Heir to the Empire

by Ozzallos

Usagi Tsukino is the heir to Serenity's Silver Millennium. She's also about to get the surprise of her life, as is one Ranma Saotome, Heir to the Anything Goes school of Martial Arts. COMPLETE.

7. Chapter 7

Heir to the Empire

By: Ozzallos
Editing: Quizer
Fire Support: Fukufics(dotcom)

Chapter 7

"It was the most glorious day of my life. Imagine it! The dream of every Amazon warrior! I remember it so clearly… My jian literally dripped with its magical essence as I called out for my goddess. I had proven myself worthy and sought to claim my right.

She answered, and I knew hell.

At first, I thought she had forsaken me. The pit of shifting blackness I had been sentenced to seemed lifeless at first, but it wasn't. Shadow beasts prowled around me, their ethereal forms stalking around me as if I were prey; their next meal. I was, of course, weaponless but for my hands, and I began to entertain the idea that this was yet another test.

So I fought.

I fought an innumerable number of the wraith, yet they kept coming. Sometimes singular, sometimes in packs. It was as if they were all vying to be the one to take me down, and often fought amongst themselves for the privilege as I continued to fend off their brethren. After so many battles I realized my own form was entirely spirit, and as long as I could maintain that, I could not be defeated… But there were hundreds of battles. Maybe thousands. They could not wound my body, but my belief faltered. This was no test. I had been damned. Cast down. I was in hell itself, the promise of my goddess nothing more than a hollow dream. Would I be forgiven? Would I ever be free? These questions flickered only briefly within my soul as the shadows claimed me, devouring my spirit to fuel theirs. My suffering gave them sustenance, enabling them to manifest into the physical realm under the command of the goddess herself. At first I was hopeful. Perhaps my sacrifice would endear me to her service.

I was a fool.

Oh, we waged war against her adversaries… Or rather the shadow constructs did so as they dragged my soul behind them. Given physical form, they not only waged war against the sisters of Serenity, but engaged in acts no Amazon would dare to contemplate. They slaughtered warriors and children alike in an effort to further their master's cause, and I was forced to bear witness to it all. To participate in those vile acts. This was my goddess. The progenitor of our people. I was disgusted. Ashamed. My only salvation laid in the fact that regardless of their numbers, her demonic army suffered from a total lack of skill. Power, they had in abundance, but whatever skill they gained from their Amazonian core was meager at best. My spirit would have expired long ago if not for the sheer pleasure I gained from watching Beryl's army suffer defeat after defeat. Even my own host was badly damaged in one such operation, forcing its essence back to the void to regenerate or die.

And there I remained until the next trial. The shadows took me once more to face a fellow Amazon. I despaired until she loosed the killing blow upon my demonic captor… Then nothing. Reality stopped. Until today… Now I have been summoned from hell by the Amazon's greatest enemy and cast out because for it. I have lost everything I know to the annals of time, yet one thing remains…

If you are the Amazonian hell of ages, then perhaps it is time for that age to end. I have seen the alternative, and it continues to claim my sisters and people, subjecting them to endless torment until their will dies or their spirit is broken. I survived out of sheer spite; the desire to see Beryl fail time after time. Few were this lucky, this I know, and now there is only one thing left for me--

I am yours to command in all things, My Queen."

The Senshi stared on as Wax's tale came to an end, and with it, Setsuna's translation of her native mandarin. The women in the center of their circle had been led to believe that Beryl's cause was righteous, only to be sold into eternal damnation at her hands. Wax had suffered nearly four and a half centuries of that torment, yet had somehow endured… slightly worse for the wear. It was all she could do to remain focused and not focus on the shadows in the corners of the dojo where unseen enemies undoubtedly awaited to claim her once more. Each flick of the traumatized Amazon's eyes stabbed at her heart, and Ranma couldn't help but to feel sympathy. Four and a half centuries of torture made her messed up life look like a goddamn walk in the park. In that moment, two parts of Ranma came to an agreement. Her status as queen in this lifetime may have been up for debate, but her character both then and now was not.

The silver haired pigtailed girl rode from her sitting position and stepped into the center of the dojo and up to the kneeling Amazon, who still couldn't bring her gray eyes to meet her audience. Ranma took her chin gently and lifted her face up. A subtle glow began to radiate from the martial artist, its intensity growing until the shadows were banished from every corner of the dojo. Wax's eyes widened to incredulity.

"I won't let the darkness take ya again."

Setsuna looked upon the pair and smiled softly. There wasn't any need to translate her best friend's words into mandarin, as she could tell Wax had understood every word through action alone. The shadows were gone and indeed, this woman was taking it upon herself to banish them for her. Ranma turned to Potion next to her sister Amazon and found her staring in similar amazement. While Potion had endured the same treatment for an estimated fifty years, the effects was more like a horrible dream than Wax's reality. It also helped that she never saw that her host activated. She too took to one knee in subservience and Ranma gave her a simple nod before turning back to Setsuna and the remaining Senshi.

"I think I know what Cologne's doing." She began, motioning back to the Amazon warriors. "Regardless of what really happened to 'em, their lives are forfeit to the tribe. If they're coming like I think they are, they'll kill 'em on sight."

"And if your Amazon friend keeps them…" The green haired Senshi of time concluded grimly.

"She might as well slit their throats herself." Ranma nodded. "Don't matter what she thinks at this point. Somethin's happened back there and her word just isn't carrying the same weight. They find Potion and Wax with her, it's a death sentence."

"So… Why the big production?" Ami asked curiously. "She seemed pretty intent on ex-communication."

"Like I said, she always playin' the angles." The martial artist explained. "This way, I figure she can at least claim to have followed orders when they arrived. I took my demons and ran, Cologne satisfies their suspicions and positions herself to retake power if we don't kick their asses."

"Which we will." Setsuna stated off-handedly.

Ranma smiled. "Oh yeah. I'm more worried about collateral damage than anything else, because you can be sure Beryl didn't leave 'em empty handed."

Usagi cocked her head as she wondered at the turn of events that seemed to be spiraling closer and closer to a violent conclusion. "But how do you know all this? I mean this Cologne woman could just be really, really sneaky."

"Because that what I would do If I…" Ranma smile faded as two lifetimes intermingled. No, that's not what the Ranma of today would do, but politics was Queen Serenity's bread and butter. Pre-reincarnation Ranma would have never seen this scheme coming. Oh, she would have suspected that the Old Ghoul was up to something, but that wasn't a hard leap to make. She always was, after all. But to her in the here and now, the plan was crystal clear. "Uh, anyway, she's banking on us not only protecting the girls here, but weakening her opposition so that she can seize power, I'm guessin'."

"Fine by me." Haruka growled, cracking her knuckles. "Any friend of Beryl needs a swift kick in the ass. All she would have had to do was ask."

"Which is why we'll be making a visit to the moon." Setsuna took over, sensing her best friend had some memories to reconcile. "If Beryl has left some surprises behind, we'll want to take them out fast and hard. That means an upgrade in firepower if we can find something that wasn't atomized during the Fall of the Moon."

Michiru brushed a sea green curl out of her face and raised a hand politely. "If I may, why didn't we do this earlier?"

"Fair question." Setsuna nodded. "Anything that's still intact is going to be buried and buried deep. That means sealed labs, special armories and access codes."

"Okay, obvious question..." Minako leaned forward. "Don't you have the access codes? I mean, you're her best friend, right?"

"Dual lock-out." The Mistress of Time returned. "Much of the hardware inside the vaults are so lethal that it requires two Senshi or better to access them."

"And since we don't remember the codes..." Ami realized, earning a nod from Setsuna while leaving the other Senshi to wonder just exactly what was so lethal that it had to be locked up in an underground vault requiring two of them to open. Ranma, on the other hand, knew exactly what her friend was talking about, and if her memories were right, had herself insisted upon the matter after a particular incident. The martial artist's stomach began to churn even as one particular incident came to mind. She had been engaged... To marry…

Even as the emotions began to come to a head, reprieve was found as the door to the dojo burst open, admitting one balding martial artist and another skinnier mustachioed one. For once, she was thankful for the interruption, even though the content of their inevitable bluster was beyond doubt.

"I told you he was still a girl, Tendo!" Ranma looked from his father to prospective father with slight dismay. Still, the distraction they provided from the shadows of a previous lifetime was a welcome one at the moment. Soun Tendo sent an admonishing head shake her way, prompting her to roll her eyes. "Boy! You will get some hot water and stop encouraging these girls to be your fiancées at once!"

