Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or Sailor Moon. Rumiko Takahashi owns Ranma and Naoko Takeuchi owns Sailor Moon.

Thanks to prereaders: Kuno Baby and Ranger5.

Do I have a late excuse? Um... no. Sheer procrastination and writer's block. However, the next chapter is actually coming along pretty good, so it shouldn't take as long.

Now that I have seen Sailor Stars, anyone care to explain where the whole concept of evil bitch queen Setsuna comes from?

Meh, took 10 mins to actually access quick edit. Maybe I'll post from the computer lab from now on.

Chapter 6

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"Do you know what happened, Ranma? Why was Akane unconscious when we got here?" Kasumi asked Ranma as he came down the stairsthe concern she felt seemed to create a nearly tangible force as she worried about her "family".

"Well... an energy sucking..." Ranma paused. What was Elion? "Demon came into the house and drained her energy. I beat up another demon, but the main one got away." Ranma finished.

"Oh... oh my. A demon?" Kasumi asked. "Ranma, your friends are nice and all, but I have to draw the lines at demons. They just don't belong in a home like this." Kasumi told him.

Ranma nodded, not even taken aback by her lack of shock. "I agree totally, Kasumi. If I see another one, I'll be sure to pound it before it gets inside." Ranma stated.

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"That would be nice of you." Kasumi nodded. "Could you explain something else to me?" She asked, pointing at the kitchen.

Ranma looked at her curiously before taking a peek inside. "Oh man, it looks like a bomb went off in here!" Ranma exclaimed.

The kitchen was a mess. Dishes created a huge stack in the sink. Small bits of several varieties of sauces made large globs on the floor, while pots and pans were all over the place.

"So why is my kitchen a disaster zone?" Kasumi asked levelly, pinning Ranma with a look that on anyone else would've been angry, but on Kasumi simply showed concern.

Ranma shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, Akane was cooking in here, at least before she got her energy drained. She probably made a bit of a mess trying to cook." Ranma explained.

"Ranma, I know my sister is a... not so great cook, but even she normally doesn't do this bad. Something must have really upset her." Kasumi said. "I care deeply about my family, and I want to know what would cause her to do something on this scale. Do you have any idea?" Kasumi asked, concerned.

"Well..." Ranma began nervously. "My old girlfriend kinda came for a visit..." Ranma finished, head bowed and eyes on the floor.

"Your... old girlfriend?" Kasumi asked slowly. "Ranma, I didn't even think you had been around women. When did this happen?"

Ranma shuffled his feet. "Well, I kinda saw her practicing martial arts one day. Challenged her to a spar. She was pretty good. Then she cooked me some of the best food I had ever tasted." Ranma said.

"Really? Is she a good cook?" Kasumi asked as her interest peaked.

"Yeah, she was one of the best as far as I knew. Not as good as you, but close. Anyways, I didn't really know anyone, so we started hanging out, and then she just declared us boyfriend and girlfriend one day." Ranma finished.

"I see..." Kasumi trailed off. "Do you still have feelings for her?" Kasumi probed.

Ranma took a step back, hands raised wardingly. "What kinda question is that!?" He demanded.

"How do you feel about your engagement to Akane?" Kasumi continued.

Ranma began to take several steps back before Kasumi raised her hands in submission. "You don't need to answer. Just... you need to think about things before acting. I know that it is a problem for you, but can you try?" Kasumi pleaded her eyes showing nearly as much feeling for Ranma as her little sister.

Ranma gulped. "I'll try." He promised. "I have to go find Makoto now. I got sidetracked by the monster I fought. She is probably wondering where I went, and I don't trust her alone here." Ranma said, beginning to scoot out of the room.

"Go ahead and go." Kasumi saidwith a small sigh. "I have to clean this kitchen before I can make dinner." Kasumi turned on the faucet and began to get to work on the stack of dishes.

