings.
Elion had barely avoided Ranma, as she hurled through the broken down door. She panted heavily as she looked around.
"Hey, tomboy! Are you all right?" Ranma asked, kneeling down beside the falling girl. Akane made no movement however. Only the rising and falling of her chest gave any indication that she was even alive.
"Damn!" Ranma cursed. She moved through the house, finding her fallen father... exactly where she had left him earlier that day.
"Yo pops, wake up!" Ranma cried while kicking the downed panda. Like Akane, Genma made no motion to even awaken. The normally vibrant energies that ran through them both had severely diminished, the trickle of energy a far cry from the torrents they normally possessed.
"I'll make you pay for this Elion!" Ranma yelled heavenwards. She grabbed some hot water from the sink; not even noticing the mess the kitchen was, before the now male Ranma leapt out of the dojo and onto the roofs. He could still felt Elion's presence. The, well, whatever he was left a trail of darkness as easy to track as oil on snow. Ranma spun, and began to head unerringly towards where the darkness was greatest.
-
Elion had wasted no time. As soon as he found a large crowd, the gatherer swooped down and began to absorb the energy of the people. They panicked and screamed, but before they could get anywhere they found themselves incredibly tired. Most fell where they stood, but here and there a few managed a few staggering steps, while the strongest among them took no more than five steps, before she collapsed to the ground.
"Those Sailor Senshi have proven to have extremely quick reaction times." Elion said aloud. "Get as much energy as you can! We will need the power." Elion told it, before floating up onto a building and cloaking himself in shadows.
The gatherer nodded emotionlessly. With all of its emotions in balance, it had no problem ignoring the irrational cries they made towards him. The gatherer simply flew in the air, multicolored ribbons of power flowing into his body. As they flowed, he grew in size. His skin turned ebony black, while the wings of energy on his back lengthened. At the edge of its vision, it was aware of several strands of blackness beginning to weave through the area, but paid the energies of its master no mind.
"Looks like I won't be disappointed." Elion said from his position on the roofs. The five Senshi and the Senshi in training had arrived. "Do they have some kind of fortune teller? This is a completely different part of the city." Elion muttered.
"Stop it!" Moon yelled at the gatherer as the other Senshi arrayed themselves to her side. The gatherer turned its head to face her, but the streams of energy flowing into it did not stop.
"I don't think it's going to stop this time, just because you told it to." Mars said. "You have to do something a bit more drastic. Burning Mandala!" Mars yelled, her arms outstretched. She placed her hands together, rings of fire appearing and being launched at the gatherer, who almost idly flew higher into the air, the burning rings passing under it. The gatherer snorted as the streams of energy stopped flowing and disappeared.
"You will die." The gatherer said simply, in a strangely human voice, with no echo or hissing. It raised a hand, palm outwards facing the Senshi. A pulsing, green light appeared and shot to the ground in the middle of the Senshi, who scattered.
"Your aim is terrible!" Jupiter yelled at it. The pulsing orb embedded itself in the ground. Small tendrils of energy started to reach out from it.
"Let's do it!" Chibi-Moon, the Senshi from the future, cried.
"Right!" The others said. They began to position themselves to blast the monster into dust. The gatherer simply pointed. Slowly, they turned around to see the pulsing ball that they had thought had simply been a simple blast of energy. Small, short offshoots of energy had grown from it. With a high-pitched squeal, the ball of energy suddenly spun, the small offshoots growing great lengths into raw streams of energy. The streams crashed into each of the Senshi who were unable to move in time, knocking them around and onto the ground and into walls. Chibi-Moon slammed her head and collapsed into unconsciousness, while the others suffered severe bruising.
Slowly, the Senshi picked themselves up from the ground. Sailor Moon rushed over to Chibi-Moon, cradling her head.
"Chibi-Moon, Chibi-Moon!" Sailor Moon cried, shaking her. Chibi-Moon groaned, but otherwise stayed unconscious. Sailor Moon sighed in relief before setting her carefully back on the ground.
"Crescent Beam Shower!" Sailor Venus yelled, pointing her finger up in the air. A bright yellow beam fired from her finger, before shattering into many smaller beams that crashed in the area around the gatherer. It seemed to skate in the air, flowing backwards through the air as the beams crashed into the ground, creating several small craters.
