Disclaimer: It's obvious that I don't own Ranma or Sailor Moon because if I did then ether Genma or Ranma would have had the sense to learn Chinese before their trip to China!

Nodoka stood outside the door to Ranma's room and lightly tapped on the door. Earlier at dinner Nodoka had noticed that Ranma seemed to have something on his mind that was making him mildly depressed. Ranma had brushed off any questions from Makoto or Hotaru about what was bugging him by simply claiming that it had been a long day for him. This answer had been enough to stratify Makoto and Hotaru, but Nodoka knew that there was more to what was bugging Ranma besides a long day. It was a skill that all mothers had and Nodoka was no exception.

After getting a muffled approval to come in, Nodoka slowly opened the door and looked around Ranma's room. Nodoka was able to quickly spot Ranma as he was sitting on his bed with his arms wrapped around his legs. This sight worried Nodoka because Ranma didn't do this ball routine unless something was really bugging him. She calmly walked over to Ranma's bed, sat down next him, and then gave him a gentle hug. While she had her arms wrapped around Ranma Nodoka said, "What's wrong Ranma?"

Ranma said in a calm tone, "Earlier today Usagi and I started to explore the ruins of the Silver Millennium on the Moon. It was just some preliminary exploring so that we could get a rough idea about what was in one spot. One of the more important things that we discovered during our visit was an intact Silver Millennium war room. The magic in the war room was able to give us up to date information on ALL of the planetary senshi that were reborn. Thanks to the magic in that room Usagi and I discovered who Sailor Saturn's reincarnation is." Ranma then looked strait into Nodoka's eyes as he said, "Hotaru is Sailor Saturn."

That little piece of information caused Nodoka's eyes to widen. Nodoka had always felt bad that fate had given such young people like the Sailor Scouts the task of protecting the city from evil. However, it was one thing for such a task to be given to Ranma and it was something entirely different for Hotaru to be given such a task. Ranma, from what Nodoka could see, had both the physical training and the mental fortitude to deal with such a burden. Hotaru however was a rather frail physically and her mentality wasn't suited for battle.

Nodoka's thoughts then drifted to the Inner Scouts and she compared them to her earlier argument. As much as Nodoka didn't want to admit it, all of the Inner Scouts hadn't been really fit to take up their tasks when they started. In the end, even though she didn't want to say it, Nodoka knew what she needed to tell Ranma. "I know you don't want this Ranma, but you need to train Hotaru so that she can take her place as Sailor Saturn."

Letting out a resigned sight, Ranma put his hands behind his head and lay back on his bed. He then slowly said as if he was talking more to himself then he was to Nodoka, "Getting Hotaru to train shouldn't be too difficult. For the first few months I'll have to focus on increasing her strength, speed, and endurance. Perhaps I should go see if Mousse wouldn't mind teaching Hotaru how to wield a naginata. That way Hotaru will be able to use the Silence Glaive as a weapon like it's supposed to be used instead of just as a focusing talisman."

While Ranma continued to list the possible training methods for Hotaru Nodoka quietly left the room. Nodoka was content that she had managed to help Ranma out of the trouble that this situation was bringing him. As she left the room, Nodoka promised herself that she wouldn't reveal Hotaru's status to the girl. That was something that was better left to Ranma and Usagi in Nodoka's opinion.

Setsuna was in the kitchen of the Outers' house preparing a small platter of snacks. Usagi had contacted Setsuna yesterday and had asked if she and Ranma could come over to talk with Setsuna. Naturally Setsuna had agreed to Usagi's request and she was making the platter because Setsuna liked to have a few snacks available when discussing business. Having a platter out to snack on was something that her mother used to do back in the Silver Millennium that Setsuna continued to do. It made Setsuna feel like her mother was with her again helping to advise her.

As she was finishing the final touches to the snack platter the time senshi thought about her two housemates. Haruka and Michiru were both out of town because of a concert and a race that they were appearing in. Having Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus out of town suited Setsuna just fine. True the duo had been easier to live with ever since Usagi had cut them down to size. However, there was still a great deal of friction between the other two Outers and the Inners. Mostly the friction was due to Haruka and her dislike for Ranma, but Michiru also had a little bit of trouble dealing with the Inners even if she was more civil about it. Having those two in the house while Usagi and Ranma were over was just asking for trouble.

