Disclaimer: if you honestly believe that I own them I've got only this to say. What are you smoking and why aren't you sharing.

Ranma walked out of his room and quietly closed the door. Turning around he was face to face with a very worried Nodoka and Usagi. Motioning with his head towards the stairs Ranma said, "Hotaru's safely tucked away in my bed. Let's head down stairs so that we can continue this conversation. Don't want to accidentally awaken Hotaru; she was exhausted before I got her to fall asleep." The two (Makoto was in third place) most important people in Ranma's life both nodded their heads to show that they agreed with Ranma's suggestion. The girls and Ranma then headed down the stairs and into the kitchen.

The sun was just beginning to set as Usagi and Nodoka turned into the room and started to sit down at the kitchen table. Ranma first made a detour to the fridge and grabbed a can of coke before he headed over to sit at the table. The kitchen was completely quiet once Ranma sat down and folded his hands together at the table. Nodoka was the one to break the silence and she said, "What are you two going to do?" Ranma and Usagi both turned their heads as one and stared at Nodoka. Ranma's mother then continued speaking to clarify what she meant. "What I mean is; what are you two going to do with the information that poor Hotaru has given you?"

Usagi closed her eyes for a second, took a deep breath, and then replied. "Auntie Nodoka, I think that Hotaru should at least for the moment stay here at the Saotome household. Regardless of what's going on, Hotaru is going to need a compassionate mother-figure. I love my mother dearly but I don't think that she'll be able to handle the level of craziness that this whole situation is evolving into." Usagi was pleased to see Nodoka smiling and nodding her head at Usagi's suggestion. That was one less thing that the young princess would have to deal with.

Feeling more confident that she was making the right calls, Usagi continued to outline her plans to Nodoka and Ranma. "The first thing that I am going to do is contact Setsuna. She should be able to use the Time Gates to backtrack Hotaru's immediate past and verify that Hotaru's telling us the truth. It's not that I don't believe Hotaru; I sincerely believe that she telling us the truth. However we can't just move on one person's say so; not on something of this magnitude. After she has verified Hotaru's story Setsuna is going to get the locations that our enemy is using as a base. I then relay that information to Ami and have her use the Mercury computer to create a map for us of the enemy base. As soon as we have the map, we'll commence a full frontal assault on the enemy locations."

Usagi had to stop and take another breath to calm her nerves, it was difficult but necessary for her continue her train of thought. Firming up her resolve, Usagi continued to outline her plan. "During the assault we have to destroy EVERYTHING and we can. All of our information currently shows that the people we are fighting are doing this all of their own free will so-" at this point a small tear fell down Usagi's cheek. She took a moment to compose herself again before she continued in a quieter voice, "-we'll have to kill all who try and stop us."

Having said what she needed to say, Usagi was unable to hold back the tears any longer. Ranma, who was unable to bear seeing Usagi in pain, practically flew out of his chair and wrapped his arms around Usagi. He then slowly, while always whispering soothing words into her ears, maneuvered Usagi so that she was crying into his shoulder. Slowly as the minutes passed Usagi's tears stopped coming. Although she was no longer crying, Usagi was still clinging to Ranma as tightly as ever. He was her support pillar giving her the strength to do what she knew she would have to do. Ranma quickly figured out that Usagi was clinging to him so tightly because she was trying to draw comfort and strength from him that she still desperately needed. As far as Ranma was concern, Usagi could stay right where she was for as long as she wanted to, any time she wanted to be there.

It was around 10 o'clock at night at the Outers' house when Setsuna teleported into the deserted family room. She had just spent the past few hours at the Time Gates gathering the information that Usagi had requested. Reaching down into her dress pocket, Setsuna pulled out a cell phone and hit the speed dial for Usagi's home phone. As the phone was ringing Setsuna was busy creating a cover story just in case Usagi wasn't the one to answer the phone. To Setsuna's relief she heard on the other end, "Tsukino residence this is Usagi Tsukino speaking. How may I help you?"