"Shabon Spray Freezing!" Mercury cried desperately, her arms outstretched. Freezing bubbles shot out of her hands, obscuring the area. "Jupiter, use your power!" Mercury exclaimed.
Sailor Jupiter nodded. She crossed her arms over her chest while an antenna rose from her tiara. "Supreme Thunder!" Jupiter yelled, launching high voltage electricity through the mist. Wind rose suddenly, the mist flowing along, covering the Senshi just as the electricity was released. It traveled through, running several thousand volts of electric current through each of the Senshi. They collapsed to their knees, their bodies no longer able to obey their commands.
The mist blew past them as the electricity dispersed, revealing the gatherer. It simply floated in the air, palm outstretched towards them. Another pulsing ball of energy began to form from its palm. Weakly the Senshi stood.
"Crush of Low Orbit!" A voice called from above. The Senshi, Elion, and the gatherer all looked up. The gatherer's vision, however, was filled with Chinese style shoes as a high velocity foot crashed into its face from above. Its flight failed as it fell to the ground, and Ranma bounced off, doing a flip in mid air landing on his feet and facing the gatherer.
"The tomboy may be uncute and violent, and my old man may lie and steal and cheat a lot, but I'm not going to let you do whatever you want to them." Ranma told the gatherer, anger in his voice.
From his perch, Elion snorted. "Well, looks like they are all here. Time to take them down." He said, before shrugging, and making a gesture with his hands.
The gatherer used its wings of energy to pull itself in to the air. Ranma smirked and dug his feet into the ground, ready for its next move.
However, instead of preparing any kind of attack, the gatherer began to fly backwards, moving away from them.
"Where are you going!?" Ranma demanded of it. Mars suddenly blinked. She began to sense something that she could have sworn hadn't been there before.
"We have to separate! Something big is going to happen!" Mars yelled, before leaping away from the others. They scattered, as Elion let go of the cloak of darkness, making him visible.
"Its good to see you all again." Elion began conversationally. His eyes narrowed. "I'm really going to miss you. VOID BOMB!!!" He abruptly screamed out. As he yelled the words, black streams of energy that had previously been invisible suddenly appeared. The formed themselves into a ring around the Senshi, who hadn't separated far enough, and Ranma, who hadn't realized what was happening.
The energy began to rise higher as it constricted itself. Soon, a dome of swirling darkness surrounded them fully. The dome began to constrict, moving closer and closer. Step by step, Ranma and the Senshi backed themselves closer, until they touched back to back.
Elion smiled. "This whirling cyclone of dark energy will simply close in on you, before exploding into a bomb of nothingness. It has been nice seeing you." Elion taunted. He yawned theatrically as a rose crashed into the barrier he had flashed around himself, before letting it fade. The rose disintegrated, causing dust particles to fly into his face, but not otherwise harming him.
He turned to the tuxedo-clad figure that had arrived. "Ah yes, and here you are." Elion said.
Tuxedo Kamen grimaced. The Senshi were in quite a precarious position, and his enemy was apparently unaffected by his standard attack. He whipped out his cane and leapt at Elion, who formed a beam of darkness into the shape of a sword. He panted, but brought the sword up, stopping the cane from crushing his skull.
"I've been really meaning to deal with you, ever since last time." Elion said through gritted teeth. "That loss you handed me was intolerable!" He yelled out, leaping to the offensive. His sword was a blur as he swung at Tuxedo Kamen, who was hard pressed to block his strikes.
Meanwhile, Ranma and the Senshi were desperately thinking of ways to get out of their current predicament. Mercury had her computer open and was typing swiftly, analyzing the energy swirling around them. Mars had begun a chant, her spiritual energies slowing the advance of the darkness. Sailor Moon had picked up Chibi-Moon when the energies started, and was carrying her. Slowly, her hand was inching towards her broach. Jupiter and Venus simply stood, both trying to figure out something, but failing.
"I've managed to analyze this energy. It's pretty much as Elion said. A swirling cyclone of darkness that will erupt once it hits us. I can't figure out anything to do!" Mercury cried. Tears started to trickle down her cheeks. "I just can't think of anything!" The normally cool headed Senshi of Mercury yelled.
The energy had darkened even further, turning pitch black. Slowly, as the sides came closer, the top came down.