"Don't make me dinner! I'll probably be eating somewhere else." Ranma called as he left the kitchen. Kasumi nodded, not taking her eyes off of the dishes.

"What am I gonna do??" Ranma moaned to himself as he slid open the door to the Tendo house. Just in time to get a pair of knuckles in the head, hard. "OW!" He yelled, his hands rushing up to his head, holding it in pain.

"Ranma! I'm sorry!" Makoto exclaimed. "I was about to knock when you opened the door!" She began to examine him but he waved her off.

"Just... ow! Try not to do it again." Ranma muttered. As the pain swiftly faded away, having struck an area that was quite used to blunt trauma, he focused on the next item of the agenda.

"Um, look, why don't we take a walk? We gotta talk about some things and I don't wanna do it here." Ranma requested.

Makoto nodded happily. 'He wants to go for a walk! We'll be back together in no time!' She mentally crowed to herself.

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"Are you sure we can't go watch her?" Usagi begged. Rei shook her head in exasperation.

"Usagi, she caught us once already. To try again would probably make her mad." Rei told her.

Ami looked up from the book she was reading. "Besides, spying is wrong." She said with conviction.

Minako sidled up to her. "Then why were you the first in line, Ami?" She asked slyly.

Ami blushed and quickly looked down at her book, pretending to read.

"Look at all the bunnies." Chibi-Usa moaned from the bed she was laying on. Instantly, the other Senshi stood around the bed, looking at her anxiously.

"Usagi? What happened? Why does my head hurt so much?" Chibi-Usa asked, wincing as her head throbbed.

"You got hit pretty hard." Rei said. "Now, um, can you detransform? We couldn't do it for you, and I don't want my grandpa coming in and seeing Sailor Chibi-Moon lying in one of our beds."

Chibi-Usa thought about nodding, but the pounding in her head made that thought run for the hills. In a flash, her sailor uniform disappeared, while the school outfit she had been wearing before reappeared.

Mamoru walked in the room carrying a tray with soup and a large glass of water on it. "You're awake!" He said, before setting the tray on the table by the bed. "How are you?" Mamoru asked, concerned.

"My head hurts a lot. I guess I'm okay otherwise, though." Chibi-Usa told him. She turned to the other Senshi and asked, "Where's Mako-chan?"

"She's trying to make up with Ranma." Usagi said. "Now you better get to sleep. You took a big hit to the noggin."

Chibi-Usa yawned. "Okay. I don't feel like getting up anyway..." She trailed off, her eyes closing. 'I'm sure they don't need me anyways. And Mako-chan can do this one by herself.' With one last burst of thought, Chibi-Usa's breathing leveled out as she fell asleep again

"I'll take her to my house. You guys should see if Luna and Artemis found anything out." Mamoru said.

"That's a good idea, Mamo-chan. C'mon guys, lets go see if they finally got us something useful that hasn't already been covered by the Mercury computer." Usagi said to the rest of the Senshi as Mamoru carefully picked up Chibi-Usa.

"Call me if you need anything, Usako." Mamoru said to Usagi. She nodded, and all together they left the shrine.

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Ranma and Makoto walked in silence. For Ranma, it was simply the inability to come up with anything to say. Makoto was waiting patiently, both hoping for and dreading the words Ranma might speak.

Finally, Ranma decided that he needed to say something. He had asked her to walk with him, so it was up to him to get things done.

"Look, Makoto. Here's how it is. I have two fiancées. Not only that, but another girl wants to marry me because of some stupid law of her people, but she is honor bound to follow it, the same way I'm honor bound to marry the other two." Ranma stated.

"I've been wondering that. Just how on earth did you end up with two fiancées?" Makoto asked. "I mean, even if one is arranged, how did you get two?"

A look of annoyance crossed Ranma's face. "Blame it on pops. He engaged me and a member of the Tendo family back before I was even born. Then the other girl, Ukyo, my dad engaged me to in order to get their okonomiyaki cart, which was the dowry. Pops, being who he was, took me with him and ran off with it. I was too young to know any better." Ranma finished.

