Sailor Moon ST: Hero Unlimited! 8 – By DS Wynne
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon, JLU and other genres belong to their respective owners.
Note: This is a multi-genre story.
Part 8: "Time and Time Again".
I HATE time travel.
Let me put this in another perspective:
I REALLY HATE time travel.
Oh, sure, I'm a certified temporal mystic and hyper-scientist. And sure, I can build a time machine out of pieces of junk, while using the radiological frequency of chewing gum wrapper as its focus. However, the psychological effect of knowing stuff before they happen can drive anyone crazy. I'm surprised that Setsuna Mieoh, also known as the Guardian of Time "Sailor Pluto" has not been already been committed to a mental institution. It DOES explain why "Puu-chan" can be insular at times.
Anyway, an example of how ridiculous time travel can be occurred quite recently. Ranma, my part-time "husband", and I went to fulfill our obligations as members of the Justice League Unlimited. Well, I did, since, as "Sailor Moon", was a founding member, while Ranma, as either "The Magnificent Kamen" or as "Sailor Helios, the Yellow Lantern", was merely an honorary member; Ranma's membership was mainly in the Avengers, Captain America's team. We were perhaps one of the few "superheroes" who have a lot of connections with many groups, going all the way back to the first modern superhero team, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Incidentally, the old gang and I do meet from time to time, mostly for an afternoon of cricket and the occasional mission or two.
Anyway, Ranma and I were visiting the Justice League Watchtower (the orbital station, as opposed to either the ground or lunar stations) for a simple afternoon of "micro-management", when all heck broke loose. Ranma was trying to sort out HIS feelings, while I was trying to sort out mine, in terms of our own personal lives, when the adventure of a lifetime began...
Location: JLU Watchtower (Orbital Station).
"I tell you, Ranma," Sailor Moon says, as she and her long time companion Ranma Saotome stepped off the transporter pad, "I don't know how you managed staying on Akane's 'good side'."
"Me neither," Ranma says, as he shrugs his shoulders. "And I might not want to know, when she finds out about my...our...'status'-"
CRASH!
The intruder alarm sounds. However, it was Sailor Moon's chronometric detection portion of her "all-purpose" watch that gave off a peculiar sound.
"We're having a time breach!" 'Moon says, as she began to fan out her senses.
Ranma beats her to the punch. Both he and she were "temporal sensitives".
"This way!" Ranma said, as he ran towards Batman's quarters.
"Ranma!" Sailor Moon says. "You got to change!"
"Okay!" Ranma replied, as he took out a white rose...
FWOOSH!
Now wearing his white tux, mask, hat and cape, the Magnificent Kamen followed Sailor Moon closely behind...
Meanwhile, in Batman's quarters...
"You'll never get me!" said the villain known as "Chronos", as he stuffs one of Batman's spare utility belts into his pack. Chronos wore a silver helmet (with a single fin), green shirt (with the symbol of an hour glass), yellow belt, red shots, white pants (with vertical black strips), and yellow gloves and yellow boots. "I got what I want, so come and get me!"
Chronos opens a hole into the time stream...and jumps in!
"After him!" Batman says, as he, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman followed him. Just before the hole closes up, 'Kamen and 'Moon enters Batman's room.
"Dang," 'Moon says. "We missed them!"
"So?" Kamen says, as he creates a virtual computer screen with user interface. "Ah! He's in the old West, circa 1890s."
"How do you suggest we handle this?" 'Moon asks.
"Well...as one 'Temporal Warrior' to one 'Temporal Wizard', I'd say we use Dr. Sam Beckett's version of Time Travel."
"You mean...we perform a 'Quantum Leap'?"
"Yeah, I know it's dangerous, but it's either that, or risk a paradox."
'Moon nods.
"Okay," 'Kamen says, as he held his some-what wife's hand. "Are you ready?"
'Moon sighed.
"Yes, I am."
"Okay, one, two, three...NOW."
FWOOSH!
'Kamen and 'Moon were engulfed in a blue-white light...
...and found themselves in bed together.
"Ranma," Usagi said, as she shook her husband's body. "Wake up!"
"Huh?" Ranma managed. He then snapped his eyes open. "Where are we?"
Usagi looked around. Already, her mindset was adjusting to the ara.
"San Francisco, California, 1896...just before we are to head back home to Japan."
"Which means that we have a change of plans," Ranma said. "Next stop: Silver City, New Mexico!"
Meanwhile, Batman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman, who were disguised as regular "cowpokes", had managed to track down Chronos. Unfortunately, he had hooked up with a local outlaw named Tobia Manning, who used Chronos' expertise to acquire high-level weapons and technology. As a result, they were not prepared for the welcome wagon.