Ranma closed her eyes, shutting out the pair in a desperate need to find her center. Her life was being pulled in too many directions at once and even though they provided a distraction from the memories, they were doing nothing more than throwing gasoline on the identity tug-o-war raging in her head. This life still had just as many obligations as the last, obligations that weren't hers and were all but impossible to fulfill. She turned her attention back to the parents without ever moving or even opening her eyes.

"I thought we went over this last night?" Her voice was dead calm and had the Patriarchs been paying closer attention, would have noted that Ranma's voice was never dead calm. Setsuna noticed it and quietly began to usher the remaining Senshi back. While she didn't know Ranma intimately, she did know Serenity like a sister. The glow that persisted around the martial artist queen continued wavered with intensity as if something were fighting for control inside of her. Yes, the Mistress of Time knew her best friend and knew that couldn't possibly be a good thing.

As for herself, Ranma could even feel the queen aspect of her psyche pushing the martial artist into action, its patience worn all too thin by their incessant prodding. That part of her didn't see these men as a father or prospective father in-law. They were nuisances to that 14,000 year old persona, ones that manipulated other people to their own selfish end. Too many of those types had contributed to the collapse of her kingdom and it was all she could do to hold that part of her at bay. "I'd leave if I were yas… Before I do something I might regret."

"Don't back talk to me, Boy!" Each word that fell from her father's mouth pushed her Serenity aspect closer to the edge. It was either find a common ground between the part that knew this was her father or… unleash. "The schools can't be joined with you running around as a girl with your new girlfriends."

The calculated sneer in his voice caused Serenity to gain the measure of Ranma and the light that had maintained a steady illumination of the room began to soar to incandescent levels. So focused was she on maintaining control that she didn't even notice as Setsuna rattled off a swift sentence in mandarin. The reaction was instantaneous and overwhelming.

"HHHAIiiiiiiiiYAAAAHH!"

Two lithe Amazon's launched themselves into the parents with primal ferocity, forcing both men to break off their goading of Ranma in deference to saving their own skins as they quickly found themselves parrying blow after blow of Amazon wu-shu origin. The pigtailed queen's rage stalled abruptly as she watched Wax and Potion lay into the wayward father figures, who were now practically running for their very lives. Well that was… convenient.

"I don't know what I paid ya back then, Set-chan, but it obviously wasn't enough." Ranma commented back over her shoulder, finding Setsuna with a long grin across her face. That had pleased both past and present Ranma entirely too much. As much as she was inclined to go outside and watch the ass-kicking take place, she had more pressing matters to attend to. She gave another wistful glance to the doorway of their departure and sighed as a series of ki-born flashes illuminated the twilight beyond. Dammit, she SO wanted to watch. Ah well. "Whattdya tell 'em, anyway?"

"Just that the males were trying to marry you, the queen of an empire, off." Setsuna stated in an off hand manner and watch Ranma's smile mirror her own. It was about time Amazon culture worked to her advantage.

"That was evil. I approve." Ranma Saotome-Serenity nodded, then put a finger to her lip. "Um, where were we, again?"

Usagi shuffled forward with a pensive look on her face, gaining her mother's undivided attention. "I, um… Have something to ask…." Ranma merely cocked her head, listening. "About Mamoru… you weren't… serious… were you?"

Dammit, Ranma scolded herself and the delay action memories that were plaguing her existence as of late. She still wanted to slap some sense into the girl for choosing a rose throwing pansy, but that thought was immediately accompanied by the flash of his last act of the Silver Millennium; charging a possessed Beryl with the blur of his vibro-sword and falling by her hand.

"I… yeah, I was, but I remember more now…" Ranma replied softly. That memory triggered a cascade of them, and she realized in that moment, the boy she had scorned was her daughter's own fiancé. Damn, damn, damn. She took a deep breath and made her decision. "He's yours if you want him."

Moon's eyes shown brightly with the verdict, and she lurched forward. "Thank you, Mo--!"

"But." Usagi froze a scant few inches from enveloping her reincarnated mother in a hug with the word. She waited there, perilously balanced as the pigtailed martial arts queen listed the conditional. "If he so much as throws another rose, he's gone. I said it before and I'll say it again. Won't be havin' my daughter marry a Kuno."

"We can get him a proper weapon when we raid the moon armories." Setsuna commented from her side. "Besides, it's best to let them get together, since certain outcomes hinge on it."

"Outcomes?" The Saotome once again gained the feeling that she was wandering out of her conversational depth.

"Like Crystal Tokyo." Michiru inserted from behind Setsuna, who visibly winced.

"Crystal Tokyo?" Ranma blinked cluelessly, and her best friend's face began to take on a pained expression.

"Yeah, about that…"

Something about her expression triggered another memory in Ranma's brain and she played the instinct that came with it. "Girls, clear the room. Go play with the Amazons or somethin'."

"Mom?" Usagi wondered and Ranma nodded at her.

"You too, Sa-chan."

The blonde hesitated a moment longer, watching her mother and Setsuna stare at one another before filing out with the other Senshi. Once she heard the click of the door, Ranma began. "Alright, Set-chan. I know that look. Don't know how, but I do. Spill it."

Setsuna let loose a depressed sigh and leaned against the nearest wall. "The fall of the Silver Millennium left everything in shambles. Without the ability to back-step through the Timegates, all I could do was gather information. What was done, was done." Ranma nodded and she continued. "You have to understand that she must have set up a sacrifice network on nearly every planet of the Empire to summon a force that massive. You may have killed Beryl, but that didn't stop her demon force from sweeping outward beyond our borders. Everybody around us took it on the chin before their anchor to this plane faded entirely. That lasted nearly two hundred years."

"Damn her…" Ranma growled. She had been too soft with Beryl. Far too soft. Even today, she wasn't the type to kill on a whim, but hindsight was twenty-twenty. Given the same opportunity over again…

"There was nothing left." Setsuna resumed the tale. "I watched as you sent the girls forward and did the only thing I could; prep the timeline for their arrival in the here and now."

"But?"

"But the devil's in the details, and there were a lot of devils." The Mistress of Time shook her head. "The biggest of which was Crystal Tokyo. A little more than a decade from now a giant asteroid will graze Earth, a piece of Nemesis. Call it the last act of an enemy named Wiseman."

Ranma's eyes widened as she absorbed the information. Nemesis sounded vaguely familiar. Either way, it was pretty hardcore to blow up your own planet as your last act of vengeance. "So this thing is gonna hit Earth?"

"No." Her best friend confirmed. "It'll come to about fifteen miles at its closest approach, its energy evaporating half the Pacific Ocean and the icecaps. The initial loss of life will be devastating, of course."

"Of course…" Ranma mouthed, absolutely stunned at the news.

"From there, Earth's ecosystem goes terminal. The evaporation and fallout will block out the atmosphere, sending the planet spiraling into a post-apocalyptic winter. Odds favor the total extinction of mankind by 2052."

Ranma's feet gave way with the final blow, and she sank to her knees as the complete failure of her rule was bulleted with point by point precision. "The girls…. Weren't enough?"

Setsuna knelt by her best friend in life, wrapping her in an embrace. "They will be. Are, but just barely. But even then, I had to shed some morals to ensure their survival."

The sorrow in her words brought Ranma back from her pit of self loathing as she focused on her friend's pain. "I mean, forget about everything I had to do to history in order to make this a nominal timeline. Hell, the wars I instigated and the occasional assassination don't even compare to what I ultimately will have to do…"

Ranma hung on every word. "What did… will you do?"

"I have to pull the asteroid in tighter." She frowned, and a tear began to well up in her eyes. "Saturn wouldn't be able to destroy it. Chaos magic at its core would react with her Death Reborn and annihilate half the solar system. Moon couldn't do it. She was too inexperienced and lacked the absolute power you have. But she could nudge it."

"Nudge it?"

"Not far enough out to matter, mind you." She wiped away the wetness threatening to break from her shining eyes. "But if I had her move it in closer, the pass would only last hours instead of days. Mankind would survive, but the initial event was much more violent." Ranma held her silence and her best friend continued, her voice almost devoid of emotion now. "Moon wouldn't do it on her own when the time came, of course. Instead of dying a slow, freezing death, I was killing ninety-nine percent of the population in the space of three hours. Couldn't tell her that. Lucky for me the girl didn't know a thing about astronomy and was pretty weak in physics too. I would just point the spot I wanted her to unload on and she'd do it 'for love and justice.'"