Makoto frowned. "What about the other one? How did you end up engaged to her?"

Ranma shrugged. "She's a Chinese Amazon. They have this weird law that if a male outsider defeats one of their warriors in combat, they have to marry. She chased me back to Japan. Eventually, her great grandmother came along as well. We had some fights, but she has kinda left me alone lately. She even helps out sometimes." Ranma explained.

Makoto nodded. 'That would probably be that one girl who was hugging him.' Makoto thought to herself. 'And that old woman would be her great grandmother then.'

"Anyway, that's the size of it. I already have more women than I can deal with after me. So there is no reason for you to stay." Ranma said with finality.

Makoto winced. 'That does sound pretty bad. Although...' She thought. She spoke aloud, "Well then, what's one more?"

"And... what?" Ranma blinked, confused.

"Just what would one more girl after you mean? Not much, would it?" Makoto asked. "But for me, it would make me a lot happier. You are the only boyfriend I've ever had!" Makoto exclaimed. Ruefully, she thought, 'Although it certainly isn't for lack of trying.'

Ranma stared at Makoto, stupefied. "But... but..." Ranma stuttered. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "But I already have enough women after me! Adding another one would make things twice as bad! Besides I don't believe someone as pretty and nice as you hasn't had lots of boys ...," He weakly protested. "...not to mention you're a great cook. You could have found someone else a long time ago."

Makoto flushed, her heart racing as she considered Ranma's words. Then sheshook her head. "None like you." She whispered, before saying aloud, "So there is some competition. It's not that bad. I mean, what problems could I cause you?" Makoto demanded.

Ranma felt a cold feeling surge through his veins. 'This is hopeless!' He screamed mentally to himself. 'If I don't do something, she'll be hanging around all the time! Adding another martial artist to the girl mix is treading on dangerous ground. Think Ranma, think!' Ranma blared mentally.

"Ranma, what's wrong? You look like the world is about to end." Makoto asked, worried.

'I know! I'll just show her what she would be getting in to! Once she sees how crazy this place is, she'll have to leave!' Ranma thought in triumph.

"Makoto, why don't I give you a tour of the town? Show you the sights?" Ranma asked, smirking.

Makoto stared at him. "That was an awfully quick way to change the subject. What's with that smirk?" She asked slowly, as things weren't adding up quite right

"Errr, nothing!" Ranma said hastily. "C'mon, follow me!" Ranma exclaimed, before hopping onto a roof and bouncing away. Makoto stood in shook, while Ranma hopped back and off the building. "Forgot you couldn't do that." Ranma muttered. He grabbed her arm and took off, leaving dust trails in his wake.

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"Ranma, you're going too fast!" Makoto exclaimed, almost being dragged along by the pigtailed martial artist. Ranma didn't reply. However, it was only a few seconds before he skidded to a stop, his feet digging into the ground. Makoto hurled ahead of him, but managed to stop herself before falling.

"What's the big idea!?" Makoto yelled at him, puffing for breath.

"Eh, I wanted to show you around." Ranma said while tugging on his pigtail.

"What's the rush?" Makoto demanded. "We go from talking about you and I to me being dragged at rapid velocities that I don't think I could match even at my best."

Ranma smirked. "Well, I didn't want to miss the, um, parade." He said. He cupped a hand over one of his ears. "Should be any minute now." Ranma declared.

Makoto raised an eyebrow. "A parade?" She asked. "Ranma, how did we get from talking about us to talking about a parade?" Makoto wondered.

"Uh, well I figured you would be interested in seeing it." Ranma explained hurriedly.

Makoto opened her mouth again but just then the ground started to tremble. Loud screams and shouts began to float in on the wind. Makoto turned her head, listening intently. "Is this the sound of the parade? Sounds more like some kind of monster is attacking people." Makoto told Ranma.