Taking a deep breath Setsuna started talking, "Usagi, this is Setsuna. I've just gotten back from checking my sources and Hotaru's story does check out. However, as I was going over the records, I noticed that a few things in Hotaru's files that were filed a bit strangely.Some of the odd files seem to be connected to what you and Ranma were talking about in the past few days with me. SadlyHotaru was not able to get possession of all of the required documents. Not to worry though, with Rei's help we can get Hotaru's files taken care of and her back inpossession of that lost item."

Over at the other end of the line, Usagi was sitting down at the kitchen table. She wasn't used to speaking in code but Usagi was able to quickly put together what Setsuna was trying to tell her. After taking a moment to figure out how to say what she wanted Setsuna to know Usagi spoke. "Do you think that we should tell Hotaru about what we've been working on for the past week? Or, should we wait until Ranma and I get Rei to sort this all out? I wouldn't want to get her hopes up until after everything involving who actually has possession of the item is taken care of."

Back at the Outers' house Setsuna had a big smile plastered across her face. Yet again Usagi was surprising her with the princess's growth and new maturity. No longer did the girl seem to need some to pull her courage out of a hat for her, Usagi was now an experienced battle leader. True the girl still needed to get a lot of advice before she made her decision, but what good general didn't need advice. Setsuna closed her eyes and thought for second before she said, "I would suggest that Rei sort it all out. Good night Usagi, could you please get back to me on this tomorrow after Rei sorts everything out."

Setsuna then ended the call and put her cell phone back in her pocket. Things were really starting to look up in Setsuna's opinion. After all the inner scouts were getting the training they needed. Also, Usagi was shapping up into a real princess instead of a fairy-tale princess. Finally if the scouts ever got into a situation that was too dangerous for them to handle, they had Ranma there to pull their bacon out of the fire. Shaking her head, Setsuna headed over to the fridge to grab a sub sandwich. She could tell Haruka and Michiru about the plan latter; right now she had a sandwich with her name on it to take care of.

Ranma, Usagi, and Hotaru were all walking together towards the Hikawa shrine in the early morning light. Hotaru was currently in between Usagi and Ranma tightly hugging onto both of their hands. Half in hour earlier when she had woken up, Hotaru had been told by Ranma that she was currently possessed. Her 'big brother' explained to her that he had encountered a Sailor Scout while she was sleeping. The scout had told him, Ranma said, that they knew about her father and what he was doing. Also, Ranma told Hotaru that the scouts had found out that she was mildly possessed. Hotaru was very scared at first when she heard that news. Luckily in her opinion, Ranma and Usagi knew an old priest and his shrine maiden granddaughter who had agreed to perform an exorcism for her.

Once the trio reached the Hikawa shrine, Usagi took the lead and directed everyone to the room with the sacred fire. Rei and her grandfather were currently waiting for their guest and already had everything set up. Shigeru Hino quickly spotted Hotaru trying to hide behind Ranma and Usagi. With a kind smile on his face Shigeru approached Hotaru and said, "So you're the one that Usagi told my granddaughter about. I must admit that we don't get a lot of cases of possession to deal with, not the cities anyway. Don't worry though little girl, I know what I'm doing and I'll make sure that your good as new in no time."

Shigeru's gentle and friendly disposition was calming on Hotaru's frayed nerves. She was still nervous about the whole procedure but she was now feeling better about at the same time. Tilting her head just a bit Hotaru looked into first Ranma and then Usagi's eyes. Her two friends were smiling at her and their concern for her shown in their eyes. Knowing that Ranma and Usagi were going to be there for her, made the whole situation easier for Hotaru to handle. Plucking up what courage she could find Hotaru slowly approached the elder Hino and said, "Uh sir, I'm ready to begin."

Taking the frail young girl by the hand, Rei's grandfather slowly led Hotaru over in front of the sacred fire. He then had her sit down on a soft mat that was on the floor so that she was gazing at the flames. Shigeru then instructed Hotaru to gaze at the flames and focus on the warmth of the fire and love of her friends. Once the old priest was sure that Hotaru had followed his directions, he lit a pile of incense and began to slowly chant. While her grandfather chanted Rei had to make sure that the incense and sacred fire were both properly taken care of.