"And that's the secret of Crystal Tokyo, built on lies and mass murder." Ranma simply sat there with her mouth open as Setsuna refused to make eye contact. Her entire form slumped, as if the very telling had drained the green haired Senshi of life. "You'd be well within your rights to execute me right here and now. Heck, I wouldn't even try to stop you, your Highness. I don't want to become that woman, but I've seen the timeline. My only choice other than to let humanity die is to become a monster. Not simply that, but force your daughter to become one as well." A small, dead laugh escaped her lips. "Hell, she'll force her own daughter to remain a child so she won't have to grow up through the holocaust. How screwed up is that?"

Ranma stood up, stroking her silver pigtail with apprehension. This was her best friend from an age long forgotten. What did she say to her? What do you say to a person willing to sacrifice a few billion people? Did the ends really justify the means? Apparently they do. A portion of her conscious reminded her. Surprisingly it wasn't from the aspect that had wielded the power of star fleets and destroyed entire worlds. The words came from the lowly martial artist as it recalled her battle with Saffron. That same person had been willing to sacrifice the lives of an entire race for a group of friends. She knew from experience in both lifetimes that there was only one person to judge her and that person would be hardest of all on time's Senshi…

Setsuna herself.

"Set-chan, get up." She ordered softly, and red eyes rose to meet her own. Still the woman didn't stand. "Look, you ain't the one that screwed up. I did. If memory serves, I forced you into an impossible situation by ordering you to the gates at the last moment. You're just cleaning up my messes, as usual."

"But I…"

''Cides, while I ain't the most conversant on time travel and all, none of this has happened yet, right?" Ranma cut her off. "And I sure as hell won't let it happen. Maybe we'll have to dig a big freakin' gun out of the moon… Beats the hell out of me, but I won't let my best friend sacrifice her soul because of my screw up."

Setsuna slowly rose to her feet, staring at the girl. It was the first time in nearly 14,000 years she had anybody to share the burden of the future with but herself and she latched on to the offer as if it was a life preserver. For the second time since their meeting Setsuna plowed into her sister like a freight train, tears unleashed.

/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/

Ryoga Hibiki stared at the wavering ghost in front of him, waving a hand through her as she continued telling tale of woe. The initial shock of her magically appearing in front of him was lessened as she told her sorrowful tale to an audience of one. Nor did the beautiful silver-haired ghost seemed to realize he was even there, and didn't seem to take notice as he waved a hand through her head. As far as the Lost Boy could tell, she was talking about the fall of some great empire. After another minute of narration - most of which went over his head - she closed her eyes and faded from existence, leaving him alone in the sterile hallway once more. Of course, there was only one thing such a strange event could mean…

Ryoga Hibiki was once again lost.

Nothing new there, he thought and gave the recently departed ghost girl one last moment of consideration. Last week he had been somewhere in South America. The day before, Egypt. Now… The fanged martial artists sighed. Beats the hell out of me. He now found himself in some sort of complex maze of interconnected hallways that stretched for miles. Up. Down. Left. Right. Didn't matter. Half the place was obviously trashed, like he and Ranma had gone at it without regard to property damage. The thought warmed him. When he got back from wherever he as, he'd be sure to give his sparring partner and rival a good pasting this time.

All in all, the Lost Boy wasn't too worried. It wasn't the first time this had happened, nor would it be the last. Either he would get lost again to somewhere else or something interesting would happen sooner or later, both of which he hoped would happen sooner than later…

...These hallways were getting goddamn boring.

A slight less navigationally challenged Amazonian warrior several thousand miles away flipped a hooked dagger through her fingers, its decorative jewels flashing in the sunlight. The well toned woman gave the dagger a final flip before tossing it to her other hand with a frown.

"Obviously not meant for battle." She concluded for the grey and black haired elder before her. "The balance is completely off. Not to say it can't be lethal, but this is not a warrior's weapon."

The three foot elder rested her cane across her right shoulder, considering her warrior's words. She was one of her fifty best to receive the artifacts gifted to her by the goddess Beryl herself. "Be that as it may, the Goddess would not send us empty handed in battle against The Serenity. It flows with power, this much I can feel."

The warrior before her nodded, scrutinizing the dagger once more. "But how to release it? I too feel the power… It seems anxious to spring forth."

"Then concentrate on it, my child." Her leader encouraged. "The fate of the Amazon nation and the world rests in unlocking its secrets."

The warrior closed her eyes, focusing entirely on the power bubbling in her hands. Indeed the Elder was right. The blade was merely a pretty container. There was something more to this dagger and it was begging to be unlocked. She pocked at the power in her minds eye and to her surprise, it poked back in the form of tendril of power that snaked through her body. The gasp that fell from her lips alerted the elder to the new development.

"What is it, child?"

'The power…" The teal haired warrior whispered still focusing entirely on the dagger in her hands. "It's calling me…"

The Amazonian matriarch thrilled. "Then accept it!"

"I… I…" She tried to form a coherent thought, but the tendril began to wrap around her mind and words formed in her mouth of their own. "B…B… Beryl Bondage Power… MAKE UP!"

A flash of black light enveloped the Amazon, momentarily absorbing the sunlight streaming down around the immediate area as the dagger's full power came to bear on its host. The shadows faded but the power remained, leaving a much transformed Amazon warrior before the elder, who could only stare with incredulity. The teal haired woman formerly in Chinese combat silks now stood tall before her, transformed from head to toe in black leather. Everybody was now staring at the transfigured warrior who stood in thigh high stiletto boots that flowed up her legs like a black second skin, with matching arm length gloves. Covering up the essentials was a hip hugging g-string and halter top that served only to amplify her already generous bosom. In short, she had become an Amazon dominatrix, oozing sex, power and violence; all rolled into one shiny form fitting leather package. A silver tiara at her head adorned with an obsidian gem completed the package and the Amazonian Elder smiled evilly.

"Show us your power, child."

The warrior's smile mirrored her own as she stepped over to a four story boulder that had long ago separated itself from the local mountainside. She outstretched a shining black hand and power formed within its fingers. The words came naturally.

"Dark Domination Bolt!"

Angry black shadows weaved themselves in her hand and a ball of darkness shot forth into the mountain fragment easting sunlight on impact and violently disincorporated the fifty tone slab of stone with a shattering crash. Even as the dust and debris cleared, her entire audience gaped. Not only had the shadowy bolt utterly annihilated the errant boulder, but punched a sizable hole into the mountain it rested against. Not clear through, but deep.

"Truly a gift of the Goddess!" The Elder clapped at the demonstration, then turned back to the other warrior-candidates with a serious expression. "A gift not to be taken lightly, however. You will be the hand of Beryl manifest in this plane of existence. Acquaint yourself well with it, for the fall of Serenity is nigh!"

She smiled to herself, certain that the resultant echoes of cheering from the valley would reach the Goddess herself.

/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/

"But you have to meet her! She's my mom!" A flash of pink light accompanied Sailor Moon's words and knee high heels sank into grey lifeless dirt, as if they had been magically teleported to their destination. In fact, they had been. Sailor Pluto lowered the Time key as power bled from the artifact, its task completed.

"I'm just sayin' it's awkward is all." Ranma Saotome-Serenity returned with bland expression across her face. "She's you natural mother. I'm your reincarnated mother. I'm a guy. I'm a queen. I'm an heir to a martial arts--" Here words tapered off as the martial artists suddenly realized where they had been transported too. Oh, she'd known she was going, but knowing and actually stepping foot on the lifeless mass that used to be called home for the first time in over fourteen thousand years were two different matters entirely.

Now they stood atop one of those dead peaks, and a portion of Ranma's memory identified it as Mons Argaeus from the view it afforded. On a clear day she could see the Palace from up here. Off to the west, Luna Rey… Both now nothing more than ancient craters. The memories flowed readily across Ranma's vision now, supplanting the barren landscape before her with lush greenery. Snow capped mountain ranges. Crystal lakes. It was the crown of the empire in all its glory and now… Ranma blinked and it was gone.

All gone.

The Martial arts queen sucked in a breath as she surveyed what had once been her home, her friends standing respectfully aside. Memories continued to assault their queen and she sank to her knees, a single tear traced down her cheek. Moon knelt beside her and Pluto rested a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"Mom?"

"She'll be okay, Moon." Setsuna offered, looking down upon her best friend. "She's got all of us to help her through it." With her words, the remaining Senshi - eight planets, one moon and a prince gathered around her in support.

"Damn right." Minako assured, cracking the mood with a lopsided smile. Combined with the other Senshi, it was enough and Ranma slowly found her feet.

