Chapter 17:
Normally Ami found it difficult to sleep through pain, the distracting aching serving as an inducement to move into a less uncomfortable position. This pain was different. It surrounded her and filled her with a complacent lethargy that said that she really could just lie there and let oblivion take her. It was a very strange sensation she would have been happy to contemplate if only she hadn't been so tired.
The tapping on her cheek would have none of that.
That was another strange sensation. Given how much her body hurt, she was surprised that she could still notice the light, persistent sensation on her face.
Tap, tap, tap. "Come on, Ami-chan, wake up." Tap, tap. "Come on."
She tried to shoo away the nuisance, but found it too much trouble to move her arm and instead decided to treat herself to what little comfort she could find in lying still. Truth be told there was scant comfort to be found in that position, but it was much less effort than the alternative.
Why did she even hurt anyway? The last thing she remembered was walking towards a strange castle on a hill, leading Sailor Venus and Sailor Pluto, who were carrying an unconscious Sailor Terra, between numerous demon patrols. Is that what had happened? Had they been caught in an ambush? Had she failed everybody?
No, that wasn't quite right. Ami's mind repeatedly played through the last thing she could remember, each iteration getting just a bit further. There was the castle. Then following Sailor Terra to the strange gem which was so similar to a heart crystal. Sailor Venus's incident trying to retrieve it. Sailor Terra's success. Trying to get out of the castle.
Failing to do so. That caused Ami to worry.
Fighting to get out but being hit by wave after wave of attackers. That really caused Ami to worry. They could still be in danger.
She forced her eyes open and pushed herself to her feet with all of the urgency she could muster, which was to say she quietly groaned and slowly sat up. Her head was spinning and her whole body protested at the action but she still managed to reach a sitting position.
Dark splotches kept swimming in front of her eyes, making it hard for her to get her bearings, but as she looked around they were slowly lightening and disappearing. She did her best to see around the gaps in her vision to survey her immediate surroundings.
The area around her was spartan, but unlike the world she had seen when she had first passed through the portal in the warehouse this one didn't have the same feelings of desolation and despair. A warm sun shone down from a blue sky, giving the suggestion of either a late morning or an early evening. The ground was rocky, but unlike that other world there were no craters of upturned earth. It was dotted with sparse vegetation, and the absence of any more substantial life seemed more like a choice enforced by the dictates of the local environment than an imposition caused by the scars of war.
Much to her relief, there didn't seem to be any imminent danger or threat. A couple of feet away stood Ranma, while Minako knelt just behind Ami.
"Ugh," Ami groaned out. Then more coherently she asked, "Does anybody remember what happened?"
"Not me. The last thing I remember was facing all those things at the exit of the castle," Minako said.
"Last thing I remember was Pluto opening up some kind of portal thingy," Ranma said. "More important than that, do any of you know where we are?"
"No idea," Minako announced first again, both cheerfully and proudly. "Do you know, Ami-chan?"
Ami took another look around her. There weren't any buildings in sight, and with no distinguishing characteristics the rocky hill they were on could have been almost anywhere. The only notable thing she saw was her henshin rod and the Mercury Computer laying on the ground beside her. That was slightly strange, and vaguely worrying, but she didn't pay it too much attention as she picked up both.
There was nothing to do for it except to get more information. She said, "Let me check."
She opened her trusty Mercury Computer, but as she did so, rather than the sense of comfort the hand-held device usually inspired in her, it instead brought with it a sense of dread. As she pulled it open, shards of crystal fell from the shattered screen to the ground around her.
Her dread turned to despair when she tried to turn the device on. The screen showed no reaction at all. No lights flashed and the device felt cold to the touch. Then again, even when it had worked in the past it was basically silent and generated no heat, so not all hope was lost. It could simply have been an issue with the display, in which case she would still be able to link to it using her visor as Sailor Mercury.
"One second. Let me try transforming and checking it that way," Ami said. Habit muted the pain involved as she raised her henshin rod high in the air and shouted her ordinary refrain, "Mercury Star Power, Make-Up!"
Nothing happened.
Ami stood with her arm outstretched for a few seconds before that fact sunk in. She lowered her hand and tried again. "Mercury Star Power, Make-Up!"
Nothing happened.
"Mercury Star Power, Make-Up!" Ami shouted a third time.
Nothing happened.
Ami gave up and lowered her arm. She turned towards Minako and said, "Something's wrong. Can you transform?"
Minako raised her henshin rod in an action similar to Ami's, shouting, "Venus Star Power, Make-Up!"
Nothing happened.
"I can't transform either. How about you, Saotome-san?" Minako asked.
Ranma got an upset look on her face, but much like the others she raised her henshin rod and announced half-heartedly, "Terra Star Power, Make-Up."
Nothing happened.
So it wasn't just her. Something strange was happening.
"What's going on? Why can't any of us transform?" Minako asked, giving voice to the same question Ami had just been thinking. Before Ami or Ranma could respond, though, Minako suddenly asked, "Wait. Has anybody seen Setsuna-san?"
The sudden realization of the missing teammate forcibly knocked any other conversation topic off the agenda. A missing friend was much more important than the temporary mystery of why none of them could transform.
"No. I woke up over there," Ranma said, pointing behind her to the hillside a couple of meters away, "and saw you two lying over here."
Ami was more than slightly concerned at this new discovery. She, Minako, and Ranma had apparently arrived in casual visible sight of each other, but Setsuna was nowhere to be seen. Given how none of the three of them could transform, it was reasonable to assume Setsuna wouldn't have been able to transform as well, which eliminated most of the more benign explanations for her absence too. It was possible that whatever set of circumstances which had saved the three of them had extended to Setsuna as well, only placing her somewhere else entirely for some unknown reason, but the more likely explanation was that Setsuna hadn't been as lucky as the three of them had been. Ami hoped for the best while simultaneously fearing the worst.
Ami suggested to the group, "Let's split up and look for her. Try to see if you recognize any landmarks as well."
They followed Ami's advice and split up, taking turns shouting out Setsuna's name. As they progressed, the trio slowly fanned apart from each other to cover more ground. Minako took the basic approach and was walking in a random direction, looking to both sides as she went. Ranma went to investigate a crevice which may have hidden a prone woman from their sight. Ami decided to climb up the hill they were on to gain some height to survey the situation. As they grew further apart, the hollers of Ranma and Minako grew quiet to Ami's ears.
It took a while for Ami to climb the hill. She wasn't out of shape as such, but life in a city like Tokyo was not conducive to the most active of lifestyles, especially for a bookworm like Ami. The farthest she had to walk on a regular basis was to the nearest bus stop or train station, and, unlike the trek up to the Hikawa Shrine, there were no convenient stairs to make the climb any easier. By the time she got to the top of the hill she was definitely winded.