The doorbell rang just as Setsuna set the platter down on the kitchen table. She then calmly walked to the door and opened it. Ranma and Usagi were calmly standing on the welcome mat waiting for Setsuna to let them in. Like any good host Setsuna smiled and said, "Welcome you two. I've got some snacks in the kitchen so lets head over there and talk." The royal couple smiled at Setsuna and quickly followed her into the kitchen. Once all three were seated at the table Setsuna said, "Okay you two, what do you want to talk to me about that you wanted to talk about privately."

Usagi, after having a cracker or two, spoke up for Ranma and herself. "For the past week or so Setsuna Ranma and I have been exploring the ruins of Argentaniople. Do to time constraints with our other responsibilities we have only explored a tiny fraction, but our explorations have given us an idea. We want to resurrect the Silver Millennium."

Setsuna nearly chocked on the cheese wedge that she had been eating when Usagi said this. In an excited and shocked tone Setsuna said, "Y-you want to resurrect the Silver Millennium? How?" This idea didn't make any sense to Setsuna. It was magically impossible to craft a spell to resurrect the people of the Silver Millennium. Setsuna knew this because shortly after The Fall she had spent a century trying to craft such a spell.

Ranma calmly answered Setsuna's question. "We've only started tossing this idea around two days ago and you're the first one to hear about it. What we want to do is get various peoples from Earth to immigrate to the old cities under Usagi's rule. Argentaniople would be the starting point from which the old kingdom would be reborn. From there we would move on to repair the other old cities both on the Moon and on the other worlds."

"Now we both know that there are several things that we would need to take care of before we could start this plan. Luckily we have several years to prepare because Usagi said it will take that long before she will be able to cast the spell needed to revive the Moon's ecosystem." At this Setsuna sent Uasagi a knowing smirk while Ranma continued on obliviously. "There are three major issues that Usagi and I can think of right off the bat. One Usagi needs further education to be a responsible head of state. Two Argentaniople will need to be repaired so that the new subjects aren't moving into a war zone. Finally, we need to figure out a way to insure that the Neo-Silver Millennium isn't annexed by any of the existing states on Earth."

At that point Usagi took over the conversation and said, "The first two problems we have a general idea of how to handle. For instance I plan to take several different courses in high school and college to help me prepare to take the throne. We think that we might be able to repair enough of the city for the initial population by creating a few simple repair droids with the factory that we found intact. However, we just can't see how we can solve the third problem.

For a moment Setsuna just sat there and thought about the whole situation. The resurrection of the Silver Millennium, it was almost too much for her to believe after so many centuries. Setsuna had avoided visiting all of the ruins because the memories of all who had once lived there made it too painful. But now, that pain was starting to disappear as Setsuna started to embrace the idea of a Neo-Silver Millennium reborn from the old one's ashes.

Instantly Setsuna's eyes narrowed as she thought about the problem that Usagi and Ranma had brought up. How to handle the countries of Earth was definitely a serious problem that needed the greatest of care. Such a thing could be done, but it required a great deal of careful planning. That planning was something that Setsuna was determined to do because she did not want to fail her princess. With a calm and wise voice Setsuna said, "I think I can figure out what to do about the third problem. Of course it will take me some time so I will get back to you once I have figured it out."

The duo look at each other, nodded their heads, and then Usagi responded, "That's all we were hoping for Setsuna. Can you keep this under your hat though? Ranma and I aren't planning on telling the other scouts until we have a solid plan to present to them."

Setsuna nodded her head and said, "I understand Usagi. Now, may I suggest that you and little nephy go out and have some fun? Tomorrow at the dance I will be one of the teacher chaperones attending and I do look forward to seeing you two attending. If you want to talk to me then for any reason just look for the Geisha in the emerald green dress." On seeing the surprised looks Usagi was shooting her Setsuna smiled her head and continued on. "I once worked as a Geisha in the 16th century so that I could get close to several key political leaders at the time. That persona is listed in the government records as my ancestor."

The party at the high school was currently going in high swing when a black mist appeared on the school room. When the mist receded, Happosai's diminutive form was visible. However, anyone who had previously encountered Happosai would have been shocked to see him now. The old pervert's skin was now a pale blue color and seemed to be composed of scales. Happosai's left hand and his right eye looked like the belonged on a reptile instead of on a human. Finally Happosai, who was an extremely well conditioned martial artist, was breathing heavily.

In a raspy and slightly reptilian voice Happosai muttered, "So weak, need energy." Inside his mind Happosai ranted and raved. When that black flog had taken him after his humiliating defeat Happosai hadn't really known what to expect. To his horror Happosai had found himself chained to a table and treated like a lab rat. Happosai couldn't remember who had done this to him, but he did recall hearing the person who did this to him mention something about hanyo. All Happosai could think of was that the person must have been referring to what he had been turned into.