"Well, this sucks," John ("Green Lantern") Stewart said, as he fumed. Leave it to Chronos to tell Tobias about his power ring's weakness to yellow, which allowed him to take John's ring.
"I know how you feel, John," Wonder Woman says, as she tried to free herself from her bonds. Chronos had also told Tobias about the Amazon's weakness of having her bracelets bound together, thus neutralizing her awesome powers. In fact, all Amazons of Hippolyta's house had this same weakness, granted to them by their gods in order to keep them humble. "Bruce, can't you-?"
"One thing at a time, Princess," Bruce says, as he steadily examine their cell. The locking mechanism was more advanced than he was familiar with, but not impossible to decipher. "Once I figure how to open this lock, I will help the Princess."
"Um, wouldn't it easier to get out of here by first freeing Diana, who would then break the lock with her strength?" John asks.
"..."
Before anyone could respond...
"Well, aren't you all a sorry sight," came a voice.
Bruce, Diana and John looked outside their cell to see cowboy versions of Ranma Saotome and Usagi Tsukino.
"How-?" Diana began.
"I had forgotten that Ranma and Usagi were masters at Temporal Mechanics," Bruce says flatly. "They must have followed us here
"Not quite," Usagi says, as she tosses the keys to the jail cell to Ranma. "We were contacted by our future selves to help you guys here, by a process involving reliving one's lifeline."
"Interesting stuff," John says. "Now, if I can get my ring-"
"Way ahead of ya," Ranma said, as he presented his own Green Lantern battery, and John's power ring. "I believe you know the drill..."
John nods, as he accepts his ring. Together, Ranma and John placed their respective rings in front of Ranma's Green Lantern battery. Together, they said:
In brightest day, in blackest night
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!
"Lovely," Bruce says, as Usagi handed him his "gear". "Now, let's take Chronos DOWN."
Soon, Usagi, Ranma, Bruce, Diana and John rode up to meet Usagi and Ranma's allies. They were card-shark Bat Lash, bounty hunter Jonah Hex, Latino mystery man "El Diablo" and Native American law man Ohriyesa "Indian" Smith. Together, they swarmed Manning's ranch.
"Woo-yah!" Bat Lash said, as he twirled his lasso. Bat tends to be more of a colorful cowboy with lots of charm and guts (especially at playing with cards). "These cowpokes ain't got no style!"
Bat managed to corral two of the vagrants who were riding on hover bikes.
"Quit yer yap!" said Jonah Hex, whose left side of his face was horribly disfigured. "Captain Saotome, I got a clear shot!"
"Right, Jonah!" Ranma said, as he plowed through a tank while using his Green Lantern abilities. It must be noted that through some strange circumstance, Hex ended up in the 24th century, on a far off Earth-controlled space station. It was on that station that Ranma met the bounty hunter, and convinced him to stay for a while as a consultant.
Soon, it became obvious that Manning was going to loose, so...
"You will NEVER take me!" Chronus said, as he jumped into yet another time vortex.
"After him!" Bruce said, as he jumps in after the villain.
Diana follows Bruce.
"Aren't you coming?" John says.
"You go ahead," Ranma says.
"We'll meet you there!" Usagi interjects.
John nods his head, and follows Diana into the vortex...
150-plus years later: New Gotham.
"What the heck happened?" said Green Lantern, as he surveyed what he saw. As soon as he and the others emerged from the vortex, Bruce, John and Diana were back in costume.
All around the city, there was a mosaic of monuments and architectural styles of various eras.
"It seems that Chronos has been busy," Wonder Woman says.
"And apparently, he has help," Batman says, as he points to a gang of...clowns?
"We are 'The Jokerz'!" said the lead clown. "I am Bonk!"
"Oh?" 'Lantern says. "So what do YOU do?"
"This!" the clown says, as he took a HUGE hammer from nowhere, and tried to smash our heroes.
BLAM!
"Tee hee, tee hee!" said a blond, pretty girl-clown, as she began to divide by twos. "We're Dee-Dee, and we want to be your friend!"
"And how are you going to stop us?" Wonder Woman asks.
"Like this!"
An arc of energy formed around the Amazon Princess within the ring of Dee-Dees, and created an energy field that was injuring her.
"Ah!"
"We have to stay focused, people!" Batman said, as he ducked and weave Woof, a clown werewolf.
"We were expecting you and your friends, caped crusader!" Woof yelled.
"But were you guys expecting US?" said a voice.
Fft! TWANG!
A pink rose and a "batarang" stops Woof in his tracks.
Batman looked up to see a teenaged boy wearing a full tux (gray), top hat, cowl and cape. Standing next to him was a...Bat-Man?
"You freaks are on MY turf, now!" said the bat-suited hero. "Let's get 'em, Magnificent Kamen, Jr.!"