Ranma shrugged. "Well... not exactly a parade... and not exactly a monster... although some times I wonder. Here they come!" Ranma exclaimed, stepping in front of Makoto but not obscuring her vision. Makoto's jaw dropped as she was treated to a sight that was quite rare outside of Nerima.

"What a haul!" Happosai exclaimed, his small body blurring along the ground, with a sack several times as large as he was hanging off of his shoulder. Behind him rose a trail of dust, the silhouettes of women wielding various instruments of pervert punishment following swiftly behind.

"I think I'll just let him ignore me today." Ranma muttered as the so-called 'Parade' traveled past them at rapid speeds. Ranma looked at Makoto, who was staring at where the old pervert and women had run past. 'That should do it.' Ranma thought to himself.

Makoto shook her head. 'Weird people.' She thought to herself before turning to Ranma. "Was that the parade? Why did you want me to see that?" She asked confused.

Ranma sighed. 'Maybe I shouldn't have let her think it was planned. Thinking more than five seconds should help next time.' Ranma mentally berated himself. "No reason. I just thought it would mean something to you." Ranma explained to her.

"Eh? Like what? I've never seen any of them before. What's the significance?" The brown haired girl asked, confused.

Ranma shook his head. "Never mind. Hey, tell you what, why don't I buy you dinner?" He asked, smiling at her.

Makoto beamed at him. "That would be very nice of you! But why are you jumping around so much?" She asked. Ranma waved his hand, pretending not to hear the question.

"Come on. There is a good place right around here." He said, lightly walking along the ground. Makoto followed behind him, walking past a block of buildings, before Ranma stopped them.

Makoto looked up at the small shack, her eyes freezing on the sign to the building that read, "Cat Café."

"Erk." Makoto said intelligently as Ranma grabbed her arm and started pulling her inside the building.

"Ranma! You come see me again already!" The cheerful, chirpy voice that Makoto had heard earlier that day came closer, as the purple haired Amazon cheerfully ran over to Ranma, grabbing him in a fierce hug.

"Shampoo! Get offa me!" Ranma exclaimed automatically, grabbing her by the shoulders and prying her off. Shampoo let go, before grabbing on his arm, only to notice that his arm happened to be connected to his hand that happened to be holding another arm. Shampoo hopped backwards, appraising the new arrival.

"Who brown haired girl?" Shampoo demanded.

"This is Makoto Kino." Ranma said, introducing her.

Makoto bowed. "Pleased to meet you." Makoto said.

Shampoo frowned. "Shampoo have tables to wait. Shampoo talk to Ranma, later." Shampoo said in a low voice, turning sharply on her heel and moving to attend to a married couple that had been waiting for several minutes.

Ranma exhaled his breath. 'Maybe taking her here wasn't such a good idea. I don't need a knock down drag out fight on my hands.' Ranma thought to himself.

Makoto frowned at the Amazon as she moved away. 'This is actually looking pretty bad.' Makoto finally admitted to herself. 'But I have to be strong! I won't get anywhere by not trying!' Makoto thought, firming her determination.

"Well, Ranma, what brings you here?" Cologne asked from the counter she was sitting on. Makoto gulped as Cologne's eyes fixed on her, narrowing for a second, before moving on to Ranma.

"I kinda wanted to get something to eat." Ranma explained. "I don't know how long it will take Kasumi to clean the kitchen, and I'm hungry now." Ranma said as he sat down in a chair. Makoto slowly pulled out another chair and sat in it.

Shampoo walked over to them, while Cologne waited silently for them to order. "What you want, Ranma?" Shampoo asked him sweetly.

"I'll take two ramen bowls." Ranma told her. "What did you want, Makoto?" He asked.

"Um, I'll just have one ramen bowl, please." Makoto said politely. Ranma nodded to Shampoo, who sighed before moving away to drop the order off in the kitchens.

"So who is this?" Cologne asked conversationally, pointing her staff at the girl sitting next to Ranma.