It was worth it. The hill overlooked a wide breadth of area and Ami could see several kilometers away. In the distance was an expansive forest, far too distant for her to identify what kind of trees it contained. To her left was what appeared to be a grassy meadow, while behind her was the rocky slope where she and the others had woken up.
Once again Ami regretted not being able to transform into Sailor Mercury. Although she could see a substantial portion of the countryside it would be hard to spot a walking, or worse a prone, Setsuna at any distance without any technological or preferably magical assistance. As it was she found it hard to make out what looked like a group of some sort maybe a kilometer away, and it even included a large carriage in its procession. It was only their motion which caught her eye.
Be that as it may, she still thanked her luck for seeing them. An entourage meant people. They might be able to tell her where she was and if they had seen Setsuna. That was assuming they spoke Japanese, English, German, or some other language with which she had at least a passing familiarity.
Ami cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted down to Minako and Ranma, "Hey! I found some people down there! I'm going to go check it out!"
Minako gave a wave back and shouted something which was too quiet for Ami to understand, whereas Ami got no reply at all from Ranma.
Ami then made her way down the hill towards the traveling procession. She made a rough calculation of the best path to intercept her still moving targets. She figured if she hurried she should be able to reach them before they passed by.
As she got closer to the valley below something else caught her eye and made her stop short. Flanking both sides of the small valley were a series of pseudo-cliffs. However none of this was too strange. What had caused Ami to stop short were the figures hidden behind these cliffs. They were crouched behind some rocks, and it was obvious from how they were positioned that they were hidden from the people below. Ami could only think of one scenario which fit all the facts: ambush.
She had only barely come to that realization when she was grabbed from behind, a hand covering her mouth muffling her reflexive scream.
Minako gave another look towards the hilltop but failed to see Ami. Ami had called out in triumph for conquering the hill they were on, causing Minako to playfully wave back in acknowledgment of the achievement. Since then she had seen no trace of Ami. While Minako didn't know exactly what had happened, Ami was probably fine. Still that had been some time ago.
Finally she made up her mind. It might just be paranoia, but seeing how they were who-knows-where and their search for Setsuna had revealed nothing of note, she would go check on Ami. At worst they would just waste some time. It wasn't as if there was anything else in particular to do.
The first thing Minako did was jog over to where Ranma was. There was no reason to get more separated than they already were and end up with four lost people.
"What's up? Find anything?" Ranma asked as Minako approached.
"No, but Ami-chan's disappeared. She called out a bit ago from up there," Minako pointed at the top of the hill, "but I haven't seen her since."
"So she climbed the hill, called out, and then disappeared? She's probably been kidnapped," Ranma said dismissively.
"Kidnapped? But we haven't even seen anybody else here. What makes you think that?" Minako asked.
"It happens all the time," Ranma said, her voice carrying the weight of experience behind it. Then, with a sigh, she said, "Come on. We'd better go save her."
"If you say so," Minako said skeptically. She had no idea how Ranma had taken the flying leap to reach the conclusion that Ami had been kidnapped, but she wasn't about to start an argument. Instead she just led Ranma up the hill towards the place she had last seen her friend.
It was a bit of a climb and Minako found herself slightly winded by the time the two of them reached the top. She was a bit envious of Ranma, who didn't seem to even have noticed the exertion of the ascent.
Ami was nowhere in sight.
Correction, Ami was barely in sight. She was halfway down the hill. It had taken a second before Minako's eyes noticed the bright white and blue of Ami's school uniform, but now that she had it stood out sharply against the browns, greens, and grays of the area. She was far more visible than the shadowy figures surrounding her, for example.
Shadowy figures? She took another closer look and did in fact notice several shadowy figures all around Ami, who looked to be tied up or something. That couldn't be a good thing.
"Saotome-san," Minako hissed out, getting her companion's attention. She pointed over to where Ami sat.
"See? Told you. Kidnapped. Wait here. I'll go rescue her," Ranma said quietly. She then faded from view right before Minako's eyes.
She had no problem with that. If Ranma wanted to be the knight in shining armor to save Ami, Minako would be more than happy to let him. It was so romantic. She wanted somebody to do the same for her at some point. But wait, Ranma was already married. Her knight in shining armor would need to still be single. Preferably a bit older than her. Tall. Handsome. And male. Definitely male.
Some movement behind Ami in the valley below caught Minako's attention and interrupted her daydreaming. In the distance she saw a large group of people surrounding a carriage or wagon or some sort of vehicle passing by. It didn't register to her until she realized that the mass of shadows which were surrounding Ami were also blocked from view from these people.
It was simple calculation to her. Ami was a friend, so anybody who kidnapped her was evil. If those evil people were planning on attacking somebody else in ambush, then the target must be good. If they were good, she had to do something to help them. It was obvious to her. It never occurred to her that she might be wrong.
The only question she did have was how to help them. She had no idea where Ranma was now so she couldn't let her know of the situation quietly, and she couldn't blindly call out either as that would likely put the kidnappers on guard if not outright make her a target. Her conscience wouldn't let her just stay behind while good people were slaughtered, so she did the only thing she could think of. She started running down the hill to try to warn the people below.
The distance to the valley below didn't look too far to Minako, who was accustomed to traveling in cars, on bicycles, or via other vehicles, but crossing the kilometer or two on foot took a deceptively large amount of time. Time and energy. She could already feel herself breathing heavily and she hadn't even crossed half the distance before she ran out of time.
At some signal, all of the ambushers charged inward at once at the circle of people surrounding the carriage. Even over her labored breathing and the pounding of her feet on the ground Minako could hear the shouting of the attackers. It was even worse than she feared. Another similar swarm from the hill opposite the target charged down at the same time. She redoubled her effort, both thanking and cursing her luck that she had worn her school uniform prior to the trip into that portal.
The hem of her skirt was high enough that there was no risk of tripping, and it was loose enough to allow for near complete mobility in kicking and jumping. However it was still a skirt. It would have been much better to be in shorts when going into a fight, especially if she started throwing kicks around. Then again, if she had her preferences she would have greatly preferred the miniskirt of her Sailor Senshi uniform, although that was for reasons other than ease of mobility. Still there was nothing to be done for it except to fight on as best she could.
Normally she would dramatically pose and announce how the villains had done wrong and would now be punished, but without wearing the guise of Sailor Venus it just didn't feel right. With all of the ongoing life and death fighting below her she wasn't even sure her declaration would be noticed.