"It's alright, Mom. We're here for you… just like you were here for all of us." Nods from the girls accompanied Moon's gentle smile and Ranma forced one herself.

"Yeah, I'll be okay. I think." Ranma admitted. "But let's get this done. Don't think I'm ready for all of this yet."

Sailor Pluto nodded and raised the Time Key once more. The key pulsed pink light and the group was instantly transported from the scarred surface of their former home to a chamber several miles beneath the surface. The telepratation field cleared and the Senshi found themselves in a somewhat cramped room, mainly due to the dust covered crates and various packaging.

"Bomb shelter." Setsuna addressed the unanswered question, before keying open a near by door. Its opening hiss accompanied her next words. "I was able to map out three of eight special armories that survived the fall."

"What about the others?" Jupiter asked. Sestuna replied with a shrug.

"Got nuked." A silent 'oooh' accompanied their exit from the bomb shelter and into an anonymous, dimly lit hall. "First armory should be about half a kilometer in that direction."

It was an uneventful trip to the first weapons locker, a trip marked only by the occasional collapsed hallway or obvious structural damage. Two long, pot-marked hallways and eight turns later brought the Senshi to the weapons locker in question. It wasn't quite what they were expecting.

"Well that's not good." Sailor Jupiter observed as they came to the end of the first leg of their journey. Before them was a twisted mass of steal girdering and rock, most of it scorched by high temperatures in one form or another.

"Right." Setsuna offered dryly. "Scratch locker number one off the list."

"They all gonna be like this?" Ranma took a step forward, studying the dead end carefully. Whatever had been on the other side of the disaster area had been utterly destroyed.

"One should hope not." Neptune commented, turning back to Setsuna. "Next locker?"

"Two levels down, quarter kilometer west." Setsuna ticked off, and the group followed her lead as they retraced their steps from the dead end to the next junction. Small talk occupied the trek down two more level when a bassy rumble brought the Senshi to an abrupt halt.

"Anyone else here that?" Mars asked, looking around curiously.

"Moon quake?" Uranus forwarded with uncertainty. A deeper rumble was appended to her words as a fine layer of dust was dislodged from the supports above them. This time, the vibration was felt through their feet.

Sailor Pluto raised her staff up in preparation to port their party out. "Shouldn't be a quake. Our engineers ensured this site was drilled into stable bedrock."

"Did ya get a 14,000 year guarantee on that, Set-chan?" Ranma asked with an arched eyebrow and Setsuna frowned.

"Moon tectonics are effectively dead." She replied. "There shouldn't be anything moving down--"

BOOOOooooOOMMM!

The corridor in front of them exploded abruptly, violently filling the narrow hall with dust and debris, which the girls promptly began to choke on. Even as they stepped through the cloud and wiped their eyes of moon dust, Ranma stopped short, unable to believe the vision her blurred sight offered her.

"NOW WHERE AM I!"

"You've got to be kidding me." A giant sweat drop rolled down the side of Ranma's head. She recovered from her momentary stupor and stepped up to the Lost Boy, who was recovering from his Breaking Point stance. "Ryoga, what the HELL are you doing here?"

"Ack!" The bandanna'd martial artist leapt practically five foot back as the words came at him unexpectedly. It took him another moment to realize just who had spoken those words. "RANMA! I'm in Nerima?"

The silver-haired martial artist simply shook her head. "You're on the moon, baka."

"Don't treat me like an idiot, Ranma!" Ryoga snapped, failing to notice her companions. "I'm lost, not stupid!"

Ranma merely shook her head, jabbing a thumb to her companions.

"You're on the moon."
"Yep."
"Outer space."
"He's cute!"
"How did he get up here?"
"Is he a youma?"
"I saw him first!"
"Friend of yours, Serenity-chan?"
"Can I have him, your highness?"

Ranma blinked at that last comment, having come from what she had come to know as the normally reserved Sailor Mercury. Ryoga took another step back as an eager gleam manifested itself in the eyes of the teenage girls known as the Inners. "Uh, Ranma… Who are they?"

"Pick the one you want. She's you fiancée." Ranma said under her breath before addressing her rival directly. "Ryoga, meet the Sailor Senshi. Girls, Tux; Ryoga Hibiki."

The fanged martial artist began to sweat under their incandescent smiles and took another step back. Even as he sought to conjure a topic to distract the girls, Setsuna stepped around him, staring down the blown out path he had carved.

"Hmm, that would be about right." The Senshi muttered, then turned to Ryoga. "I don't suppose you saw a large vault down there, P-chan?"

"As a matter of fact…" Ryoga's eyes widened as his brain caught up to her words. "HEY!"

Pluto nodded and stepped into the makeshift passageway. "Shortcut. Let's go this way."

Ryoga glared daggers into Ranma as she walked by. "YOU---!"

"Uh-uh. Don't look at me." She raised her hands in defense. "You oughta know me better than that."

"Then how did she know!" He hissed as they filed in behind the Mistress of Time. "And what's with the silver hair?"

Ranma simply shook her head. "Long story. Tell ya as soon as we're done up here."

Less than five minutes later the Senshi and one not-so lost martial artist found themselves in front of a huge slab of glistening steel, held closed by six truck sized bolts. Its size and structure promised to withstand all but the heaviest of direct fire, and that spanned well into the double digit megaton range of explosives.

"Welcome to Special Weapons Locker number three."

Michiru eyed her fellow outer. "What happened to number two?"

Setsuna shrugged. "It's off that way somewhere. Serenity's friend opened up a faster route to number three."

Ryoga blinked. "Serenity's friend?"

Ranma sighed. "That'd be you."

"But I don't know a Serenity." He replied cluelessly, exasperating Ranma further.

"You do now." Ranma replied in a low voice, eliciting another clueless look. "Later. Set-chan, what's it take to--"

The martial arts queen was cut off as a human form suddenly wavered into existence before the group. Ranma's jaw nearly dropped from it's hinges and Moon gasped. The woman was taller than Ranma, but sported the same blue eyes and hair, if not the same body. A moon shown obviously on her forehead. The Saotome gasped.

"That's… that's…!"

"Greetings traveler. If you are hearing this, it means the Silver Millennium has fallen and the long night has begun." The translucent figure spoke, capturing the Senshi's attention in its entirety. "The evil of Beryl has sacrificed billions to obtain her dream of domination, a dream we have denied her. Even so, the price has been high. I have done my best to seal this evil away, but one can never be too certain. To that end I have stored the seeds of restoration in lesser vaults, while the tools of power are stored herein, awaiting the rebirth of the Senshi to be accessed. It is my hope that one day..."

"I liked me taller." Ranma stated offhandedly, studying the her that once was as the hologram continued its narration.

"Better figure now, though." Setsuna commented in the same manner, to which Ranma merely nodded.

"True." Both studied the hologram a moment long before simply stepping through it and up to the vault. "So what does it take to open this thing?"

"This." Setsuna replied. "Special Weapons Vault Alpha Three Charlie, open on authorization Setsuna Meiou, Princess of Pluto."

A black panel imbedded in the steal slab came to life and long dead script flashed across it. "Welcome Setsuna Meiou, Princess of Pluto. Please input authorization key."

The Senshi took a breath. "Omicron-eight-eight-gamma break one-oh-six solstice alpha."

The panel churned with information for a moment before blanking out. "Initial key accepted. Dual lockout protocols require command key from a Guardian or Queen Serenity before this vault can be accessed."

Ranma remained silent, enraptured once more by her holographic mirror before receiving an elbow courtesy of Pluto. "Oh, yeah. Queen Serenity. I'm here."

Ryoga blinked with this new piece of information. "Ranma…?"

The panel remained silent for a moment. "Anomalies detected. DNA and vocal shifts have occurred. Please remain still. Level eight scan in progress."

"Level eight?" From nowhere, a transparent field appeared just above her head, shifting into a two dimensional square large enough to accommodate her body. The green square then floated downward, flowing though Ranma's body on the vertical plane. The scan lasted only a few seconds and abruptly disappeared as it came into contact with the ground. The martial artist took stock of all her body parts to ensure they were present and accounted for.

"Magical field and life force analyzed and confirmed." The panel concluded. "Welcome Queen Serenity of the Silver Millennium. Please input authorization key."

Ranma opened her mouth. "Um… That is…" her mouth closed, and she stared at the vault.

"Please input authorization key."

"Uh, right." Ranma scratched the back of her silver head. "It's um… Sounds like…"

"You don't remember." Setsuna stated blandly, and her friend's face took on a sheepish look. Pluto sighed. "Right. Should have seen it coming."