All Happosai could think about at the moment however was trying to go to Jyusenkyo to go get a curse. He didn't care which curse it was just so long as he could get out this abomination that his body had become. Ever since his body had been mutated Happosai had felt a dark and evil presence in his mind trying to take control of his body. Now some people might claim that Happosai was a dark and evil presence himself, but this presence was totally different. Compared to this presence, Happosai could be considered a saint.

As another spasm racked Happosai's body he said, "Damn it! I don't have the strength to fight this thing off anymore." Pulling out a scrap piece of paper, Happosai began to furiously write. Once he was done Happosai smirked and said, "I might be seen as a petty little imp and perhaps I am, but I refuse to become a monster." Happosai then gathered all the energy that he had left into his daemonic hand and pressed the hand to the roof. Thanks to what he had gleamed from the dark presence in his mind Happosai knew that he could create foot soldiers to soften up his enemies.

Two to three dozen generic humanlike figures suddenly appeared around Happosai. With a shrill like voice Happosai said to this figures, "Attack the people below us." The summoned creatures all nodded their heads and left the roof to begin the assault causing Happosai to smirk. Creating those soldiers had completely drained Happosai's life energy insuring that he and most importantly the dark presence in his mind wouldn't be around anyone. Also, he had created those soldiers in such a way that they would be fairly weak and thus easily to destroy. With his dying breath Happosai said, "I just wish I could have been comforted by Ranko and her bosom one last time."

Herb, Mousse, Ryoga, and Ranma were all hanging out around the drink stand. The four of them had just spent the last half hour on the dance floor with their dates and they were glad to be able to rest for a bit. After he had drained his cup of punch Ryoga stated what was on all four of their minds. "What is it about girls' and the dance floor? I don't know about you guys, but I feel like I've gone through several martial arts tournaments in a row."

At that point Ranma added his two cents, "You're absolutely right Ryoga. However, you've got to admit that the companionship on the dance floor is a whole lot better then what we could hope to find at a martial arts tournament." The four young men then turned to look at where their dates were over at the buffet. After they gave their dates a quick once over a unanimous "agreed" was said. Ranma then poured two cups of punch and started to walk over to Usagi.

Just as Ranma hading Usagi one of the cups a loud feminine shriek pierced the gym. Immediately following the shriek silvery masked humanoids came in through all of the windows and doors. As Ranma got into a defensive stance and assessed the situation he quietly muttered so that only Usagi could hear him, "That's it I'm contacting our agents. I distinctly remember our contracts stating that we are not supposed to have to deal with Super Sentai foot soldiers rejects." Despite the seriousness of the situation Usagi couldn't help smiling at Ranma's joke.

While most of the students were in a panic over the party crashers, Ranma and his friends quickly got to work taking out the trash. Ryoga had transported himself over to the father set of gym doors where several of the creatures had gathered and he started to tear into them. Mousse took on the role of sharp shooter and turned the attackers on the benchers into shish kebob. Herb covered the other main door that led into the school. As for Ranma, he was protecting the frightened students from the few attackers that had gotten by his friends.

Usagi and the rest of the Sailor Scouts were stuck with keeping their classmates from completely loosing all common sense because of the attack. It was all that they could do because there was no way for them to sneak away to transform. To the rest of the Inners' surprise, Usagi had somehow managed to take control of the situation and was calmly giving out directions. "Don't huttle together that might make it easier for one of these things to attack us. Everyone standing by the second dinner buffet table, move to the left now so that Mousse has a clear shot. Will someone please turn off the music, we don't need 'Kung Fu fighting' playing in the background."

Thanks to a combo of Usagi's directions along with Ranma and his friend's martial arts skill all of the attackers were disposed of without any serious harm to the student body. The last creature was disposed of by Ranma snapping its neck and he calmly looked on as it turned into dust like all of the others. Setsuna, being the only teacher who wasn't whimpering under a table, grabbed a microphone. In a very calm manner Setsuna said, "We've all been a witness to a monster attack before so we all know the drill. Was anyone transformed into a monster? Has anyone been drained of their energy by the attackers? Did anyone witness a fellow student having a gem/crystal/item pulled out of that person's body?"

Upon receiving a negative from all of the students Setsuna pulled out an insurance claim form and started to fill it out. As she was filling it out Setsuna called out, "Alright then. Due to school regulations the dance is sadly over. Ignoring the monster attack, I hope on behalf of all of the teachers that you all enjoyed the dance. For those of you who were trying to earn extra credit with the history teacher don't worry. Your names have been recorded and you should see those points by the end of the week."