So without her usual fanfare Minako charged in, taking her targets completely by surprise from an unexpected angle.
The Umisenken was an effective way to avoid detection, but it also severely reduced the speed Ranma could travel at. Given the unknown situation Ami was in it seemed like a reasonable trade-off. Ranma was sure she could easily overcome anything those shadowy figures could throw at her and more. Whether she could do so before some guard slit Ami's throat was less clear. Better to take the slower, stealthy approach than risk disaster.
Ranma was only halfway to her goal when everybody surrounding Ami got up and started running away. That took her by surprise. Nobody should have even noticed her, let alone panicked at her sight when all she was doing was hiding.
She was mentally congratulating herself on being so awesome that people who didn't even know her ran in fear when she noticed that they weren't running away from her; they were running towards another group. Well, so much the better. She had a distraction and she hadn't even needed to cause it herself. That just made the rescue trivial, rather than just easy.
Then she noticed Minako running down the hill towards a fight brewing below.
"She's going to get herself killed," Ranma angrily swore to herself.
Ranma dropped her stealth technique started running as quickly as she could towards Ami. There wasn't anybody else around now anyway which dramatically changed the speed-stealth trade-off calculation. Free to travel at full speed now, Ranma was able to cover the remaining distance to where Ami sat bound and gagged in short order. Once there it was easy for Ranma to release the former prisoner.
"What happened?" Ranma asked quickly. She wasn't actually watching Ami, instead watching Minako's progress towards the melee below. She wouldn't reach the fighting for another minute or so. Ranma would need to hurry.
"I don't know. Last thing I knew somebody grabbed me from behind," Ami said.
"Can you get yourself to safety?" Ranma asked, standing up again.
"I think so," Ami answered. "What will you be doing?"
"Trying to keep your friend from getting herself killed," Ranma replied, now running towards the valley and the battle it contained. She didn't bother waiting to hear Ami's response.
The general disorganized melee below started to distinguish itself into dozens of smaller skirmishes as Ranma got close enough to make out the individual actions of the fighters all around the battle. All in all both sides seemed very comparable, both lacking the discipline and the precise rigor indicative of formal military training. If anything that just made the fight that much more dangerous for her. They fought as people who had learned combat through hard won experience rather than endless drilling, having no common pattern in their thrusts and parries she could exploit. Moreover, they were fighting to the death. Several people were already lying on the ground, bleeding and about to die if not already dead. They swirled around in a cacophony of death and destruction like the winds of a tornado, leaving an eye of calmness in the middle centered on a man and a woman.
Both the man and the woman in the oddly quiet center of the raging battle had a regal bearing about them, and Ranma had no doubt that they were the most dangerous people on the grounds despite the fact they carried no obvious weapons.
The ambushers outnumbered their targets and were slowly forcing the circle of defenders they had surrounded to shrink, bringing the edge of destruction ever nearer to the couple in the center. At the current rate it was only a matter of time before they all lay dead and whatever secrets they were protecting were lost.
And then there was Minako.
It was impossible to miss her fighting. Her brightly colored school uniform and golden hair flashed around the battlefield, naturally standing out in contrast to the nondescript dark clothing everybody else was wearing. The term fighting was something of an overstatement, though. Whatever Minako was doing it wasn't fighting, as far as Ranma was concerned. Ranma would characterize Minako's style as being beginning amateur at best. She might be able to hold off a random mugger, maybe, but she was certainly not up to the capabilities of the seasoned warriors which surrounded her.
Yet, against all probabilities, Minako was not only surviving but wreaking havoc among the forces she was up against. Somehow every time somebody attacked her she was knocked away, tripped over, or was generally not there when the sword swung through the air towards her. Half of the time she would end up bumping or falling into somebody else around her, fouling their attack or knocking them to the ground. It was beyond belief. To happen once was lucky, but to happen over, and over, and over strained the bounds of credibility.
Regardless of whether it was because she was secretly that skilled or had luck which rivaled Happosai's, Minako's intervention was starting to have an effect on the battle. At the beginning it had looked like the battle would be close but the defeat of the defenders would be inevitable. It now appeared that, while it would still be close, the defenders had an edge. None of the ambushers could figure out the correct way to handle the blonde whirlwind, and the defenders were more than willing to take advantage of their unexpected and unexplained fortune.
Ranma gave an inward groan as she watched Minako trip and fall over again. She resolved to herself to give some serious training to Minako and the other Sailor Senshi at some point. The general consensus had been that Minako was one of the better fighters of the group, and Ranma was not impressed. This wasn't even considering Ami, who had no chance of engaging any enemy at all without being able to transform. If they were representative samples of the Sailor Senshi, Akana's request that Ranma help train them took on a new importance. They were far too dependent on their magical attacks and enhancements and could use some serious help in regard to their physical combat abilities, both for more mundane threats where they wouldn't have a chance to transform as well as for times when they couldn't transform, such as the situation they currently found themselves in.
All of these thoughts were pushed to the side as Ranma fearlessly charged into battle.
Once she might have had some doubt about an imminent fight against dozens of heavily armed people, back before she had first had shown up at the Tendo Dojo. That was before Ranma met the Kunos, Ryouga, the Amazons, the seven lucky god martial artists, and countless others, including Saffron. The net result of all of this was that nothing short of a large army of Arch-Demons would cause her any hesitation before engaging in a fight, for better or for worse.
There was a reason she could throw a Mouko Takabisha with such ease.
In this case, her confidence was well founded. Her assessment of the fighters proved to be almost exactly on the mark. Maybe she had underestimated the opposition a bit, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. She danced and weaved through the swinging blades with the same ease Akane had shown against her hordes of suitors before Ranma's arrival had put a stop that particular morning ritual. In fact Ranma was more worried about being hit from behind by a flailing Minako than being sliced by a swinging sword.
Even if Ranma found Minako's actions somewhat distracting she made it a point to stay close enough to her to provided assistance if it was needed. The trick was to also stay far enough away that a random fall wouldn't affect her.
Ranma bent backwards at the waist, barely avoiding a slash to her chest. The maneuver allowed her a brief upside-down glance behind her so she could check on how Minako was doing. The girl was windmilling her arms trying to regain her balance, and as a by-product managed to clock a man on the head.
Having confirmed that Minako was still fine for the time being Ranma continuing to bend backwards and transitioned to a handstand, lashing out with her feet as she did so and catching her assailant on the chin with a kick. It was a showboat move without much force behind it, but what it lacked in power it made up for in surprise. It disoriented and stunned her attacker enough that he got a sword through his side from somebody else.