"Sorry 'bout that." Ranma apologized and Setsuna shrugged already considering contingencies.

"Can't expect your memories to be one-hundred percent." She replied. "Still, it creates a dilemma. We can't burn our way in. The AI will detonate the entire vault if it senses the intrusion. Maybe…"

"Can we hack our way in?" Mercury was already pulling out the clamshell link to her planetary super-computer.

"Not with that." Setsuna shook her head. "As powerful as the Mercury Computer is, you're sending a database AI against a defense AI. We'd be lucky if the Mercury Computer weren't reduced to a molten pile of slag by defensive protocols."

"Then we're screwed?" Sailor Uranus frowned, and Ranma shook her head.

"I know ya better than that, Set-chan." She smiled lightly. "You got something in mind."

Pluto nodded. "Mercury, have the computer search for any other AI's that might still be active on the moon."

The Senshi nodded and began to tap commands into the PDA. "Opening link. Searching…" The cobalt haired girl frowned. "The Moon's data network is trashed. There's nothing left of the main core, and anything that is intact is substantially less powerful than Mercury here."

"Expand your search to external networks." Pluto ordered and Ami was immediately on it.

"Let's see… fifteen external links acquired." She reported. "Four unresponsive, six are star tug AIs, three--ooooh…" The Senshi waited patiently for an interpretation of the word. "I'm logged onto the data network of the HMS Agamemnon. Looks promising."

"The Agami?" Ranma questioned as the familiar name tugged at more than a few memories.

Her best friend grinned. "Well, it is an Alpha Class tactical AI. Should be able to tear the Vault AI apart if we can get it functioning."

"Currently in standby." Mercury continued, sifting through the data before her. "Looks like it was…"

"…dry docked for upgrades." Ranma finished, half entranced by the memories flickering through her brain.

Ami arched an eyebrow. "Correct. Let's see… Stripped of over half her armament and most of her reactor plants have been removed. She's got two still in place. One is depleted and the other is down to less than five percent of its original mass."

"In other words, she won't be going anywhere anytime soon." Pluto surmised and Mercury nodded in the affirmative. "Doesn't mean we can't make use of her. Wake her up, Mercury."

Mercury's Senshi nodded in response, keying in another command sequence. "Bringing the kernel up… Routing through the link."

The link flashed with data briefly and a faint streamer of light flickered into existence through the open space. eleven girls and one boy watched as the streamer took the shape of what looked like a girl with a short bowl cut, two long streamers of hair and a fuku every bit as elaborate as the Senshi's themselves. Unlike the senshi, however, she was entirely transparent blue, or rather various shade thereof. The fuku itself was made of independent ribbons of data that floated around her body, much like the jewelry that adorned her. She appeared before them, her emotionless face staring into the floor.

"Agamemnon, online." The data-born hologram reported softly. "Unfolding higher logic command core… Done. Polling memory core… Done. Updating systems event—" The girl stopped, looking up suddenly with concern writ large across her face. "Oh my."

Ryoga and Ranma gave one another a queer look with the girl's familiar wording, but held their silence as she became aware of her audience. She seemed to study them one by one before returning to Setsuna. "Princess Pluto… It would appear as if my event logs are somewhat… out of date."

"Only 14,000 years, plus or minus." Mercury mumbled, to which the holographic girl nodded.

"Indeed." The concern was evident in the AI's light female voice. "I must express my alarm at the current state of affairs. Not only is my superstructure still in dry dock, but all my external data links are offline. May I inquire as to the current situation?"

Setsuna motioned to Mercury. "Mercury computer archives should bring you up to speed."

The hologram nodded once more and took on her contemplative downward looking pose, holding it for the next fifteen seconds as data symbology swirled around her. She returned her eyes to level with a pensive expression moments later. "The situation is… dire. Beyond that, a logical discontinuity exists. The Mercury data base list all the Senshi as killed in action, yet I find them before me."

"The Queen intervened on their behalf before she… departed." Setsuna summarized, casting a quick, sidelong glance over to Ranma. "The Senshi before you are the originals reincarnated in the here and now."

The AI before them seemed to consider this, seemingly evidence by the quickening of stray data strings floating about her. She turned to Sailor Moon, who had been passively watching the exchange. "Then let me express my condolences for the loss of your mother, Usagi Moon. The pleasure of having her on my command deck was entirely mine."

Sailor Moon gave up a weak smile. "Uh, yeah… About that…"

"What's up Agami?"

The avatar of the HMS Agamemnon blinked at the familiarity of address and turned to the source of the greeting, scrutinizing the diminutive girl before her. Her features were unrecognizable, but the silver hair definitely indicated Serenity heritage. The Agamemnon looked from the stranger to the daughter, who hadn't grown into her own silver hair yet, and made a guess. "Your sister, Queen Moon?"

Usagi was left relatively speechless by her new title and Setsuna stepped in smoothly to take over the conversation. "Not quite. Meet the Reincarnated Queen Serenity. Serenity-chan, the HMS Agamemnon."

The Agamemnon stepped up to the martial artist, studying her intently. Ranma was forced to look up at the AI girl, who now stood a full head and a half over her. She cocked her head and returned her attention to the Mistress of Time. "You're sure, Princess Pluto?"

"On my life."

"This is officially weird." Ranma commented, studying the hologram. "I know It… I mean you… I mean… Dammit, I'm beginnin' to seriously hate memory overlap."

"My apologize for the mistake, your Highness." Agami bowed. "I am pleased that your status is among that of the living, as opposed to the alternative. What will you have of me? I'm afraid my functional capacity is rather… limited at the moment."

Ranma found herself smiling in spite of herself. The memories were a haze, but she knew that the Agamemnon avatar and herself had spent a great deal of time in one another's company. "Good to see ya too, Agami. How's life been treatin' you?"

The digital girl seemed to think on the matter. "Not much better than yours, by the sound of it, your Eminence. I've never been so under powered or armed in my entire life. It is embarrassing, to be frank."

Saotome-Serenity chuckled. "Promise I'll slap the biggest guns I can find on you once we get things around here straightened out." The avatar's shifting blue glow seemed to intensify with the thought, and a smile formed at its lips as well.

"And what are we 'straightening out', if I might ask?"

"Need to open that." Ranma jabbed a thumb at the sealed weapons locker.

"A special weapons locker with dual lockout encryption." The Agamemnon looked from her to Pluto, and back. "Would it be safe to assume that a reincarnation event has adverse effects on human memory?" Ranma simply nodded. "Then you require me to breach the defensive AI guarding it. One moment." Agami settled back into her contemplative stance and recovered from it almost immediately. "This will be… problematic."

Setsuna arched an eyebrow. "How so?"

"I require a direct link to the defensive AI." Agami explained. "It would appear that every connection to my hull was either severed or terminated during the Fall. There are a few intact, but I cannot open them from the outside, as such."

"And you can't use the Mercury data bridge you're using now?" Ami asked, and the AI shook her head.

"It would be the weakest link." The digital girl explained. "The vault AI would seek to severe it immediately and stands a high probability of success in doing so."

Even as Setsuna, Ami and the Agamemnon began a three way discussion on alternative methods to breech the vault, Ranma had settled into her own contemplation. There was something, tugging at the back of her brain in the shadows of memories. Something that would help. The martial artist pressed into the shadows further, gaining more detailed glimpses of her former life as she did so. It was… Almost in reach…

The silver-haired martial artist's eyes snapped open abruptly. "What would it take for ya to open the lines from the outside, Agami?"

"The Moon's command core or a direct order to the command core by somebody with sufficient access." The hologram explained. "Providing the moon command core hadn't been buried under sixteen million tons of rock, of course."

"There is that." Ami deadpanned. Still, Ranma continued to gather the fragments of memory around her.

"But Agami is the key..." The martial artist insisted, digging through memories until she hit pay dirt. She tugged at the thread and this time, the codes came blurting from her mouth with authority. "Command core HMS Agamemnon, unlock protocols gamma-omicron-scarlet-eleven-eleven, authorization; Queen Serenity."

The digital avatar stiffened abruptly and pulsed a bright indigo blue. The glyphic bits floating lazily around her spun into a wild frenzy as her fuku rippled with raw data transfer, letters and numbers racing visibly across her exterior. "Protocols unlocked. Command core Agamemnon standing by for evolution."

"Well that's a novel approach, Senny…" Setsuna scritched her chin thoughtfully and watched with the barest of smiles. Ranma tugged once more and the final word fell from her lips.