An hour or so after the attack on the school, the Inners, Ranma, Herb, and Setsuna were all gathered at the Hikawa Shrine. Everyone was currently looking at Ami as she worked on the Mercury Computer. Ami let out a small sigh and then closed the Mercury Computer. She then said, "Its official. Those things that attacked the dance were a type of low class youma. What's more, the dust left behind from these creatures' shows signs that they were deliberately made flawed. One example of this is the fact that those creatures couldn't drain energy from people."

Setsuna then said, "That defiantly makes the note more credible." Everyone lowered their head at the mentioning of the note. After the rest of the students had vacated the gym due to the attack, the eight of them had looked all over the area for clues as to why the attack happened. Makoto had been the one to discover Happosai's corpse and his hastily scribbled note. All the note had said was: sorry of this attack, but I need to keep the darkness that is inside of me from escaping. Hope no one was seriously hurt by the attack I tried to make them as flawed as possible so that they are easy to destroy. Their creation was the only thing I was sure of that would cause my death and prevent the darkness from tacking control. –Happosai.

While all of scouts had been saddened that someone had died, Ranma was the most affected by Happosai's death with Herb in distant second. Both of them had never liked the old goat and they had honestly thought that they'd be glade to hear that Happosai kicked the bucket. However, now that they were face to face with Happosai's death all they could feel was emptiness. According to Ami's scans of Happosai's corpse the old pervert had artificially transformed into a hanyo and that the process, from what Ami could make of her scans, had to have been incredibly painful. How could they say anything against Happosai now that the man was dead after suffering so much?

It was Usagi who broke the uncomfortable silence by saying, "Tomorrow we'll cremate Happosai's body in secret. If we let the authorities know they'll probably have the man's corpse on a dissection table in a lab somewhere. And I expect all of you to be there for the ceremony; the man has alerted us to the fact that there is something out there that is up to no good. At the very least he deserves our respect for that." Everyone in the room nodded their heads solemnly showing that they approved of Usagi's decision.

After a moment of silence Minako said, "So what do we do now? I mean, we know that there is something evil out there. What are we going to do about the evil?"

Setsuna then calmly said, "And what would you suggest we do Minako? This is the first sign we have that something like this is happening. We know absolutely nothing about who our enemy is, what their goals are, or when they might attack. All we can do is to continue on with our lives and prepare for the day when our enemy decides to reveal itself to us."

Ami then asked, "Can't you track this new enemy Setsuna? With the Time Gates at your disposal shouldn't it be relatively easy to locate the enemy? If you could give us the location of the enemy then we could take them out while they are hopefully still weak."

With a sad shake of her head Setsuna replied, "It sounds simple in theory, but in reality what you're asking about is almost impossible. When looking into either the past or the myriad of potential futures the Time Gates can best be thought of like a CD player reading a CD. The Gates can easily locate general time events like say the school dance or a battle. However tracking an individual to, from, or during an event is extremely difficult. That is one of major reasons, besides potential morality of the situation, why the line of Sailor Plutos are called the 'Guardians of Time' and not 'Temporal Troubleshooters'."

Usagi took control of the situation and said in a commanding and yet still friendly tone, "Here's the situation. We will wait for this new enemy to come out of hiding and then we will eliminate it quickly. In the meantime we will have to stay focused on our training and stay alert for any signs of enemy activity." Usagi then paused for a second to look at Ranma as she said, "What of Saturn Ranma? Do you think that it's advisable that we awaken her now?"

Ignoring the surprised and shocked looks that almost all of the other scouts were sending him Ranma said, "Negative Usagi. Sailor Saturn is for all intents and purposes a magical artillery piece. Her powers are designed to be used for taking out numerous enemies in groups ranging from platoon size to an entire division. Bringing Saturn into an urban combat zone now would just result in heavy civilian casualties and property damage. I will need several more weeks to a few months to insure that she is properly trained so that she can contribute to the city's defense."

Usagi looked strait into Ranma's eyes as if she was trying to find something out. Before one of the other scouts could ask what was going on Usagi gave Ranma a small smile. "Your right Ranma," Usagi calmly said with her warm voice. "It is better for us if we keep Sailor Saturn in reserve for now. However, if things get too bad then Sailor Saturn will be awakened and I sincerely hope that it doesn't come to that." After saying that Usagi's tone became very serious as she continued on talking this time addressing her fellow inners. "I know that you all are curious about who is Sailor Saturn's reincarnation, but you are NOT to inquire about Saturn's identity. If you THINK you might know who she is you are to keep your opinions to yourselves." The meeting ended not long after Usagi's edict about Sailor Saturn.