Ranma watched on in worry and a bit of concern for Hotaru. He didn't know how long the whole procedure would take, but he was willing to spend the entire day there to help Hotaru out. The shy young girl had quickly grown on him and Ranma saw her like a little sister. As he was gazing at the proceedings happening in front of him, Ranma felt Usagi slowly take his hand into hers and give the hand a light squeeze. Ranma was secretly glad that Usagi was standing there with him. Her mere presence was enough to call Ranma's worried nerves that he had been trying not to show.

Reaching out with his developing chi senses, Ranma noticed a thick dark aura starting to emerge from Hotaru. That aura seemed to be trying to stay on Hotaru and burrow back in her even as it was forced to the surface. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the back aura was the aura of whatever it was that was possessing Hotaru. The dark and malicious aura soon became visible to Usagi who let out a gasp of surprise and worry. Shigeru continued to steadily chant even as a chilling wind started to blow in the room originating from Hotaru.

Ranma looked on the scene with a great deal of fear for Hotaru as the storms the dark wraith-like thing possessing her was creating. Ranma was only a hair's breath away from transforming and attacking the evil entity when the entity vanished. Hotaru started to wobble for a bit and Rei went over and caught the frail girl before she could fall. Rei then gently set Hotaru down and turned to her grandfather. Both Hinos looked each other in the eyes for a few seconds before sharing a mutual nod. Shigeru turn to face Ranma and Usagi and calmly said, "The maelevolent spirit has been removed from the girl's body. She only needs to rest."

Rei's Grandfather then started to slowly walk out of the room leaving the teenagers alone. After glancing down one more time to check on Hotaru, Rei looked up at Ranma. The fire wielding senshi then got a little nervous and said, "Uh Ranma, before we have the scout meeting, there's something you need to take care of. It involves General Nephrite and that portion of your past life." Shrugging his shoulders, Ranma wondered what if this day could get any weirder.

Two hours after the exorcism, all of the inner scouts plus the moon cats were sitting down in the usual meeting spot at the Hikawa shrine. Makoto looked around the room and then at Usagi. Worried about Ranma, Makoto raised her voice and said, "Uh Usagi, why were we called over? Also, where's Ranma at?"

All eyes turned to look at Usagi; most of those eyes were asking her to tell them what was going on. For a split second Usagi wished that Ranma was right there by her side but she knew that the discussion he and Herb were having right now was very important. Taking a deep breath, Usagi started to speak, "Ranma's not here right now because he's talking to a new ally that has been discovered. The two of them should be coming in here soon enough and Ranma knows the plan that I've come up with."

Everyone in the room besides Rei and Usagi started to send questioning glances to each other. They were all wondering what the mysterious plan of Usagi's was for and also, who the new ally was that Ranma was talking to at the moment. Not wanting to have to fend off a half-dozen questions at once, Usagi started talking again. "We've managed to locate where the people behind these attacks are at. Just so you know the Outer scouts are going to be patrolling the city to stop any daemon attacks while we commence the plan. The plan is simple, the inner scouts, Ranma, and the new ally will go in and get rid of the people behind the attacks permanently."

Usagi watched as everyone around her looked a little pale when they thought about what she had said. None of the other scouts had taken a human life before and were obviously upset at the idea. Trying to find a way to comfort her scouts, Usagi closed her eyes and thought about what to say. She then opened her eyes and softly said, "I know that this is hard to accept. We have after all always dedicated ourselves to saving lives whenever we could. Sadly however things have reached a point where, in order for us to save lives, we are called to take the lives of the few people behind these attacks. This isn't an easy thing for us to do and frankly it's not supposed to be an easy thing to do. However it is a necessary thing for us to do right now."

The room was deathly quiet after Usagi's speech, no one in there dared to break the silence that had descended upon them as they thought over what Usagi had said. Fortunately for everyone in the room, the door to the room opened up and broke the silence. Ranma steeped into the room and was followed closely behind by Herb. Both cursed princes were in their full battle armor; Ranma in is mystical Jovian Paladin armor and Herb in his dragon hide armor. Usagi looked at the surprised faces of her friends and said, "You all know about Ranma, but allow me to fully introduce his companion. This is Prince Herb of the Musk Dynasty and the descendent of one of General Nephrite's army captains.