"Execute."

The already bright avatar burst into a blue nova with the word, sending streamers of neon whipping wildly up and down the hall, between the Senshi and back into orbit around her as her clothing transformed from a normal fuku into something closer to that of a shrine priestess. The wild streamers settled down into lacy ribbons and the Agamemnon's hair grew out into a luscious blue mane. When the transformation finally settled, the AI's eyes flicked open, alive with transfer of data.

"Evolution complete." She reported in the same youthful voice as before. The rush of protocols faded from the digital girl and she sighed before recovering. "Assuming full Lunar control… such as it is. I have successfully opened a port to the vault defensive AI."

Setsuna nodded. "Crack it."

"Um, Mom…?" Usagi leaned forward curiously. "What did you just do?"

"Think I just gave Agami full control of the Moon." Scratched her head, slightly embarrassed that she didn't know exactly what her words had set in motion. The fact that she remembered that set of codes and not the vault's didn't help either.

"Serenity-chan is correct." Agami confirmed. "In lieu of the Moon's command AI, she has promoted me to that role. I now have control what remains of moon's resources. In fact, I will be devoting what is left to repairing and rebuilding its infrastructure once this task is complete."

"You put a super dreadnought AI in charge of the moon?" Ami asked with some measure of disbelief. Ranma shrugged.

"How long?" Setsuna asked, ignoring the missive.

"Care is needed so that the AI does not perceive a threat." The transparent blue girl replied. "Estimate, one point five hours."

"Might as well get comfy then." Venus shrugged, leaning against the vault door.

"What the hell is going on here!" Ryoga exploded suddenly, drawing all eyes to him. Hungry glinting couldn't help but to be seen in a few of them and the realization checked the Lost Boy's anger slightly. "And why are they calling you a queen, Ranma?" then pointing to the blonde odango-atama "And why is she calling you mother! If you've hurt Akane…!"

Ranma simply looked at her long time friend and rival. "Like Minako said, might as well get comfy. It's a long story."

/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/

"The demons. Where are they?"

The creak of wood accompanied the question, though Cologne had known there was a presence sneaking into her restaurant well in advance. What was surprising was the amount of raw power leaking from them. Might explain how they got her so fast, she surmised before turning to face her uninvited guest.

"Subtlety was never your strong suit, Nair." Cologne studied her counterpart, who sported a crimson robe and a mane of grey and black hair. Propped on her cane, she stood slightly taller than the interloping elder. She was also flanked by… the matriarch blinked. She recognized the warriors guarding Nair. What she didn't recognize was their black form-fitting clothing… If one could call what barely covered the essentials clothing. She had seen pictures like them before, normally in the hands of young perverts or certain older ones. As much as she wanted to chide her rival of their dress, she didn't want to damage the honor of those wearing such clothing, if only because they could be useful later on.

"Nor intelligence yours." Nair sneered back. "For if it were, you'd realize the precipice you dangle over and answer the question directly."

More than you realize, Cologne thought before answering. "The Serenity has taken her demons and departed. I was powerless to stop the ancient evil from doing so."

The elder Nair eyed her. "So you admit they are demons now?"

"They went with The Serenity." Cologne answered truthfully, if not in detail. "It is the only explanation."

Nair smiled the smile of the enlightened victorious. "Perhaps there is hope for you yet. For now, however, you will remain here while we deal with our enemy once and for all. I would assume her and her demon brood are at the Tendo dojo?"

"To the best of my knowledge." Cologne confirmed without guilt. It wasn't as if anybody even remotely associated with her former son in-law didn't know where he lived.

"Then we will strike in overwhelming force!" She crowed, slamming her fist onto a table. "Balm, Gloss. Inform the others! Serenity dies today!"

Both girls turned on a stilettoed heel and strode out of the empty restaurant, their elder close behind. Cologne shook her head in disappointment. She was sure she had covered her ass effectively, now she could only hope that she had covered those of the equally resurrected Amazons with equal effectiveness in Ranma Soatome, the greatest evil known to man.

/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/

CRAAAaasSH!

Kasumi paused in her daily regiment of chores, setting aside the feather duster with wide eyes as the living room wall imploded with a violent crash. Despite the destructive nature of the event, most of the debris was confined to a relatively small area, leaving the eldest Tendo daughter as to wonder just who was making their way through the settling cloud of dust. Their method of entry quickly narrowed down the likely list of suspects in Kasumi's mind, as walls were the primary method of entry of Amazon warriors, much to her dismay.

Wouldn't be Shampoo. Two years of billing at Nabiki's hand had all but broke her of that particular habit, she reasoned. Nor Ranma's two new Amazon friends, for that matter. They appeared to mind their martial arts property damage better than most guests and were currently helping her with the laundry in the back room anyway.

The figures cleared their breach and Kasumi forced a smile. Amazons they were. Sometimes she hated to be right so damn often. Right about Ranma and Akane. Right about Ranma being a magical girl. Right about… "Oh my, are you more of Ranma's friends?"

The Elder between the two leather clad Amazons skipped the pleasantries and got straight to the point. "We have business with The Serenity. Summon her now."

"Serenity?" Kasumi Tendo puzzled for a moment before making the connection. "Oh, Ranma. She's not here right now. Can I get you some cookies?"

Somehow, she didn't think the S&M clad Amazon women were in the mood for snacks, but they definitely were dressed the part of potential fiancées

"Where is the spawn of hell?"

Then again, maybe not.

"That's what I'd like to know!" A disgruntled voice from the stairway growled, prompting Kasumi to turn around. There stood Nabiki, looking like her normal morning disheveled mess… except it wasn't morning. "I'm getting sick of cold showers caused by that goddamn cat tongue thing!"

The Amazonian matriarch arched an eyebrow for the middle Tendo. Cat tongue? The hell spawn shows its true colors by torturing the ones around it, she thought grimly. All the more reason to remove it from existence. "Tell us where The Serenity is so that we may slay it… and perhaps alleviate your condition."

"20,000 yen." The Elder blinked. Kasumi simply shook her head and sighed. If her little sister kept this up, she'd be on the receiving end of another couple pressure points for sure… and that might not necessarily be a bad thing, she thought with mild amusement.

The short Amazon's gaze narrowed sharply on the middle Tendo. "You seem to think that was a request. It was not."

Nabiki rolled her eyes. Martial artists were such a pain, Amazons doubly so. And it was such a pain to teach the new ones the rules. "It's simple." She began conversationally. "20,000 yen and we can talk about where Ranma—"

The elder spoke a word of Chinese and one of her bondage Amazon's lurched forward in an impossible blur. Nabiki blinked and the warrior was already behind her, breathing down her neck.

Poke.

The sister's body immediately turned to jello as the leather clad Amazon push a single finger into the small of her back, sending her inert body to the floor. She collapsed face down, only to receive a hard stilletoed kick to right her face up. Nair tisk'd the girls. "You are fortunate I require information of you, little girl. Cease to be useful and I might just find it necessary to dispose of your presence in a more permanent fashion." She stepped forward, addressing Kasumi directly. "Perhaps a more painful demonstration is in order."

"You're not a very polite guest." Kasumi frowned. The Elder brought the tip of her cane to bear. "I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to—Oh my!"

The sound of rapid fire mandarin halted the tip inches from its target, causing the elder to turn around to face the newcomers. "Ah, the damned of Serenity have arrived." She then slipped seamlessly into Chinese. "Where is your master, so that we may slay her and be done with this once and for all?"

"You are making a dire mistake, Elder." Potion replied in a serious, but respectful tone. "Our people are being used as pawns for a dark force."

"Ha!" The black clad Amazon off the matriarch's right laughed. "We'd expect no less from the dogs of Serenity."

"It is true!" Wax returned sharply. "Had you eyes you would see that the best of us are being culled as demon fodder! The trial, our goddess, is a lie."

"ENOUGH!" Nair sliced the air with her cane, ending the argument. "You will not disparage our goddess in such a way. Balm, Gloss! Show this trash the consequences of defying the will of Almighty Beryl."

"Dressed like that?" Potion commented with a wry smile, infuriating the trio further.

"I'll enjoy grinding you into dust." Cream replied, stepping forward while cracking her knuckles. Wax shrugged with indifference and took her own attack stance. She had endured nearly four centuries in dark damnation. There was little anything that drew breath could do to intimidate her anymore, and now it was time to get some back.

"So bring it, already."