"This is Makoto Kino. I've known her for about two years." Ranma said. 'Alright ghoul, stick to form now.' Ranma thought to himself.

"Two years, huh?" Cologne said studying the brown haired girl, who gulped nervously. Cologne gave her a reassuring, yet horrible, smile, and turned back to Ranma, while Makoto let out the breath she had been holding in. "So why did you come here with her?" Cologne asked.

"Well, I wanted to show her around." Ranma explained.

"So, you are new around here?" Cologne asked Makoto, who nodded.

"I live in Juuban. I just came here to visit Ranma." Makoto stated.

Cologne nodded. "What have you seen so far?" She asked.

Makoto frowned. "Well, Ranma showed me what he called a parade. A bunch of women were chasing some strange old man who was even smaller than Rei's grandfather." Makoto said. "Then we came directly here."

Cologne raised an eyebrow as she looked at Ranma, who stared at the ceiling and twiddled his thumbs. "Really." Cologne said. She lifted her staff into the air as three bowls of ramen flew towards her. In a flash of motion, she took the force out of them and delivered them to the table using her staff. "Well, enjoy you're meal. This one is on the house." Having said that, Cologne hopped over to Shampoo, whispered something into her ear, and headed upstairs. Shampoo glowered but didn't say anything in return.

"Thank you, Ranma. This was really nice of you." Makoto said.

"Uh, yeah, it was I guess..." Ranma said, a sickly smile on his face. 'The ghoul really let me down this time! No threats, no attacks, no nothing. What am I supposed to do now?' Ranma thought to himself.

They ate their ramen in silence. Makoto with a contented smile, and Ranma with his face screwed into an expression of thought. At least, an expression that looked somewhat thoughtful, since Ranma was stuffing his face with ramen. Makoto was forced to eat at an incredible pace to keep up. She wasn't surprised, however, since she had seen him eat many times before. Although he seemed to be eating slower.

Ranma finished his ramen nervously. The ghoul hadn't done anything aside from chatting a bit. Ranma's eyes shifted back and forth. He was still hoping for a surprise assault, from which he could grab Makoto and escape, convincing her never to come around the crazy part of the city again. Unfortunately, even after his ramen was gone, none seemed forthcoming. Cologne had come back down and was still serving ramen, acting for all the world as if a threat to Shampoo didn't exist.

Makoto finally finished her ramen, and sighed loudly in contentment. 'If this isn't a date, I don't know what is.' She thought smiling to herself. Ranma noticed that she was done and stood up. Makoto followed suit, while she stretched and yawned. Ranma sighed as he led the way out of the store and halfheartedly checked the shadows, but didn't see anything to his disappointment.

Makoto looked up to the sky as the sun went down below the horizon. "I should probably be getting back now." Makoto said.

"Uh, yeah. That would be a good idea." Ranma said lamely.

Makoto smiled at him. "I had a lot of fun. Thank you." She said.

Ranma scuffed his feet on the ground while saying, "Ah, no problem. I should be getting home too."

Makoto nodded. "I'll come out and visit you again!" She exclaimed cheerfully. Ranma glumly nodded. With a wave, Makoto took off in a sprint, smiling widely.

Ranma sighed, and began to walk back to the Tendo's. 'Well, that was a bust.' Ranma thought to himself. 'I suppose it could be worse. Ukyo and everyone else could find out. Although if she comes over any more, I'm going to be in trouble.'

Ranma suddenly stopped as a chilling thought ran through his mind. 'Oh no! If Nabiki found out... I've been lucky so far, but this could be a disaster.' Ranma said mentally. 'Maybe I could,' Ranma paused in his thoughts. 'Maybe I could just let things sort themselves out?' Ranma wondered. 'Maybe I should just wait, and then see what I can do?'

Ranma sighed. "Right, and next I'll go beat down the old pervert, take on a dragon, and solve all the fiancée problems." He said aloud. "If this keeps up, I'll have to get some expert advice. And there aren't very many 'experts' around here." Ranma shrugged to himself.