"Moko Takabisha!" Ranma yelled, thrusting a small blue ball of energy into the surrounding walls of darkness. The ball seemed to disappear into the blackness, completely vanishing.
"No way am I trying the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken." Ranma muttered. "Stupid pops says he knows so much about demons. Why didn't he teach me any techniques for escaping from demon traps, then?"
"There's one thing I think will work, but I really wish I didn't have to try it." Ranma said. The Senshi turned their heads towards him as he continued, "I know a technique that works off of heat to create a tornado. This energy doesn't have heat, but the technique may work still work on it!"
"What can we do?" Jupiter asked him. Ranma looked thoughtful for a second. He nodded himself and turned his heads towards Mercury.
"I remember your powers dealing with cold. You need to ice down the other Senshi. Once that's done, you need to circle me. When I yell out, thrust your fists to the sky! I'll use my technique. Hopefully, the energies will hopefully mix together, forming a whirlwind. With any luck, it will stay around us and not touch us."
"What if it doesn't work?" Venus asked, with a quivering voice.
Ranma gulped. "Then I think that's it for us. But you have the best martial artist in the world to help you! It's all gonna be okay." Ranma said. "It's the best I can think of."
Moon nodded. The preternatural calm that descended upon her in truly desperate situations where her friends could be seriously hurt kept any hint of crying or tears out of her voice. "We have to. Lets do it!"
Mercury turned around, facing them all. With a cry of, "Shabon Spray Freezing!" she hurled massive amounts of freezing bubbles at the others. The bubbles spread around, chilling them to the bone. However, they remained unfrozen, the powers of the Sailor Senshi protecting them, while Ranma had slipped into the soul of ice and didn't mind the extra cold. The Senshi organized themselves around Ranma, forming a circle.
Outside of the dome of whirling darkness, Tuxedo Kamen and Elion continued their duel. After his initial rush, Elion had begun to fight conservatively. Tuxedo Kamen had fought recklessly, sending blow after blow at Elion in any direction he thought he could get through. Invariably, Elion managed to evade or block his blow, increasing Tuxedo Kamen's desperation.
Elion leapt backwards, lowering his sword. Both panted raggedly. "I'm almost out of power." Elion admitted. "But the others are almost out of life!"
Tuxedo Kamen turned his head, and gulped as he saw how close together the dome was. Then he saw nothing, as the gatherer that had been avoiding the fight suddenly swooped in and crashed its fist into Tuxedo Kamen's head while he was distracted.
Elion chuckled, before his legs buckled, dropping him on his behind. "I got him." Elion rasped. He turned and faced the Void Bomb he had created. "I guess Zandain was right. Plans do help."
Inside the Void Bomb, Ranma and the Senshi were enacting their own plan. Ranma stood in the middle of the circle of Senshi. They all shivered, the freezing brought on by Mercury's attack keeping them extremely cold.
"Do it NOW!" Ranma exclaimed. As one, the Senshi thrust their fists to the air, as Ranma spun and leapt in a spiral uppercut. Cold energy drifted upwards from them, mixing in with the spiraling darkness. As Ranma pumped his ki into the soul of ice, the chill began to react with the darkness as it was mixed thoroughly by the spiral. Ranma frowned, as nothing seemed to happen.
Suddenly, the energy began to tower as it swirled. The darkness began to fade as an immense wind replaced it. The dome dispersed as a massive tornado sprang up, swirling high into the sky. Large chunks of dirt and rubble were pulled into the tornado, spewing out at the top. In the center, the Senshi and Ranma had begun to float, pulled upwards slightly by the sheer force, even in the eye of the storm. The tornado dug downwards into the ground, creating a gigantic crater rivaling that of the perfected Shi Shi Hokodan.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the roaring winds began to fade. Ranma and the Senshi were gently set and the ground. They could finally see again, the darkness having dispersed totally.
"Oh no..." Moon said softly. Many chunks of dirt had landed on several of the unconscious people.
Ranma looked worried for a second, before he relaxed. "Don't worry. It looks like no rubble actually made it to any of the people. I bet they'll have killer headaches when they wake up, but should be ok." Ranma reassured her. He then catapulted up onto the rooftop, where Elion was staring slack jawed at them.
Elion slowly pulled himself to his feet. He staggered for a second, before righting himself. He began to back away as Ranma advanced menacingly on him.