The look on Ami, Makoto, Minako, and the moon cats' faces were absolutely priceless in Usagi's opinion. One good thing about this sudden surprise in Usagi's opinion was that the thoughts of what they would have to do seem to have disappeared from the inner's thoughts. A camera flash suddenly happened and everyone turned to see Rei standing there with a camera. "What?" Rei said as she noticed everyone's eyes on her, "I thought that it was a funny scene."

Standing on the roof of a nearby building the seven warriors looked down at Infinity Academy. Usagi had ordered them all to stop here and wait for Ami to double-check the academy with the mercury computer. Looking up from the screen of the mini-laptop, Ami quietly but confidently said, "I'm only detecting a few human life signs but those life signs are saturated with the same type of energy as the witch Ranma and Usagi killed a while ago. Also, from what I can scan, there are three ways into the lair from the school grounds. One way is through the gym storage room, another through the teacher's lounge, and the final one being through the girl's bathroom on the top floor."

For the next minute Usagi leaned against a roof-top shed and thought about the information that Ami had given. Thinking about her forces, Usagi realize that she had three people who would best be able to handle the possibility of ending someone's life. She and Ranma were two of those people because they already had blood on their hands. The last one was Herb because as prince of the Musk he had been brought up knowing about the possibility of having to end a person's life. It didn't take long for Usagi to make up her mind. With a look of determination in her eyes Usagi said, "Alright, here's the plan. We're going to split up into three groups and have each group tackle one of the entrances. Ranma and Makoto will go through the gym entrance, Herb and Rei have the entrance in the teacher's lounge, finally Ami, Minako and I will go after the entrance in the girl's bathroom."

Everyone nodded their heads and left to go after their assigned targets. Ranma and Makoto, due to being the most physically fit team and the fact that their entrance was closer, arrived at their destination first. Before Makoto could enter into the gym; Ranma, who was standing by the door, motioned for her to stay back. He then turned to his reincarnated mother and said, "Makoto wait. I sense that one of our enemies is in the gym. From what I can tell from the person's aura he or she isn't aware of us yet. Also, whoever it is currently putting out more power then you currently do. Our best bet to handle this situation is to take them out before they realize that we're here. I want you to stay back while I attack. My attacks are quicker than yours are so I should be able to take that person out before they realize it. If I should fail and the battle gets a little crazy, I always have you here as back up."

Makoto firmly nodded her head thankful and disgusted with herself that Ranma was volunteering to take out the foe in front of them. As much as the Hippolyta portion of her was angered that her 'baby' had to do such a thing; Makoto was able to calm herself down with Ranma's logical arguments. After shaking her head to clear away those thoughts, Makoto was surprised to see that Ranma had vanished. Whipping her head all around to try and find him Makoto finally looked up and saw Ranma hanging on the ceiling.

Ranma, using the cling-to-the-ceiling-and-hope-they-don't-look-up technique, slowly walked across the ceiling ala Spiderman and into the gym. Looking down from his perch high up on the gym wall, Ranma noticed a girl with deep blue hair currently shooting hoops on the other end of the gym. For a split second Ranma was disgusted with himself for contemplating killing the girl while she was playing a game. However he reminded himself about what that this was no time for sentimentality and that these people were responsible for the recent attacks. Leaping off of the wall, Ranma spun around, crossed his arms together, and yelled out "IO INFERNO!"

Cyprine was the most powerful of the Witches 5 in terms of her power. However, even the most powerful of people can be brought down if they are caught unaware. Sadly for Cyprine, all she was able to do was turn around and look in shock as two blazing blades of red energy came at her. Before she was able to do anything to defend herself the blades cut through her. Luckily for Cyprine, she passed out from the pain and so didn't have to feel herself dying from blood loss.

Makoto walked into the gym to see Ranma standing next to the dismembered corpse of Cyprine. Although Ranma's face wasn't showing any emotion, Makoto could see the look of pain shining through Ranma's eyes. She watched as Ranma clapped his hands twice in a silent prayer for Cyprine's soul. Once Ranma was done praying he turned around to face Makoto and said, "Come, we still have much work ahead of us."