/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/

"And seriously… You need to lose the mask and tuxedo." The silver haired martial artist advised Moon's fiancée with mild disdain. "The only reason I'm givin' you a pass here is because I remember you from back then… Barely."

Tuxedo Mask's cheek continued to twitch throughout his Queen's rebuke, but any response he may have had was preempted as a loud click through the hallway. That was the vault door? She cast a glance at her best friend, who nodded. "I heard that too." Setsuna commented on the unspoken question, turning to the holographic representation of Agami who stood in quiet concentration. "Status report, Ag—"

Whiiirrrrllll…
CLICK
CLICK
CLICK
THUuuMP!
HiiiiiiissssssSSSS…

Her eyes widened as the outer ring of the massive vault began to dilate while sections of it began to pull away into the armored wall around it. Now all the Senshi and Ryoga were up from their sitting positions, waiting with anticipation as the last of the vault either fell into the wall or swung away from them. There was a final click and the blast door was cleared from their path in its entirety.

"Operation complete." Agami reported, awakening from her repose. "I have successfully neutralized the defensive AI. One moment while I retrieve a manifest of the vault contents." Data symbology flowed briefly across her skin at an accelerate rate. "Done. I have three hundred and forty cataloged items on file; Of note, twelve CX36 Nano bombardment pods, fifty three AX33 Long Range Anti-Tachyon warheads, sixteen…" The Agamemnon AI's voice tapered of as she noticed her audience walking around her in a daze, staring into the massive vault with wide eyes. "Or, you could just take a look yourself."

"Now this is what I'm taking about." Uranus grinned, hefting a rather large multi-barrel weapon that hung on a rack near the entrance.

"Put the toys down, Lover." Neptune comment as she glided by, pulling her partner back to the rest of the group.

Ryoga's face took on a slight case of slack jaw, and he turned to Ranma. "Did she just call her…? Are they…?"

"Pretty sure they don't bite, P-chan." Ranma commented easily, wallowing in the memories of the pair. Hell, she had chosen them herself as her Senshi if memory served. Granted, that in itself was pretty vague, but she knew enough to where it didn't come as the same shock it did to Ryoga.

"At least not in public." Neptune added at the sight of Ryoga's face turning a healthy shade of pink, and a slight smile escaped Ranma's lips as she pictured Akane's reaction to their 'perverted' behavior, let alone her own acceptance of it. Call it a perk of being a magical girl, as a millennia's worth of memories were steadily eroding her own social rigidity; the freedom they contained nearly intoxicating.

Ryoga recovered from his mental stumbling and turned away from the hand holding pair and back to Ranma, changing the subject more for his own mental stability than anything else. "Who does all this stuff belong to anyway?"

"Um, me, I think..." Ranma replied in a near reverent tone as her eyes swept shelf after shelf of weapons and armor, much of which she was a total loss as to identify.

"YOURS!" Ryoga practically choked on her answer.

"Yep. Hmmm… You're kinda cute when you're like that." Ranma mused, then found her eyes tracing the contours of his body. And great muscle tone too. With a backside that just wouldn't quit. The silver millennium was a pretty liberal era. She could take him as a royal consort and nobody would think twice about-- Her mental appraisal was interrupted by the gaping shock plastered across her rivals face, prompting the martial artist to check her own thoughts. What the HELL am I thinking!

"What the HELL are you thinking!" Ryoga exploded, taking a wary step back. "Don't EVEN look at me like that!"

Ranma stood blinking, as if the act would reconcile the millennia old memories for her. Dammit, dammit, dammit! The veil between eras was getting thinner with each passing moment, and being up here so close to home wasn't helping any. Even that thought caused her pause. Home was down on Earth. But she remembered… The reincarnated queen shook her head. "Look, let's just forget I even said that, 'kay?"

"What the hell is wrong with you, Ranma!" Ryoga blustered along the edge of righteous indignation and fear. "One moment you're you and the next… I don't even know."

"I already told ya, dammit!" Ranma snapped back. "I got memories from fourteen thousand years ago stuffed sideways in my brain! Doesn't help that I was a chick back then either, so cut me some slack already!"

Setsuna stepped up to the pair with a measure of concern in her eyes, looking from the Lost Boy to her best friend. "Problem, your Highness?"

"Just a few centuries of memories kickin' my ass is all." Ranma growled, causing Setsuna to adopt a sympathetic expression.

"You're… serious about all this." Ryouga stumbled over his words. "You're all serious about this."

The silver haired pigtailed girl sighed heavily. "That's what I was trying to tell ya out there. I got better things to do than make up a cockamamie story like this."

"Wouldn't be the first time." Ryoga eyed his rival critically, remembering the farce where she played his long lost sister.

Ranma was about to rebuke him when she stopped and thoughtfully considered her friend and rival. "Okay, you're right. I'm sorry. But I'm dead serious about this."

Ryoga simply stared. Ranma never apologized, and if he did, it was usually like pulling teeth to get one. That thought, more than any other, went a long way toward convincing him that Ranma was totally serious. Well, that and the fact Ranma was actually checking him out. Hibiki shivered.

"Okay, fine. But I still don't believe I'm on the moon."

Ranma shrugged. "Suit yourself, but the sooner we get out of here, the better off I'll be."

The Princess of Pluto nodded. "We could be here for a long time just poking around like this." She motioned to the other Senshi as an example, who were doing just that. "Agami?"

The hologram phased in beside the trio. "Princess Pluto? Your Highness?"

"We need to speed this up." She motioned to the vault. "We're looking to upgrade our offensive abilities. Defense too, if it's convenient."

"Of course, Princess." Agami nodded, her flowing robe rippling with data. "Defensive upgrades are accomplished easily enough, it would appear."

With her words, a nearby wall panel hissed open, revealing several polished crystal stones cut in the form of oval broaches. Setsuna walked over to the panel and the shelf that had flowed out from it. She picked up one of the items as the other Senshi gathered around, examining it. "Aurora crystals?"

"Correct Princess." Agami confirmed. "Single use defensive boosters specifically designed for magical armor."

"Such as our fukus." Mercury surmised, earning a nod from the Agamemnon's AI.

Setsuna began to distribute the stones, mounting one on her fuku's ribbon in the process. "Just will their activation and you've got approximately two minutes worth at one hundred and fifty percent. One time use, so don't blow them unless you have to. Weapons, Agami-chan?"

"Most of the potential in this vault are exceeded by your planetary bindings or inappropriate for minor engagements." The AI reported. "There are however, notable exceptions. One crystalline link long sword. Three Moon staves. Two Plasma Caster gunblades. Six A0 tactical Elerium Blaster Launchers, limited reloads. One chain sword…"

"Didn't you outlaw those, Senny?" Pluto inserted, wearing a curious look. "Something about cruel and unusual?"

"Beats the hell outta me." Ranma shrugged and turned her attention back to the running list.

"…One Neutron Divide Cannon. Three XA80 PPD Modules…"

Ranma was left shaking her head. "Ain't up to speed on all this crap yet. Set-chan?"

"Right." The Mistress of Time took over smoothly. "Moon, ditch that little wand of yours and grab a Moon Staff. It'll be a much better magical focus and more practical anyhow." Setsuna ignored Usagi's shocked look and continued. "Kamen, grab a gunblade. Should fit right in with your penchants for ranged warfare… And keep you engaged to Usagi." She ignored his gasp as well. "Mars, take the Point Defense Pods, Venus, the link sword."

"Can I have the Tachyon Divide Cannon?" Haruka asked hopefully, hope that was cut down by a frown from her superior.

"No."

"What about the Blaster Launcher?"

Setsuna arched an eyebrow. "Definitely not." The boy beside Ranmna suddenly entered her field of attention. "Grab some Field Plate, P-chan. And the chain sword while you're at it."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Ryoga blurted angrily. "Besides, I don't need any of these toys!"

"Look stup--" Ranma's insult died on her tongue as her Serenity persona reared its head and introduced her to a concept rarely used in the martial artist's life… Diplomacy. "Uh, look Ryoga, we might be facing angry Amazons kickin' around the power of Saffron." Ryoga stilled as the dire nature of the situation became apparent. "I know you could take 'em, but this'll be happenin' in Nerima, get my drift?"

Ryoga remained silent for a moment, glaring at Ranma before lapsing into a disgusted look. "Fine, point taken. But if you try to be any nicer, I might just have to puke."

"Puke all ya want." Ranma countered. "But we can't afford the collateral damage cuz we're bein' stubborn."

"Then what about you?" He questioned as Pluto handed him a single gold engraved bracer adorned with a large blue jewel as a centerpiece. Ryoga pointed to his newly aquired item. "You getting one of these too?"