Shingo was walking through the park when his eyes caught sight of something moving in his peripheral vision. When he turned his head Shingo was surprised to see Hotaru standing in the grass swinging a very large stick. Correction, Shingo realized that Hotaru was swinging some kind of wooden practice naginata. Being curious as to why Hotaru would be doing such a thing Shingo headed over and said, "What ya doing Hotaru?"

Hotaru was surprised at Shingo's little remark because she had been so focused on her kata and she started to loose her balance. Luckily Shingo quickly hurried over and he had helped Hotaru keep her balance by holding her in his arms. Once Hotaru had gotten her balance back the two realized the position they were in and they quickly separated with sheepish looks on their faces. Shingo then said with a minor pink tint on his cheeks, "Ah Hotaru? Why were you practicing with that naginata?"

In a meek manner Hotaru answered, "About two weeks ago Ranma approached me and offered to train me to defend myself. Since I didn't want to get hurt by bullies anymore and I wanted to spend some more time with Ranma I accepted. Mostly he's been helping me with physical conditioning since I'm, well." At this point Shingo nodded his head to let Hotaru know that he got the idea so she wouldn't have mention how frail she was. Continuing on Hotaru said, "In addition to my physical training, Ranma's been training me in using the naginata."

Shingo then said in a friendly tone, "That's cool Hotaru. You're probably the only person in the school who has a big sibling that is capable and willing to train you so congratulations!" Hotaru's face turned a few shades pinker as she listened to Shingo's congratulations to her situation. Completely oblivious to Hotaru's current state, Shingo then continued to speak. "Is Ranma around here Hotaru or are you just trying to get in a little extra practice to impress him?"

Thankful that the conversation had shifted away from her and what she was doing, Hotaru happily answer Shingo. "Oh Ranma's around here and Usagi is here as well. After Ranma told me what he wanted me to do, he and Usagi left to go spar."

A friendly, if slightly mischievous, look crossed Shingo's face and he said, "Hotaru, why don't we go and watch our siblings spar?" Hotaru was a little nervous at the idea of leaving before she finished the routine Ranma had given her, but she quickly agreed to join Shingo. The two younger siblings then snuck off in the direction that Hotaru remembered their siblings walking off in. Soon enough the duo heard the sounds of a fight going on and they hid in a large bush.

On the other side of the bush Ranma and Usagi were sparing. Since the spar was mainly for Usagi's benefit Ranma was fighting just a tad better then her while she was going all out. As Shingo watch the spar progress he almost couldn't believe that his sister was Ranma's opponent. She was just so good, especially for the amount of time that she had been training. It was just almost inconceivable to Shingo that the klutz could be so graceful.

Hotaru noticed the shocked look on Shingo's face as both of them stuck their heads out of the bush. She then cheerfully said, "Ranma's a good teacher isn't he? I remember watching when Ranma first started to teach Usagi martial arts. She tripped two or three times, couldn't block a punch at all, and she had a great deal of trouble with getting her attacks to connect. As you can see your sister has come a long way since then."

Ten minutes after Hotaru and Shingo started to observe the spar Ranma ended the match by sweeping Usagi's legs and grabbing her into his arms. Usagi then pouted and said, "No fair Ranma! I was just starting to win the match."

Ranma just chuckled and said, "Sorry Usagi. Just remember what they say, All's fair in love and war."

Usagi got a twinkle in her eye and she said, "Oh really Ranma? I suppose as the victor your hoping for a little reward?" She then wrapped her arms around Ranma's neck and lean her head closer to Ranma like she was going to kiss him. Just as Usagi was about to kiss Ranma she swung her legs into the side of Ranma's leg causing him to loose his balance. By the time Ranma realized what Usagi had done his back was on the ground with Usagi sitting on him. With a mirthful voice Usagi said before kissing Ranma, "All's fair in love and war Ranma." She then broke the kiss off for just a second to whisper into Ranma's ear, "Especially love."

The two onlookers watched as Ranma and Usagi's sparring session turned into a make-out session. At that point Shingo pulled his head out of the bush and said goodbye to Hotaru. Shingo might have thought that Ranma was a cool guy even with the curse and Shingo was fine with the idea of Ranma dating Usagi. However, that did not mean that Shingo was okay with the idea of watching Ranma having a make-out session with his sister. There are just some things that are better to be avoided then to pay for the extensive psychiatric help that would be needed to correct the mental damage.