As Ranma righted herself a sword slashed across her left arm. She barely felt the flesh wound, it serving more to remind her to pay more attention to her surroundings than anything else. She turned to face her new assailant only to find that the woman had had the same lesson taught to her, only more fatally as a sword erupted through her stomach.
With the immediate threat out of the way, Ranma did what she in retrospect should have done at the very start of the battle when it became clear that these people were fighting to the death. She hated it, but it was better than being hurt again by a lucky strike. She summoned a protective psionic barrier around her, shouting, "Psi-Tech! Aura Shield!"
The habitual cry from another life automatically let her mind gain the focus necessary to follow the patterns used to summon the psionic shield around her. Ranma didn't summon her sword. It would take more effort and concentration to do so, and moreover Ranma had no interest in directly adding to the ever increasing death toll around her, even if the people surrounding her seemed to have no such qualms.
As the battle continued Ranma let the thoughtless intensity of the fight sweep her away as it always did, allowing her honed reactions take in everything and deal with threats faster than the conscious mind could process. She instead let her active thoughts concentrate on the bigger picture surrounding her. None of Ranma's opponents were skilled enough to warrant any specific strategy or tactic to fight, and bereft of anything else to think about Ranma found her consciousness drifting back to the couple in the center of the circle. The frequent jumps characteristic of her fighting style allowed her glimpses of the two of them, and Ranma had long learned that if something caught her attention in a fight she should pay attention to it even if she didn't always know why.
As Ranma half-watched, the man in the center of the perimeter drifted back from his companion. Slowly. Very slowly. He carefully drew a dagger, although against what threat Ranma couldn't tell given the limited amount of attention she could pay to them. The perimeter surrounding the two was stable, with no signs of a breakthrough, and no attack appeared imminent.
This suspicious behavior caused Ranma to increase her attention level from that of tacit observer to that of a much more active and detailed watcher, even as this had the effect of reducing her combat effectiveness. It was fortunate that by this point of the battle the tide had turned to the degree that her reduced concentration shouldn't have a direct effect on the fight.
That judgment proved to be much too arrogant of her. Noticing her distraction, or maybe just due to lucky timing, a man lunged in with his sword and forced Ranma's attention back to the fight at hand. It had come close, too close, to skewering her like a giant kebob; a potentially lethal wound in any circumstances, with the ongoing life and death struggle surrounding her the loss of mobility from the injury alone would have certainly been fatal.
Ranma desperately twisted herself as much as she could, the sword slicing through her shirt and slashing painfully against her ribs. The Aura Shield absorbed most of the blow, amplifying the perception of pain dramatically but leaving her skin with only a minor laceration. She suppressed her instinctive scream as best she could and forced herself to pay attention.
The man followed up his hit by spinning his blade around and sweeping in low towards Ranma's waist. More fully engaged in combat now, she noticed the low blow with plenty of time to dodge. Given the target of attack, the fastest way out was up, which suited her perfectly. With a leap many would have thought impossible, Ranma spring-boarded up, first off her attacker's arm and then off his head as if it were gym class and she were showing off on a vault.
The extra height and the momentary breather gave her a second to reorient herself and to take stock of the situation. It was just as well because during her distraction earlier, the man in the center of the circle had fully flanked the woman and now had his dagger drawn back in preparation for a thrust.
Ranma didn't even realize she had released a Mouko Takabisha until it had already left her hands. With the speed of a non-corporeal blast of energy, the orb sped directly at the man, its bright light catching the attention of the whole battlefield as it flew overhead.
Catching the attention of whole battlefield except her target. He either didn't notice or was too committed to his action to react in time as he proceeded to plunge his dagger deeply into the back of the woman. Not nearly as deeply as he had intended, however. His thrust was firmly interrupted by the bright light hitting him squarely in the shoulder and sending him sprawling backwards, the dagger still held firmly in his hand.
Ranma's assessment of the situation had changed dramatically in the past few seconds. Despite her antics Minako seemed to have things mostly in hand, and the fight as a whole had firmly turned for the defenders. In contrast, in the center of the battlefield an entirely different drama was unfolding. An unarmed injured woman faced off against a man with a dagger who had literally stabbed her in the back moments ago.
Ranma deftly disengaged from her would-be killer using the same escape vector she had used before, namely going up and over him. She jumped over a clumsy lunge, simultaneously kicking and pushing off the man's head with both of her feet. This had the net result of shoving him away while allowing her to fly backwards through the air directly towards the man and woman in the center of the fight.
Not for the first time Ranma thanked the lighter body of her female form, it flying much farther than her heavier male form would have been able to given the light counterweight of the spry man turned unwilling springboard. Even so she didn't have the clearance to get much past the perimeter of the fighting. She did have enough distance to make for a clear landing space, but she hadn't traveled nearly as far as she would have preferred.
Ranma landed as best she could, ready to react to any emerging situation as befitted a master of Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu. It turned out to be entirely unnecessary. The man in the center had only just managed to reorient himself and was in the process of getting up as Ranma touched ground. Despite the fact that the woman had been stabbed moments earlier and was visibly bleeding, she stood with no sign of fear or cowering. If anything, the man was the one being dominated by the injured woman.
"What is the meaning of this, Barslem?" she demanded. Whether it was due to magic or it was just an impossible coincidence, she spoke modern Japanese which Ranma was easily able to understand.
"You are a fool! A weak fool, Venge!" The man's angry shout stood in stark contrast to Venge's measured question. "I will not stand idly by while you surrender to Endymion!"
The man had somehow managed to make the name sound like a curse. It was very jarring to Ranma, who had spent one lifetime looking up to a respected father and king of the same name. She was sure it was just a coincidence, though, and pushed it to the side.
"Like I told everybody before leaving, this is a mission of peace," Venge said.
"And like I said, you are a fool! Do you really think he will accept anything besides our people in chains?" Barslem accused, climbing to his feet.
"This fight has gone on for too long already. Does anybody really know what started it? Does anybody even care? I'm going to talk to Endymion. I'm sure he'll be reasonable," Venge said.
"The only discussion they understand is the point of a sword," Barslem said.
The fighting had stopped now and everybody was paying attention to the confrontation in the center of the circle, even while they eyed each other carefully for fear of an attack.
"We can't continue on this way. Each month we lose more and more. Everybody knows how bad things are. I'm scared too, but good will win out in the end. Endymion must be willing to listen to me. We can finally have peace," Venge said, maintaining her composure despite the blood dripping down her back.
"Your words of peace are coated with honey, but in reality you talk of surrender and ruin. Nobody would speak up, but everybody agrees. You are a traitor on a fool's errand. You will see us as slaves to Endymion, and I would rather die than see the world under his rule," Barslem said, spitting at Venge. The projectile landed at her feet.