"Gatherer, finish him off!" Elion ordered. "I don't know where you got the raw strength to cancel my void bomb, but my gatherer will take care of you now!" Elion exclaimed.
The demon shaped monster launched itself at Ranma. Ranma crossed his arms as the gatherer formed a fist and ploughed into Ranma, knocking them both off the building. Like he had done before, Ranma flipped and righted himself in midair, while the gatherer simply flew to the ground and landed.
"You have great strength." The gatherer said slowly. "It will not be enough."
Ranma growled. "Your going down!" He told it. Ranma charged forward, spinning around the power packed punch it shot at him, grabbing onto its hand, and hurling it away from him. To his surprise, after a second it flew back, going past him in the opposite direction he had thrown it.
"Tsk, tsk Ranma, throwing things at harmless old ladies." Cologne said, staff pointed outwards.
"Nihao, Ranma!" Shampoo chirped. She would have run forward to hug him, but Cologne had warned that it might not be a good idea at this time.
"Old ghoul!" Ranma exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
Cologne raised an eyebrow. "I live in this city. You would think more people would be here, except for the fact that a dark power is keeping them away. Pretty weak, however." Cologne said. "I felt an incredible force here just a bit ago, and I came to see if you were in over your head."
"I'm not in over my head! Now that Elion is out of tricks, this guy should be a piece of cake." Ranma said.
"Oh really? And how do you know that Elion, whoever he is, is out of tricks? Furthermore, why don't you take a look at the monster I just whacked, and tell me how easy he is going to be." Cologne ordered, pointing behind Ranma.
Ranma spun, and would have gotten a fist in the face if he hadn't sensed it at the last moment and dodged it, before he spun and struck the gatherer with a kick from behind, sending it to the ground. It easily rolled to its feet and stood, looking none the worse for wear.
Cologne eyed it appraisingly. "What a strange being. It has no physical body to speak of. Most interesting." She said to herself.
"Venus Love-Me Chain!" a voice yelled out. The gatherer spun just to get a chain of linked hearts wrapped around its legs. Sailor Venus pulled hard, dragging the gatherer to the ground.
"Shine Aqua Illusion!" Sailor Mercury yelled, doing a spin and launching a freezing wave of ice at the gatherer. Its face twisted in panic, the first actual emotion it had shone, before it stretched its legs wide, breaking the chains. It tumbled out of the way, the Shine Aqua Illusion freezing the ground where it had just been.
Ranma cracked his knuckles. "I got this, ghoul. It's going down." Ranma told Cologne. Before he had even taken a step forward, Shampoo began to berate him.
"Ranma big idiot! Listen to great grandmother. Did you not see? It no even pay attention to great grandmother's hit!" Shampoo yelled at him.
Cologne nodded. "I don't think a physical attack will work against this menace. Notice it goes to great lengths to avoid the Sailor Senshi's attacks, but doesn't really bother to avoid yours? You need to use an alternate method of attack." Cologne said.
Ranma's eyes twitched. "And why don't you help?" he asked Cologne.
Cologne simply shrugged and grinned at him. "Because it's always nice to see a great battle. You just can't get the same feeling if you participate. Besides, I'm just an old lady who has nothing to do but play matchmaker with her great granddaughter. I couldn't be of any help." Cologne told him, a twinkle in her eye.
Ranma stared at her. "That really isn't quite right..." He trailed off. He turned his head to see the sight of the gatherer doing what seemed to be midair gymnastics while the Senshi tried to pelt it with their attacks. A tiara was doing flybys, while the gatherer had actually started to look annoyed. "Guess I had better do it." Ranma said.
Ranma took up position behind the gatherer. He began hopping back and forth as the occasional fire ring, ball of ice, and blast of electricity missed the gatherer and struck past it. As the attacks started to slack, the Senshi noticing his position, Ranma smirked.
'Got you.' Ranma thought to himself, before thrusting both palms forward, the confidence of his mind pulling ki from his body and into a large ball of blue energy. Without saying anything, Ranma released the ball of self-esteem.
The gatherer spun around, sensing the energy, only to get beaned in the head by the Moon Tiara as it stopped paying attention. Its eyes crossed just as the Moko Takabisha impacted with it.
"Yeaaargh!!!" A voice cried. With the sound of a loud clap, the gatherer split into its two component gatherers. The female one that had been created from Akane began to scream as its body began to vibrate, before exploding in a blast of energy.