Professor Tomoe was working in his underground lab and was feeling very frustrated. For the past month he had been supplying the Witches 5 with daemon eggs in the hopes that they would collect the three talismans. Those talismans were needed for his and Mistress 9's plans to summon their lord Pharaoh 90 to earth. He was frustrated because he should have had those talismans weeks ago. Instead those annoying Sailor Scouts had shown up at every turn and messed up his plans. Hearing the door open up behind him, Professor Tomoe called out, "What is with you girls, I called you five minutes ago!"

A female voice that Professor Tomoe wasn't expecting then called out to him, "Sorry your former associates didn't get the memo to let us in." The diabolical professor turned around to stare at the Sailor Scouts with Sailor Moon in the center flanked by Herb and Ranma. Usagi, who was the speaker from before, then continued to speak. "The 'Witches 5' have all been killed. The malevolent spirit that you had possessing your daughter, who is currently somewhere safe, has been exorcised. All that is left to be taken care of is you."

Professor Tomoe became enraged as he listened to Sailor Moon's speech. How could his glorious enterprise come to this? With courage brought on only by the insanity of a madman who knows his end is near, Professor Tomoe grabbed a syringe that was lying on the table behind him. The syringe contained a new super daemon seed that he was in the process of perfecting. He would just have to inject it into one of these annoying children and then sit back and watch as they were destroyed from within.

Both Herb and Ranma noticed Professor Tomoe reaching behind to the workbench that the mad doctor was previously working at. Thanks to their extensive martial arts training, both princes could read Professor Tomoe's intentions do to how the doctor's muscles moved. It was obvious to them that Professor Tomoe was going to through something at Sailor Moon. Whatever was going to be thrown was most likely not something that the princes' would want to hit Sailor Moon or any of the Scouts. The two young men moved like grease lighting to put a stop to Professor Tomoe's plans. Ranma pulled Usagi down to the floor so that she was out of the path of whatever it was that Tomoe was going to throw at her. Herb whipped out his arm and yelled out, "Flying Sword of the Dragon!"

Professor Tomoe, although he was surprised at Herb's attack, managed to throw the syringe. Fortunately for the Scouts, Herb's chi blades destroyed the syringe as they made their way towards the evil doctor. The chi blades cut right through Professor Tomoe killing him in an instant. However, the blades didn't dissipate after they cut through Professor Tomoe but continued on until they crashed into the shelves behind the workbench. Some of the items contained on those shelves were highly flammable and caught on fire due to the energy of Herb's attack.

The small fire very rapidly grew into a bonfire thanks to the nature of what was stored on those shelves. Looking at the bonfire, Usagi called out, "Let's leave. We've taken care of the people who are behind the attacks; we'll let the fire destroy what remains of their work." With that said, Usagi, Ranma, and the rest of the assembled warriors wearily marched out of the secret lair.

Half an hour after the Sailor Scout's assault on the Death Busters, firefighters from several different stations were working furiously to put out the fire that was consuming the one prestigious infinity academy. The firemen had received a call about ten minutes ago telling them about the fire. When the first fire truck got to the sight they were greeted by Ranma and Usagi. The young couple had been the ones to put in the call to the station. Ranma was questioned by the head fireman why he and Usagi were at the scene of the fire. Very calmly Ranma explain that he had been in the middle of an afternoon walk with his girlfriend when they noticed that the school was on fire.

None of the firemen noticed during all of this that there were a set of eyes watching the whole proceedings. The owner of those eyes looked at Ranma and Usagi, burning their images into its brain. The unknown person was sure that those two had something to do with the Death Busters' demise. Silently the person in the shadows vowed revenge against the Sailor Scouts for what they had done, and against those two teens for whatever part they had in bringing down Pharaoh 90's plans.

-HistorianoftheKais here. We have reached the conclusion for this part of the saga. FEAR NOT fans of this story. While this part of the saga might be over, the Saga itself is not. I have simply broken the Saga into several stories that will each be posted separately. For you hard core SM fans, the rest of the story will most likely not touch Sailor Infinity and Sailor Stars. The next story in this saga will focus on the continuing growth of Ranma, Usagi, and their friends as they fight against the (currently) unknown enemy.