Venge pointed outside the circle and declared, "Then leave. If you do not wish to be part of this new world we are making then I will not force you. But. You. Will. Not. Stop. Me."
The determination of Venge's words struck Ranma despite her distance and them being delivered in the same controlled tone as before.
Barslem was on the verge of saying something else when Venge cut him off, the first trace of anger entering her voice. "I said leave. Take your followers and go."
The man hesitated for a moment longer, and then turned away. The guards on the inside turned to face him with drawn weapons before Venge stopped them.
"No, let him go. We are trying to make a new world of love and justice. I will not have it begin with a needless act of violence," Venge said.
The guards were obviously hesitant, but in the end respected her wishes. An opening in the perimeter appeared, letting Barslem pass undisturbed. Both sides were very deliberate in their movements, carefully prepared to re-engage in combat should the other side launch a surprise attack during the newly found truce. This prudence proved to be unnecessary, however, as the most hostile thing that passed between the two groups were stares. Quickly Barslem was out of the circle, the numerous ambushers following just behind.
Once they were safely away, Venge let her impassive mask drop and stumbled to her knees. Blood was still dripping down her back.
"Venge-sama!" several of the people surrounding them shouted, some starting forward.
Ranma was the first to her side. She asked, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Venge said with a weak wave of her hand.
"Hold fast. Step away from Venge-sama," one of the defenders said. She had approached almost as fast as Ranma had, and held a sword against Ranma's neck.
"Saotome-san!" Minako shouted out, running towards her.
"That's quite enough, Turquoise-dono, put your sword down. If you hadn't noticed, I'd be dead now if it hadn't been for this woman," Venge said. The woman was hesitant but slowly followed the command.
"I'm sorry but my guards are a bit nervous as you can imagine. Can you give me a second?" Venge asked.
Venge closed her eyes and let her head droop. Slowly a faint white light started to glow around one of her hands. Unlike the golden aura which surrounded Ranma and Mamoru back in Tokyo, this light was so faint that Ranma could have been convinced she was just imagining it. Venge held that hand up to where she had been stabbed and placed it over her wound. Her face winced in pain as she made contact, holding her hand there briefly before she collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.
While the battle raged on below Ami did her best to stay out of the conflict. Even if she had been Sailor Mercury she would have hesitated before charging directly into the melee, her role on the team being more for support than that of a fighter. Being bereft of any magical enhancements or attacks only made the decision that much more obvious; joining the fight would just get her killed.
Instead she stayed on the hill above the fight, watching the ebb and flow of battle and occasionally checking around her to make sure she wouldn't be caught by surprise again. With both Minako and Ranma being occupied, her getting captured again would be a very bad thing indeed.
Things seemed to come to a head when Ranma shot a Mouko Takabisha into the center of the ring of conflict, which caused everybody to pause in their actions. Ami decided that that was her cue to approach. Something was going on, and she needed information if she was going to act appropriately.
Ami made her way down below slowly and cautiously, making sure that she kept enough distance to make a run for it if somebody came after her. As she approached the circle opened up, letting somebody out, and the attackers peeled away to leave with the departing person. She was relieved to note that they were moving in a direction away from her. Surprisingly, nobody seemed to challenge her presence as she and Minako entered the circle and joined Ranma. The only person between her and that woman in the center of all the commotion was another woman, holding her drawn sword at the ready.
Slowly, shakily, the kneeling woman pushed herself back up and regained her feet. She was still breathing heavily when she turned to the three of them. "Sorry about that. Thanks for waiting. My name is Venge and I'm the leader of the Greater Domains. Thank you for your help, but tell me, who are you?"
No help there in determining where she, Minako, and Ranma had ended up. Ami had never heard of an organization, country, or territory called the Greater Domains before. The name Venge was unfamiliar to her as well.
"I'm Saotome Ranma," Ranma introduced herself.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Mizuno Ami," Ami said.
"And my name is Aino Minako," Minako concluded.
"You fight strangely, and your clothing is stranger, Saotomeranma-san," Venge said. She spoke without the calm forcefulness she had used when talking to Barslem earlier.
Ranma corrected her, "No, it's just Ranma. Saotome's my family name."
"Family name?" Venge asked.
"You know, my family name," Ranma said. Venge still had a look of confusion on her face. "Surname?" Ranma tried again, with no recognition either. "Never mind. Just the name's Ranma."
"If you insist. Anyway, Ranma... san? I haven't seen anybody like you before. Where do you come from?" Venge asked
Minako promptly answered for the three of them, "We're from Juuban, in Tokyo."
"Tokyo? Where's that?" Venge asked.
"It's the capital of Japan," Minako answered undeterred.
"Okay, where's Japan then?" Venge asked.
That worried Ami. There were only a couple of explanations why Venge wouldn't have heard of a country as large and prominent as Japan, and they ranged from bad to worse. As they were speaking Japanese, Ami was more inclined to think things were closer to the worse side of that explanation continuum. She didn't show this, and instead said, "Far away from here, I suspect. Honestly, I'm more curious about who that was who attacked you."
Venge was polite enough to not comment on the blatant attempt to change the conversation subject. She explained, "That was Barslem. He's the head of the Moure Movement and was something of an adviser of mine. I thought it was strange he was so insistent on coming as an escort on this trip. It seems he set up this trap for me. He likely would have succeeded too if not for the help of your companions."
Venge spoke as if the Moure Movement was common knowledge, even though Ami had never heard of it before either. Rather than reveal that, and possibly go back to answering questions about where they came from and who they were, Ami instead focused on what she did recognize in the hopes that she could find out more about what was going on. She asked, "If he was your adviser then why would he set up a trap for you?"
"You'd have to ask him to be certain. I suspect it was just a power grab, but he might have been telling the truth about him trying to kill me for the good of the Greater Domains," Venge said, and then sighed. "He might be right too. I'm actually on my way to speak with Endymion of the Confederacy to sue for peace. To surrender, if you want to be blunt. I'm going to see what it will take to end this war."
The Confederacy. Another unnamed territory or country or whatever else it was. Ami had been right. Things were definitely worse.
"The Confederacy? Who are they?" Minako asked.
"They're our historic enemies. We've been fighting as long as anybody can remember, but the fight is going very poorly for us. Every month we lose more and more, faster than we can rebuild," Venge said. The worn faces around the ring betrayed no emotion at this declaration.
"Why are you fighting?" Ami asked.
"That's just it. Nobody knows anymore. It's all just for revenge. They attack one of our villages and kill everybody they can, so the survivors gather all the reinforcements they can find and do the same to one of their villages. Their survivors do the same and attack back, and the death toll rises," Venge said.