"Why that look like Shampoo?" Shampoo asked, surprised.
"I don't know, Great Granddaughter." Cologne told her. "Although I want to know why that other one looks like Happy... if Happy had spent twenty years doing nothing but laying around and eating."
Ranma's mouth dropped in shock as he saw the reaction to his Moko Takabisha. "Why did it explode so violently? None of the other one's I've used the attack on have had that effect." Ranma asked aloud. "Unless... opposite emotion."
Ranma began to think aloud. "If they are formed out of the emotion ki from a person, then they would probably have a counter emotion. That's why the Moko Takabisha was so powerful." Ranma decided. "But... that monster was formed out of the opposite of confidence... and if the other one is from pops, then that one was from... Akane?" Ranma gasped.
The other gatherer, the overweight Happosai look alike, staggered around. Its eyes were glazed, while it tried to make sense of its surroundings. Ranma paused for a second, before he leapt forward.
"Its time for this to end." Ranma told it. In his mind, he recalled almost everything positive that had happened in his life, and the way it made him feel. As the gatherer looked at him, eyes clearing, Ranma began to glow with a cascading rainbow of power.
"Anything Goes, Saotome School spontaneous technique! Open Palm Prismatic Blow!" Ranma yelled as he thrust his open palm into the gatherer's chest, all his ki flowing into his hand. The energy flowed into the gatherer, whose eyes widened gigantically as it felt the power. In an explosion of multicolored energy, the gatherer's strength failed it as it dissipated.
Ranma collapsed to the ground, drained of all emotion. He started to come back to himself as he felt hands shaking him.
"Ranma, Ranma!" Shampoo called to him. "You all right?" She asked as he looked up to her.
Shampoo hugged him, hard. "Shampoo so happy you okay!" She cheerfully said as she pressed her chest to his face.
"Let him breathe, Great Granddaughter." Cologne said. With a pout, Shampoo let go, causing Ranma to fall backwards before scrambling to his feet.
He turned, just in time to see Elion raggedly hold up his hand and disappear. "Looks like he got away." Ranma muttered. He turned to the Senshi, who were panting from all of their exertions.
"It's nice to see you fighting and all, but how did you get here so fast?" Ranma asked them.
"Well... we have special powers that let us home in on evil?" Sailor Moon suggested nervously.
"Oh, that makes sense." Ranma said. He peered at Jupiter. "But you look awfully familiar. I could have sworn I've seen you before. Before I had seen you, I mean. As in before the first fight." He told her. She shook her head violently. "Oh, okay. Just checking." Ranma said.
Ranma then remembered the entire reason he had come after Elion in the first place. "Akane! Pops! I have to go see if they are all right! See you later, old lady!" He exclaimed, before landing on top of a roof in a mighty leap. Bouncing from roof to roof, he was soon lost to the sight of the Senshi.
Cologne eyed the Senshi as Ranma left. "So, you are the famous Sailor Senshi," She said to them.
"That's right! We are the Sailor Senshi! We fight for love and justice and punish evil in the name of the moon!" Sailor Moon exclaimed cheerfully.
"Right, you wouldn't happen to be from a certain kingdom that existed several thousand years ago, would you?" Cologne asked Sailor Moon.
Moon's eyes widened. "How did..." She said, before putting on an expression of innocence. "Nope, not at all." She said, sweating.
Cologne laughed. "Well, that answers that question. Feel free to come down to the Cat Café anytime... I have some questions I'm curious about. I'll even give you lunch for free," Cologne told them. "Go ahead and come without your transformations. That disguise field you all have is quite nice, but not powerful enough to block my vision." With a hop onto her staff, Cologne bounced away, Shampoo following close behind.
"That is one scary old woman." Mars said.
"I don't know. She seemed kind of friendly." Moon protested. They all looked up on the roof where Elion had been as they heard a groaning sound. "Who's that?"
The Senshi leapt on top of the roof, Moon stumbling as she saw what had made the sound. "Mamo-chan!" Moon exclaimed, rushing to his side. She carefully set Chibi-Moon down beside him and cradled his head. "What happened to you?" She asked as his eyes flickered open.
Tuxedo Kamen's eyes widened. "Usako, you're alive?" He asked, shocked.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Moon asked him. Tuxedo Kamen stared at her as if she was crazy.