"Let's do this, Batman!" said his partner.
Meanwhile, Wonder Woman was still caught in the throes of Dee-Dee's attack when-
"Moon Shower ATTACK!"
A swarm of hearts pelts the numerous Dee-Dees into submission.
"Ah-yi-!"
Wonder Woman looks up to see a floating pink-haired, Sailor-suited heroine.
"Sailor Moon-?"
"No, I am Sailor Mini-Moon, the champion of Love and Justice! And on behalf of the Earth AND the Moon...I WILL PUNISH YOU!"
Wonder Woman rolled her eyes.
"Oh, no you won't!" Bonk says, as he was about to lay the smack-down on the soldier of Love and Justice, when-
POW!
The man with the hawk helmet and golden wings, Warhawk, lays the smack-down with his spiky mace.
"Enough of the silliness, Princess," Warhawk says. "Let's wrap this up, and move on!"
"I agree," said the hero Static Shock, has he brought up the rear. "It's a good thing that Emperor Ranshin the First and the Neo-Queen Serenity had warned us of your arrival here."
"Oh, really?" Wonder Woman says, as she tied up her foe with her magic lasso. "Did 'Magnificent Kamen' and Sailor Moon contact them?"
"Actually," Magnificent Kamen, Jr. said, as he and his fiancée Sailor Mini-Moon steps forward, "Emperor Ranshin, monarch of Japan, my father, IS the Magnificent Kamen-"
"And my mother is the Neo-Queen Serenity of Crystal Tokyo," 'Moon finished. "Since they are busy dealing with Chronos' mess, we were sent her to meet you."
"Good," Batman said, as he got his gear ready. "The sooner we deal with Chronos himself, the better!"
Soon, the Justice League Unlimited, present and future, confronted a fleeing Chronos.
"I'll be back...as the God of Time!"
And Chronos jumps into the time stream.
"Not again!" Green Lantern says, as he, Batman and Wonder Woman jump in after him. But before Batman leaves...
"Batman!" Magnificent Kamen, Jr. says, as he handed the Dark Knight a mini-disc. "My father wanted me to give you this."
"What is it?"
"Just pop this into Chronos' temporal controller before he exits the time-stream."
"Thank you," Batman says, as he follows his comrades into the time stream.
As Chronos fled, all of them could see the beginning of time...which was a hand emerging from a swirling mass of light, that looked like a galaxy.
"We got to do something!" Green Lantern says, as he used his power ring to shield him and his friends from Chronos' attacks.
"Batman!" Wonder Woman grunted, as she tried to pull Chronos back from the brink with her Golden Lasso. "If you have a plan, now is a good time to do it!"
Batman used Wonder Woman's line to pull himself to Chronos.
"What...what are you doing?" Chronos says.
"I'm giving you a...TIME OUT," Batman said, as he inserts the data disc into utility belt, and "ran it"...
BING!
The next thing Batman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman knew, was that they were sitting in the cafeteria at the JLU Watchtower.
"Um, what just happened?" Green Lantern says.
"Apparently, we succeeded in stopping Chronos," Batman observed.
"I wonder what happened to him," Wonder Woman mused.
Just then, Ranma and Usagi enters the cafeteria.
"Hey guys," Usagi says, as she went to get her food.
"Yo," Ranma said, as he did likewise.
"Do you think they know what happened?" Wonder Woman asked.
"Well, there's only one thing to do," Green Lantern says.
Ranma and Usagi sat down to eat at the table of Batman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman.
"Well?" Batman asked.
"Well, what?" Ranma asked.
"About Chronos...?"
"Ah. Usagi?"
Usagi takes out a small box, and slides it to Batman.
"What is this?"
"Open it," Usagi says.
Batman does this, revealing a large marble inside.
"So?"
"Take a closer look," Ranma said with a knowing smile.
"'Lantern?"
John creates a high-powered microscope, and Batman peers within it.
It was Chronos. Apparently, he was reliving his life from the day he first used time travel, to his last encounter with Batman and the others...over and over again.
"What-?"
"Simply put, Ranma and I isolated Chronos into his own private timeline, separated from this one."
"How-?"
"Hey, now," Ranma began. "A master of Time NEVER reveal his or her trade secrets, ne?"
And that was that.
Bruce ended upputting the "snow globe" in the trophy room, since there was no problem concerning Chronos' safety.
At any rate, I STILL hate time travel. Then again, knowing what might happened does allow me to choose my own destiny.
Oh, well.
Tbc.
Next time: One of the Nerima Wrecking Crew and one of the Sailor Scouts get kidnapped, and is forced to engage in mortal combat! Can Usagi and Ranma rescue them, before someone gets seriously hurt? Be here for "The Fight!", next on "Sailor Moon ST: Hero Unlimited". See you then!