"That's terrible," Minako said.
"So what are you going to do about it?" Ranma asked.
"I'm on my way to speak with Endymion. As I said, I'm going to sue for peace so we can finally put a stop to this endless fighting. I just hope the price he demands won't be too high to bear," Venge said. "To tell you the truth, I'm starting to wonder if we can even reach them. I had brought all of these guards to have a proper show of force, but I hadn't expected to actually need them. We couldn't possibly survive another attack like this one."
Ami sensed an opportunity here. There were no roads or trails visible, meaning it was very possible that they could walk for days without seeing another living person. That would be days without any food, water, or supplies beyond the clothes they wore. Moreover, there was no reason to think that the next group of people they found would be at all friendly. It was better to travel with somebody who actually knew the lay of the land, even if there was the potential for an attack.
Before she could change her mind she offered, "What if we were to go with you? We could use some supplies, and you could use some help."
"I still don't trust them, Venge-sama. It's all too convenient. I think we should leave them and go our separate ways," the woman with the sword said, eying the three of them warily.
"I understand your concern, Turquoise-dono, but I have a good feeling about these people. I trust them. We should have more than enough rations to go around given our recent fight," Venge said with forced impassivity, "and if they're willing to offer their assistance I'm more than happy to accept it. I must admit to having some reservations about Ranma-san helping in her condition, though."
Ranma looked down at her torn shirt and the cut beneath it, and then at her bloody arm. Neither seemed to be bleeding anymore. She said, "It's nothing. I've had a lot worse before."
"You have?" Venge asked, surprised. "Well I suppose you wouldn't just forget about something like that, now would you, and you know yourself better than I do. Then if you are willing it'd be foolish for me not to accept."
"Actually there is one thing before we go," Ami said. "It's not so much a demand as a favor. There was a fourth person in our group, but we lost track of her on the other side of that hill over there. We were actually looking for her when stumbled across your predicament. She might be gone but I'd feel a lot better if we could search the area before we left, just in case."
"That should be easy enough. We won't be leaving for a while anyway and we'll need to set up a scouting perimeter while we're here. They can keep an eye out for your companion as well. What does she look like?" Venge asked.
"She's a tall woman with long dark hair," Ami said. She intentionally kept the description vague enough that it would apply to both Setsuna as well as Sailor Pluto, in the unlikely event that Setsuna was transformed.
Venge raised her voice to address the rest of those present. "I don't think Barslem will be back, but I don't want to spend too long here in case he changes his mind. Split up into three teams. The first team will gather the wounded and bring them to me. The second team will gather supplies from the fallen and then dig graves for them. The third will form a scouting perimeter and search around. Keep an eye out for a tall woman with dark hair, and make sure we don't get any unpleasant surprises. Be quick, everyone. We still have a long way to go and I want to be out of here in the next three hours."
The guards quickly organized themselves with a fluidity which spoke of a well organized and disciplined team. As they did so, Ranma approached Venge to ask what on the surface seemed like a very simple question, "Do you have any hot water?"
After burying the guards that were beyond the help of Venge's healing magic, the group continued on towards their rendezvous with Endymion. They were now a considerable distance from the battlefield. Just before they had left, Ami had laid out some rocks to form a crude rendition of the symbols for Mercury, Venus, and Earth as well as a giant arrow in the ground pointing in the direction they were traveling, just in case Setsuna happened by later. This had been over the protest of Turquoise, but Venge hadn't seen any harm in making the sign. Anybody who would mean them harm already knew their destination, and any other group that stumbled across the sign would be unlikely follow a random arrow in the ground. It was also unlikely that Setsuna was around, let alone would see the sign, but Ami had had to try.
As they traveled, the guards had split into a loose formation with an amorphous perimeter, while a couple of scouts surveyed the area in search for potential attackers. They had learned the lesson of their ambush well. Inside the perimeter the guards had organized themselves around several small cliques of what Ranma assumed were friends. Every so often the scouts and the perimeter guards would rotate.
In the center of the procession was a carriage which somehow moved without any visible source of power. Inside of that carriage, Venge rode all by herself.
This gave Ami, Minako, and Ranma a semblance of privacy as they walked outside of the carriage, more or less alone. There wasn't the true genuine privacy necessary to talk about any serious secrets, but there was enough space for the three to talk semi-openly.
"I wish the Mercury Computer was still working. It'd be so much easier to determine where we are with it, and I really want to get a scan on Venge-sama and her magic," Ami remarked.
"That computer's of yours is pretty handy, isn't it? I wonder why none of the other Sailor Senshi got anything like that," Minako remarked.
Ranma thought back to the Silver Millennium and the various paraphernalia the different Sailor Senshi used on a regular basis. She disagreed with Minako's assertion, saying, "It's not just her. All of the Outer Sailor Senshi have their artifacts which they use all of the time."
"Not to mention Sailor Moon has her disguise pen and Sailor Mars has her ofuda, although I think that might be more based on her being a shrine maiden than her being Sailor Mars," Ami added.
"Aww, why do I get left out?" Minako asked.
"From what I remember Sailor Venus was the leader of the Guardian Sailor Senshi. I'm not sure I'd count that as being left out," Ranma said.
"Still, for times like this when we are stuck on another world, I think I'd rather have the Mercury Computer all the same," Ami said.
"What makes you think we're on another world? They speak Japanese after all," Minako asked.
"Lots of things. They're using swords instead of guns. There aren't any roads here, and I can't even begin to guess how this carriage is moving. They've never heard of Japan despite speaking Japanese. It makes more sense that we're in another world than some unknown country on Earth," Ami remarked.
Ranma nodded in agreement to that assessment. It was the most logical explanation.
"You seem to be taking all of this well," Ami commented to Ranma.
"What? You mean being lost in another world?" Ranma asked. "It's not like I see either of you freaking out or anything."
"No. Well, yes, that too, but I was more referring to your being stuck as a girl," Ami said.
"Oh, that," Ranma said, rubbing her now dry hair reflexively. When she had poured hot water over her head earlier nothing had happened, save for her getting wet. Her getting wet and receiving a number of stares and snickers from Ami, Minako, Venge, and the guards. The snickering had only come from the guards.
"Yeah. I'm surprised you aren't going off on a rampage or something," Minako, ever the tactful girl, said.
"Well it's not this is the first time I've been stuck as a girl. I've lost count of the number of times it's happened. It always works itself out in the end," Ranma explained. To be certain she was upset, but most of the shock and horror of being stuck wore away after having it happen so often to her in the past. Just off the top of her head there was the time with Herb and the Chiisuiton. And the time with the full body cat tongue. And the time with the corset.