"When I came, you were surrounded by an immense dark energy! I fought Elion, but couldn't beat him. I was knocked out in the fight. I had thought you were dead." He said. "I'm happy that you are all right." He said, hugging her.
Moon braced herself and pulled Tuxedo Kamen to his feet. "Mars, can you carry Chibi-Moon, please?" Moon asked her. Mars nodded and picked up the young Senshi.
"What happened to her?" Tuxedo Kamen asked, concerned.
"She got knocked out, kind of like you did." Venus said. "She should be awake soon."
Tuxedo Kamen nodded. "All right, lets get out of here. The people should be waking up soon." He said, before leaping off the building.
As the others prepared to follow him, Jupiter held back. "You guys go ahead and go, I still need to talk to Ranma." She said.
"Why?" Moon asked her. Jupiter looked down at her feet.
"I need to find out what is going on. That Akane girl I talked to mentioned several other girls who were after him. I need to find out the truth. That hug the purple haired girl gave him was a bit more than friendly. Maybe I don't have a chance after all. But I refuse to leave without trying. I've spent far too long thinking about him to just leave without knowing the truth." Jupiter explained.
The others nodded. "Okay, we will leave you alone then." Moon said.
"Make sure to call us if you need us. We will be back in no time." Mercury promised.
Jupiter nodded as the other Senshi leapt off the building. After a few seconds of thought, Jupiter leapt off as well, looking around before detransforming back to Makoto.
-
Ranma arrived at the Tendo dojo to see Soun trying to reattach the door to the house. Upon sighting Ranma, energy billowed around him forming into the legendary scare tactic, Demon Head.
"RANMA! WHERE WERE YOU!?" The massive head of energy yelled at Ranma, causing him to skitter backwards.
"I was trying to get the person who hurt everyone!" Ranma protested. The demon head paused for a second, before fading away. "Where were YOU anyways!?" Ranma demanded of Soun, who began to look nervous.
"Well... I was helping Kasumi get groceries. No problem with that is there?" He asked quickly.
"You mean you left the house as soon as you knew Akane wanted to cook." Ranma said. He moved past the Tendo patriarch and through the broken down door. The first thing he heard was an immense bellowing. Following the sound, he found his father, in panda form, still on the floor and still sleeping.
"I can't believe this. The old man really CAN sleep through everything." Ranma muttered. "Kasumi?" Ranma called.
"Ranma, you're back." He heard Kasumi say. "Do you mind checking on Akane? I put her to bed, and I'm too busy trying to clean up this mess."
"Uh, sure thing." He called, before heading up the stairs to Akane's room. He slowly opened the door and peaked inside. With nothing flying his way, he opened the door and walked over to Akane's bed. She shifted restlessly at his approach, and opened her eyes.
"How are you doing, tomboy?" Ranma asked.
"Ranma..." Akane said. "I'm so tired. This strange man came. I don't know what happened, just that I have never felt so tired in my life."
"Don't worry. I took care of him." Ranma said. "Don't know why he bothered with you, though."
"Ranma!" Akane growled, before sighing. "I'm too tired. Go hit yourself with my desk, I can't do it properly myself. Just... leave quietly." Akane said, yawning, before closing her eyes and rolling over.
Ranma tip toed out of the room and closed the door behind him. "Hope you get better soon, Akane." He whispered. "I gotta go find Makoto now."
-
"That was a colossal failure... Elion." A multi toned voice stated. Elion could not see the source. All around him was an impenetrable blackness.
"I threatened to rip you apart and drain your energies. Unfortunately, you don't even have anything left worth draining. As such, consider yourself dismissed. Maybe someday I will have a use for you. Until that day, I don't want to ever see you again." The voice finished.
Elion collapsed to the ground and bowed. "Thank you for your mercy, Master!" He exclaimed
"It is hardly mercy." The voice said. "Leave, now!" It thundered. Elion vanished.
"You really didn't decide to destroy him?" A female voice asked.
"He did serve a purpose... Zandain. You were able to grab quite a bit of energy, enough to recoup from our losses while our enemy was distracted. However, we now have to design a new type of gatherer. That young man possesses a great power, enough to easily destroy one of our current gatherers." The multi toned voice said.
"I'll get right on it." The female voice said, before there was silence.