"Naw, don't need it."

The fanged martial artist scowled. "So it's 'do as I say' and all that?"

Saotome-Serenity opened her mouth to answer, only to have her best friend intervene. "I'm pretty sure you can't carve a fifteen foot hole though two miles of solid bedrock to the surface on willpower alone."

"So?"

Pluto motioned to Ranma. "She can. So can her daughter, for that matter."

Ryoga gave the green haired woman a skeptical look but decided not to pursue the matter further since he was already ass-deep in strangeness. Supposedly he was on the moon and in a weapons locker full of high tech weaponry thousands of years in advance of anything Earth was capable of fielding, while Ranma was the magical girl queen-mother that owned it all. The lost boy silently thanked God he had built up a healthy immunity to the strange and unusual and instead opted to play with the chain sword that was in easy reach.

"Alright, whatever." He continued, giving the bulky broad sword a few practice strokes. "So how does this crap work anyway?"

"The armor is touch activated." Setsuna stated, eyeing his careless swipes warily. "Touch the stone on the bracer and the plate magically deploys. For the sword, simply hit the big red button at the base of the hilt."

CliCK. WrrrrrRRRRrrrrrr!

"I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be…" Mercury began and Ryoga gave it a few more practice swings as shiny jagged teeth came to life along the blade's edge.

"How's that compared to your umbrella, Ryo—"

BZZzzzT! THWAP!

Ranma's question was interrupted as the torque of the blade's powered state caused the Lost Boy to over-swing and slice through an adjacent weapons rack. The solid steel frame parted easily beneath the swords ravenous teeth, showering the immediate area in furious sparks. The fanged martial artist pulled the sword back in surprise as it attempted to dig a hasty trench into the armored vault floor. He slapped the hilt and the chain sword's rampage was halted. All eyes were riveted on his person and Tux's own finger stopped short of pressing the big red button on his own plasma launching long sword with the display.

Sailor Uranus managed to pull her attention away from the spectacle with a frown, still looking around the vault. "So this is the stuff that needed dual lockout encryption? I thought some of the most lethal hardware known to man was supposed to be stored here."

"Oh, the really big stuff is back there." Pluto reached over to a nearby panel and keyed an anonymous button, revealing the rest of the vault as more lighting revealed a darkened portion of the space. Haruka's froze. Beyond her was a steel cavern lined wall to wall with deadly looking missiles, bombs and other implements of mass destruction.

Setsuna smiled at her reaction. "Alright, playtime's over. Grab your gear and let's head out." She watched the girls pick through the vault, only to find Minako simply standing before an open locker and the Crystal Link Sword therein. "Venus?"

"I… I can't…" The blonde whispered. She tried to comply, but her arms refused to perform the necessary actions to help grasp the weapon. Instead, they hung limp by her side as fear pooled in her blue eyes. All progress had stopped as the remaining Senshi focused on her. "I remember… Usagi… she… she…"

Ranma looked curiously from her the frozen girl to her best friend, whose face was rapidly forming into a frown. "What's up?"

Setsuna pull the silver-haired girl off to the corner of the vault as the other girls moved into comfort Minako, all the girls except for Ranma's daughter, who stood equally frozen. "Not sure how to approach this one, so I'll give it to you straight." Pluto's gaze flicked from one Senshi to the other. "When her fiancé went down, your daughter fell on her own sword. She took her own life on Minako's sword, Senny, and now Venus can't touch a weapon." She paused, glancing at the girl in question. "And that Link Blade looks a lot like the one she used to wield."

Ranma turned toward the girl and her companions, taking in the group and the blade beyond. From the gold braided hilt was a blade, nearly transparent in nature save the edges and several engraved 'v's carved along the flat and pointing up to the tip. Light refracted within the blade and it seemed to glow unnatural to Ranma. She cocked her head slightly and the light shifted. There was something familiar—

Flash. Blood splashed through her mind's eye as Usagi watched her fiancée get taken apart as Mamoru's direct assault on Beryl failed. Flash. More blood, this time her daughter's as she ran herself through on the sword Venus had tossed her earlier in the battle. Crimson flowed down the purity of the crystal edge and Ranma distinctly remembered shutting her own emotion down, choosing to focus all her rage and sorrow on the conflict before her. The girl's eyes began to glisten, but the only sound that escaped was a sniffle before Ranma regained control.

"I… I see." Her voice broke only slightly as she processed the phantoms of the past in her mind. Setsuna nodded gravely. "I…" It was a situation that Serenity was having a hard time comprehending given the players involved. Fortunately, her present day persona wasn't so handicapped. "I… it's… This is bullshit!"

Pluto blinked as Ranma wiped away the tears and strode purposely across the vault over to Venus and the other girls. "Sa-chan, get over here." The sharp command pulled Usagi out of her depressed daze, causing her to fall in line with her mother on reflex alone. The same commanding tone worked wonders for Venus as well. "Minako." The blonde tore her eyes off the glinting blade. The silver-haired girl turned her attention to her daughter. "Usagi, apologize to Minako. Now."

"A… Apologize?"

Ranma's eyes hardened noticeably, causing Usagi to hold her breath and take a step back. "You will never, ever kill yourself again, especially not before the bad guy is dead." The girl looked like she was about to interject when her mother cut her off cold, her gaze now sweeping the entire room. "That goes for all of you. I don't care if you've lost everything. Your friends. Your fiancée. Whatever. You will grind the bad guy into the dust first, then question your own goddamn existence later, do I make myself crystal clear?" Wide eyes and nods greeted her words, and her voice lowered to a threatening growl. "And if I happen to find you don't kick their butts before you slit your own wrists, you can be damn certain I'll hunt you down in the afterlife and kick your ass just as surely as I sent you forward to the here and now."

The Senshi now stared slack-jawed at their monarch, while even Ryoga watched on with incredulity. That was Ranma in there, but…something else had manifested. Something scary. The moment passed and Ranma resumed her ultimatum as both aspects of her personality merged with synergistic clarity. Those hard blue eyes then turned back on Moon. "And you are the heir to a goddamn galactic empire. One day you'll have billions relying on you for guidance. The innocent will turn to you for protection. Of everybody in this room, you don'thave the luxury of suicide."

It took another moment for Usagi to recover from the dressing down and still she found herself unable to tear herself from her mother's gaze, like a deer caught in the headlights. The eyes softened slightly and flicked toward Venus, silently advising her of her next course of action.

"I'm… I'm sorry, Minako…" Moon started in a jerky, emotion filled voice. "I shouldn't have done that to you… To any of you…"

"It's in the past, Moon." Venus stated quietly. "I just remember. Not much, but I remember that…"

"Mom's right though." She returned. "I can't call myself a princess, let alone a queen if I fold so easily."

"Not so easily." Neptune brushed the girl's hair gently. "Your actions in the here and now readily attest to the strength of your character."

Ranma and Setsuna smiled as the Senshi and Tux gathered around the pair of blondes in support. It was a smile that quickly faded from the Saotome as her persona fell out of sync. She looked at Pluto with a measure of wonder. "What the hell did I just do?"

They watched the scene for another minute before Setsuna replied. "Something tells me you just made things a little better." The Mistress of Time gave her best friend a reassuring smile before turning back to the Senshi. "Venus, that sword is yours now. Girls, gear up. We've got some Amazon ass to kick."

/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/

Author's Notes:
This was originally going to be one huge 20kw+ part, but my muse-o-matic took a small vacation and left me with only 13kw, so there will be a chapter eight and it will be the final one. Probably. What's to look forward to? Well, i guess an Amazon ass kicking would be obvious, wouldn't it? Beyond that, I ain't telling. Surprises are half of what keep you coming back and I do my best to deliver

Jian; Your classic Chinese sword. It has a straight edge, unlike a katana. Been around for just about forever. I want one. More information can be had on Wikipedia.

Agami; The cutest Japanese sounding abbreviated form of Agamemnon I could come up with, inspired by Halo's Cortona.

Blaster Launcher; Heheheheh...

If you talk to anybody in fukufics IRC, that person most likely helped me to one exent or another making this fic a better work. Special thanks to Quizer for the editing, DT, DCG and Yarrow for continuity and plot work.

A note to ffnet; Seriously, your text filtering crap is getting old. I have to resort to /o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/ as scene breaks because I can't get the line break function to work anymore and your text filtering treats us like 2 year olds. Once something better comes along (casts a sidelong glance at Stace-chan) I'm gone.