"Wait, you've been stuck as a girl before?" Ami asked, interrupting Ranma's introspection and reminiscence of worse times. "Does that mean Michiru-san might get stuck as a boy too?"
"Hmm, maybe. Probably. It's happened to Ryouga and Mouse. Herb got stuck as a girl too. Even Shampoo got stuck before," Ranma said, shuddering a bit at that last thought.
The idea of Michiru being permanently stuck as a man was quite the thought, especially in regard to her status as Sailor Neptune. Maybe she would still be able to transform, seeing how the Silver Millennium had access to much more magical knowledge and power than Cologne and Happosai did. Or possibly she would transform into some male equivalent of Sailor Neptune, like a Neptune Knight or a Tuxedo Neptune or something. Then again, it could just be as simple as them losing one of the strongest Sailor Senshi on their team.
Thoughts of the loss of Sailor Neptune and her associated combat ability reminded Ranma of something, a request of Akana's which she couldn't help but agree to now that she had seen how poorly Minako had fought. She abruptly changed topics, "That reminds me, we're going to need to have you all undergo some serious martial arts training when we get back. You're all way too vulnerable when you're not transformed, and even when you're transformed your tactics aren't too great."
"That's not very fair. I'll have you know I did plenty good on my own," Minako complained.
Ami was more accepting of the criticism, instead asking, "Does that mean you're offering to help us then?"
"I guess so. Akana did ask me to before she disappeared and all, and it'll be a good way to work off some stress too," Ranma said, a slightly sinister grin appearing on her face.
"Work off stress? What's that supposed to mean?" Minako asked.
"Oh, you'll see," Ranma said, plans already whirling around in her mind. The question was how was she going to find a pack of hungry wolves roaming around in Tokyo?
Nervous looks already graced the faces of Ami and Minako. If only they knew.
The casual chatting and walking continued until the sun was low on the horizon but still high enough to leave an hour or two before dusk. At this point Turquoise called a stop to the march and ordered the group to make camp for the evening. It never did to rush forming an encampment, and trying to get anything done past sunset was somewhere between dangerous and impossible.
The stop was none too soon for both Ami and Minako. Minako looked somewhat worn, and Ami looked positively wiped out, despite the shortened day of travel given the fight earlier. That their shoes were not conducive to hiking couldn't have helped, and Ranma wouldn't have been at all surprised if their feet were covered in blisters.
Venge came out of the carriage while the guards made camp with remarkable alacrity. Ranma, Ami, and Minako had wanted to help, but Turquoise had stopped them from trying.
"Don't bother. We're used to this kind of thing. Anything you'd do here would just get in the way," Turquoise said.
"I'm sorry we're not able to help," Ami said, taking advantage of the opportunity to take a seat on the ground by a pile of wood which was rapidly being turned into a fire.
"Don't be. We all contribute in our own ways. There's no shame in staying out of the way when you can't help," Turquoise said, taking a seat as well.
"Why aren't you shouting at us, or keeping us under guard? Didn't you say you don't trust us?" Minako asked, joining the growing group sitting on the ground.
"Venge-sama trusts you, and that's good enough for me. She's a good judge of character. I've never seen her be wrong about anybody. About the only thing I've seen about her which is better is her ability to find allies and make friends," Turquoise said.
"Just like Usagi-chan," Minako mentioned more to herself than anybody in particular.
Turquoise gave no indication of having heard her and instead asked, "Anyway, now that we seem to be allies of a sort, I'd like to learn a bit more about what you're capable of. What was that bolt of energy you threw earlier, Ranma-san? It didn't look like any of the magic Venge-sama casts, and it was a whole lot faster too."
Ranma debated for a moment whether she should reveal all of what she could do. Then again, Venge had trusted them enough to let them join up with her group without a guard, and she had a good a feeling of her new companions as well. Ranma eventually concluded it wouldn't hurt and explained, "That was a ki attack. It works by focusing on an emotion and then projecting it outward."
"A ki attack? What's ki?" Turquoise asked.
"Ki is like the spiritual energy everybody has. If you get as good as I am you can use it for all sorts of things, like that blast I did earlier," Ranma explained.
"I've never heard of anything like that before. Can you all do that?" Turquoise asked.
Ranma snorted in derision at the thought of somebody like Ami using ki to even enhance her strength or to speed her healing, let alone projecting it as some kind of attack.
"No, just Saotome-san," Ami said before Ranma could answer in a less diplomatic way.
"I see. Do you have any other special tricks or anything?" Turquoise asked.
"Well, I guess the Psi-Techs would count too," Ranma added.
"Psi-Tech? You shouted that earlier. Given its name I assume that was what prevented you from being sliced in two," Turquoise said, pointing to the large cut in Ranma's shirt.
"I was actually wondering the same thing myself," Venge said, taking a seat and joining in the ongoing conversation. "It didn't seem like any magic I've seen before. Considering the amount of magic you have inside of you I'm surprised you didn't use any. That applies to all of you for that matter."
Minako asked, "All of us?"
"Yes. Ranma-san has a considerable amount of magic inside of her, much more than me and everybody I know combined. However you two have the touch of magic to you as well, even if it is a bit strange," Venge said.
"Strange? What do you mean strange?" Ami asked.
"It's like you have an echo or hollow of magic or something in you. It's very odd. I've never seen anything like it before," Venge said.
"Well I've told you some of what I can do. What about you? What kinds of things can you do with your magic, Venge-san?" Ranma asked.
"Venge-sama," Turquoise corrected her, emphasizing the title.
"Venge-san," Ranma flippantly repeated, challenging the woman to do something about it.
Venge subtly waved off Turquoise and answered, "I can do a lot of things. I can sense things, create things, transport things, communicate across distances, heal people. I can also use it to defend myself if I need to."
"It sounds like your magic is pretty versatile," Ami said.
"You think so? I'm rather surprised. With the amount of magic Ranma-san has I was sure you'd seen a lot more than that on a regular basis. If I had her power I'm sure I could practically bring the dead back to life or perform other so-called miracles," Venge said.
"Actually I can't use magic," Ranma said. Not without transforming into Sailor Terra first, at least, and certainly nothing like what Venge had described.
"You can't? I find that hard to believe. You are practically dripping with power," Venge asked.
"Oh, that's probably not me. That's probably that weird heart crystal-ish thing I absorbed a while ago," Ranma corrected.
Turquoise was instantly on her feet, her sword drawn and pointed at Ranma. She hostilely said, "A heart crystal? You'd better start explaining how you happened to absorb one of those. You don't just happen stumble across an extra heart crystal."