"'Let tomorrow take care of itself,' some wise person said." Ranma stated. "I'm tired. I'll just figure it out tomorrow." He said, before heading inside the Tendo Household that he had been standing outside for several minutes.

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"I haven't gotten all that much more data than was collected by the Mercury Computer." Luna said as she sat on one of the high stools in front of an arcade machine. Rather than a game, there was a large volume of text and information scrolling down the screen.

"Let's hear what you have." Rei said to Luna.

"Well, composition wise, these enemies seem to be made out of the energy they absorb, rather than being sustained by it. That's why the Mercury computer has been returning such high amounts of energy when scanned." Luna explained.

"That explains it. What about Elion? My computer couldn't quite scan him, although it gave him a very hi 'ki' value, higher than Ranma's." Ami asked.

Rei sighed and shook her head. "All our enemies that drain energy are utilizing ki, just tainted by darkness. The reason he had so much is because he took it from others, rather than producing it himself. By the way he held it he is either human or something similar." Rei said.

Luna nodded her furry head. "He appeared to be a human with a massive amount of power that in no way could have been produced by him." Luna stated. "As for any other information... they appear to be vulnerable to attacks utilizing opposing ki, although what constitutes opposing I have no idea. And... well... I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he has a leader somewhere and he isn't the last one." Luna decided.

The Senshi grinned. "It never ends after just one." Minako said. The others nodded in agreement.

Artemis' head popped up from in front of one of the arcade consoles. "I haven't done much better on the tactical side. Elion had around the same level of control as the dark generals of Beryl, just with more power and less intelligence. Although that void bomb spell was really nasty." Artemis said.

"If it wasn't for Ranma, it would have gotten us." Usagi said. "What exactly did Ranma do to get us out of it?" Usagi asked curiously.

Artemis concentrated on his screen for a second. "Well, all he really did was perform some motions and create a tornado. A spiral motion, combined with energy and heat, and a corkscrew uppercut thrust upwards were all that it seems to need. Although the uppercut has to be cold. I don't know how he could develop something like that unless he had the power to pull it off long enough to try it out." Artemis said.

Luna sighed. "We have seen that he has plenty of power for a human. I'm glad he isn't tainted by darkness, although I would love to know how simple martial arts training can produce that kind of power." Luna muttered.

Rei shrugged. "It would have to horrific training if its just pure martial arts. I get my ability to use ki through spiritual training, and I can't project it like that." Rei explained.

Artemis nodded. "Anyway, I've created a method for Sailor Mercury and Mars to potentially duplicate the attack. I had to use a scientific analysis to figure this out. If you combine a hot opponent and perform the cold uppercut using your ice powers, you might be able to duplicate the attack. All you have to do is lead them in a spiral pattern, and hit it. I can't guarantee its power, however. I also have no easy way for you to train for it." Artemis said to everyone else.

Ami pursed her lips. "So that powerful move was simply created on the fundamentals of hot and cold air, and the tornado? Ranma must be pretty smart in order to figure out something like that." She said.

Minako raised her eyebrows. "He didn't seem all that smart to me. Especially when he burned Mako-chan." Minako said.

Usagi shushed her with her hands. "Let's just leave that out of this." She turned back to Artemis and Luna, and asked, "Any other useful information?"

Both Artemis and Luna shook their heads. "You might ask Ranma next time you get into a fight what kind of move he used to obliterate that last gatherer." Artemis suggested. "Other than that, I think it's time to get home before any of your parents begin to worry."

Usagi grinned nervously. "Eh heh heh... its past bedtime isn't it." She said more than asked. Luna and Artemis nodded solemnly. In a flash, she picked up Luna and barreled out the door, running along at high speeds. In a mere second she was gone.

The others sighed as the watched her leave. "You'd think she didn't want to keep this a secret, as much noise as she is making." Rei said. The others merely nodded.

End Chapter 6