"It's not like that," Ranma protested, edging away from the aggressive blade. She wondered why people always assumed the worst in her, forgetting her similar reaction towards Sailor Saturn earlier. "I had to take it to save it from being taken by some demons or something."
"Demons? What demons?" Turquoise asked incredulously, still holding the sword at ready. "Maybe it's time you told us where you're really from."
Ami looked at Minako and Ranma in askance, both of whom shrugged back to her. She said, "Well, the truth is we're from another world."
"Another world? What is that supposed to mean?" Venge asked more diplomatically than Turquoise's demands had been.
"I think we're from a parallel timeline. We were investigating a temporal incursion in our world when we found this incredibly powerful heart crystal which was under attack by a large number of demons. We had saved it and were heading back to our world when... when..." Ami faltered in her explanation when she got to the point that they had last seen Sailor Pluto. It took herself a few seconds to collect herself before she could continue, "That was the last time we saw that fourth person we were looking for. When we woke up we were just over that hill we mentioned to you and she was gone. We were looking for her when we found you under attack."
"That's quite the story," Turquoise said, still holding her sword out but much less offensively oriented than before.
Venge noted, "It would explain your names, though, and your clothing."
"Not to mention how out of shape you are," Turquoise added.
"I'm sorry I can't provide you with more details. If I still had my computer I could find out a lot more about where we are. We probably could have avoided you entirely and not bothered you at all," Ami said, clearly missing her computer.
"I guess it's a good thing for me that you lost it then. If your friend hadn't interfered I might be dead right now," Venge lightly bantered.
While they were talking Ami took off her shoes and was subtly rubbing her feet. They were red and covered in blisters, and it was obvious her legs were sore from over-exhaustion as well. There were gasps from Minako and Venge. Ranma was fairly nonplussed. She had seen, and experienced, worse.
"That looks terrible," Venge asked.
"Don't worry, it's nothing. I might not be in as good a shape as all of you but I'll figure out some way to keep up. Somehow," Ami tried to reassure the others.
"That's certainly not nothing. You should have said something. We got a long march ahead of us, and we can't have you going lame halfway through it," Turquoise said.
"Here, allow me," Venge said.
Much as she had after the battle earlier in the day, Venge held out her hand while a white light started to emanate from around it. She reached out and placed the palm of her hand on Ami's leg, causing the blisters and sores to visibly shrink and then ultimately disappear.
After a few seconds, during which the winded Venge caught her breath, she said, "You clearly aren't up to a long march, Ami-san. You can start riding in the carriage with me tomorrow."
"Really, I couldn't," Ami protested.
"You can and you will. I'll not have it said that I don't treat my guests well," Venge insisted.
"I see. Then thank you very much for your hospitality," Ami said.
The evening passed with inconsequential small talk after that, and they soon went to sleep under a moonless sky. Without the benefits of electrical lighting or the other paraphernalia of modern life, there just wasn't any reason for Ranma, Ami, or Minako to stay awake much past sunset.
The next day Ami took Venge up on her offer and rode in the carriage along with her. Ranma and Minako took up a position just outside of the vehicle but walked in silence, not really having anything to talk about. The rest of the guards continued their well choreographed scouting and perimeter guarding as the day passed by in quiet boredom.
The next several days passed by much slower than that first day. In a way this was a good thing, as the days only seemed long because they were incredibly uneventful. Ranma found herself practicing some mobile forms of katas as they walked and then doing several much more advanced forms in camp in the mornings and the evenings. It wasn't ideal, but it was adequate to keep herself in shape given the lack of real opponents to push her.
Eventually one day when they had made camp, Ami rushed out of the carriage. She rapidly approached both Ranma and Minako and excitedly said, "Saotome-san. Minako-chan. Venge-sama and I were talking and we had a really good idea."
"What's your idea?" Minako asked.
"Well, we were talking about the parallel timelines, you know the one we came from, and we got the idea that maybe if we gave Venge-sama that castle gem that maybe she could use it to send us back home," Ami said.
"What? Are you sure?" Minako asked.
"No, we're not," Venge answered, approaching much more sedately than Ami had earlier. "I don't have any idea how much energy is needed to make a gateway back to your world, but seeing the amount of power that Ranma-san is in possession of, there's a good chance it might be enough."
"What about you? I promised to help protect you and I don't feel too great about leaving you on your own," Ranma said. She honored her word. If there was one thing she still had after all this time was her honor.
"If this works I won't need your protection anymore. I'll be more than capable of handling anything which comes up on the trip to the Confederacy, and anything Endymion can throw at us as well," Venge reassured them.
"Sorry, time out!" Minako shouted. She then grabbed Ami and Ranma and pulled them away. As she did so she called back over her shoulder, "We'll be right back."
Once they were out of earshot, Minako whispered to the two people she was practically dragging away, "Are you sure about this? That heart crystal is almost as strong as the Ginzuishou, remember? That's a lot to give to somebody we just met a few days ago."
"I've got a good feeling about her," Ami whispered back. "She's already helped us, and I haven't seen anything bad from her or any of the guards. I don't think they could keep up a pretense this long. Besides, it's not like we have any other options, not unless we can find Setsuna-san."
"I don't have a problem with it. I don't sense any bad intentions or anything from her, and believe me I'm good at detecting danger," Ranma said, recalling all of the times her preternatural martial artist senses had saved her from a disastrous sneak attack.
"Wait, do you even know how to get that gem out of you?" Minako asked.
"Of course I can," Ranma said with a false bravado. She had no idea how she would do it, but she was sure she could figure something out. When she concentrated she could even feel a foreign presence within her, similar to her ki but alien in some ineffable way. She could project her ki in a Mouko Takabisha, so how much harder could it be?
"I guess that settles it then," Minako said. Then walking back to Venge she announced in a more normal voice, "Sorry, we had to discuss some things. Everything's as good as a bug in a rug now."
There was a moment of silence as everybody tried to digest what Minako had just said before Ami suggested, "I don't think that's what that phrase means, Minako-chan."
"Anyway, it sounds like a good plan and a fair trade. We give you the crystal and you get us home," Ranma said.
"I'll try to get you home," Venge corrected. "I must admit, though, I'm a little reluctant with this idea. You'll get quite a large energy drop when you give up the heart crystal, if it is as powerful as you say it is. It might be dangerous for you, given your condition."
Ranma checked her arm, which had long since healed over, as well as her torso, which had healed even faster than her arm had. She had no idea what Venge was talking about. She asked, "My condition? What condition?"
"You mean you didn't know?" Venge's eyes widened in surprise before she joyously announced, "Ranma-san, you're pregnant."
Last Updated: December 16, 2012