Ranma the Prophetess

by ejhawman

Updated 7/7/10. Final epilogue.

29. Sailor Pluto

Chapter 29: Sailor Pluto

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author's note: A bit of a rush job, I've probably made all kinds of mistakes. Please give feedback, advice, point out what doesn't work, what's impossible, etc. I just felt I had to get it done and out there in SOME form before travelling for the holidays.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

The shaking of the leaves and vines had been subsiding for some time. The captives were growing tired, too tightly bound to break free. Youma patrols had been alerted. Soon, they would arrive and take the guests to more permanent accomodations. There was, of course, only one thing for them to do.

"MARS POWER, MAKE UP!"

"JUPITER POWER, MAKE UP!"

"URANUS PLANET POWER, MAKE UP!"

The unleashed energies forced the plants away. Uranus' transformation did nothing more, allowing her to rush back to the central clearing. Jupiter's left her bindings stunned and scorched, burning with small flames.

Sailor Mars flew out of her bindings and landed in the clearing, turning back around to protect herself from any vines that might reach out to draw her back in. She was horrified to see the flames from her transformation spreading rapidly across the plant life, in spite of the moisture in the air and plants. The cavern would soon become an inferno.

"Oh, great!" Jupiter said. "Did you think about what might happen if YOU transformed in a FOREST?"

"And what was I supposed to do?" Mars replied. "Stay there and choke?"

"Save it," Uranus said. "We've got to get out of here before we burn!"

"GET ME LOOSE!" Ryoga cried.

"Hold on, I've got you! SUPREME THUNDER!" Jupiter's bolt struck the vines suspending Ryoga from the overhead branches, stunning and severing them. Ryoga fell to the bushes below and rolled out to the clearing, wriggling his way free.

"Shampoo need help too!" their Chinese companion called from within some tall grasses.

Ryoga still had his stiffened bandannas in hand. He simply hacked away at the grass until Shampoo was exposed. Once all of them were in the clearing, they began looking for a way out before the fires engulfed everything.

"We've got to go back - uh oh..." Ryoga's proposal died in his throat as he saw the entrance to the cave obscured by another wall of plants, not as dense as the one ahead but full of lively and menacing vines and branches. Fire was also racing in that direction. "I don't think we're getting through there before it goes up."

Uranus chose the direction that the fires looked to reach last. "WORLD SHAKING!" The bushes and trees were pulped, opening a path some distance in. "This way!"

Jupiter threw in some bolts to stun the lively flora, allowing Ryoga and Shampoo to wade in and hack their way to a wall. Ryoga immediately began working on their way out. "Bakusai Tenketsu!"

"How thick is this wall?" Mars asked.

"Doesn't matter!" Uranus said. "We don't know which way it's thinnest! Just keep going until we get out!"

The burning forest behind them was screaming. "Could you hurry up?" Jupiter asked. "There's got to be every youma in the Dark Kingdom coming here soon!"

Uranus fired a few blasts, but it didn't seem as if she could dig any faster than Ryoga. She left the tunneling to him while she conserved her strength for any youma they might run into once free.

They were soon coughing and choking as the air filled with ash and the oxygen ran low. Jupiter voiced their worries. "We'd better get through fast or we're going to end up cooked!"

The fires were starting to burn the path they had entered by. "We could use a firewall!" Mars said, picking up debris from the tunneling effort and stacking it behind them. Shampoo and Jupiter took up the effort, helping to keep their space large enough to hold them all.

It seemed an eternity before the explosion of one of Ryoga's moves sounded different, carrying an echo from somewhere. "We're through!" he said.

"At last!" Mars was relieved as the group emerged into a largish room about ten feet high, filled with shelves, racks, and tables. "Where are we?"

"Some kind of storage," Jupiter said. She gestured toward the double doors, shut and bound in steel. "A vault, maybe?"

Much of the low light in the room came from objects on the shelves. There were all manner of accessories with luminescent gems and auras: rings, earrings, chokers, bracelets, ribbons, orbs, strange things that defied description.

Uranus looked over an empty rack that looked as if it might have held weapons. "The armory, maybe. Looks like those youma were right, all the good stuff's been issued."

"Maybe not," Ryoga said, eyes fixing on one item lying alone on a table. He went over and picked it up. "A staff. I bet Ranma could use this..."

Mars flinched back from him. "Are you crazy? Beryl only knows what kind of booby traps are on this stuff!"

"Kinda late now," Jupiter said. "If you've set off some alarm..."

"At least he didn't get paralyzed or keel over dead," Uranus observed. "At least not right now. Maybe slow poison..."

Mars looked over the staff. "Looks kinda like a key to me, anyway."

"But if we're already inside the vault..." Jupiter wondered.

"Mabye it's for a different vault," Uranus said. "Would have to be something pretty important, if just the key is in a different vault itself."

"So we don't want Beryl keeping it, anyway," Ryoga said. "If we can hide it somewhere..."

Mars fixed her gaze on the key-staff and began chanting a prayer, making a few hand passes. "There's a lot of power in this thing, but not dark. I don't think it's booby trapped." She repeated her divination on the items on the shelves. "Nothing really bad here, but I can't be too sure. If only we knew what they were for..."

"Probably nothing useful for combat," Uranus guessed, "or they would have been issued too." Several of the items, and empty item spaces, had name plates or catalogue cards nearby. These were mainly written in languages none of them recognized, but Uranus did spy one in English. "Adamantite sword?"

Ryoga noticed one spot on the shelves in Japanese. "Doom Fist? What is all this stuff? Where did they get it?"

"Must have been from the Moon Kingdom," Mars suspected. "If only there were a catalogue..."

"Here!" Jupiter was at a desk near the door. It held several books and papers. She picked up the thickest book and opened it. "More gibberish..."

None of them recognized the language. Another text was in different characters, also unreadable but vaguely recognized. "I bet this is Silver Millennial language," Mars supposed. "That other one is something the Dark Kingdom used."

"Might as well take it, too," Jupiter said. "Maybe we can remember how to read it someday."

"Shampoo help," the Amazon said. "We get back to village, have whole rack of formula."

"Let's get to it," Uranus said, moving to the door. She and Ryoga tested it with presses and blows.

"It's thick," Ryoga estimated. "Probably guards on the other side. Get ready for a fight." He readied another Breaking Point strike.

"Wait a minute!" Mars said. "Can we go around?" She pulled out their map and tried to find where they were.

Jupiter traced their path with a finger. "We had to backtrack here, so we went this way... that would be the mushrooms, that would be the forest, so THIS must be us."

"And if we cut around this way -" Mars began.

"No good," Uranus said. "Our tunneling isn't exactly quiet. We'd be heard eventually."

"May as well go straight through," Ryoga said. "It's not far to that portal room." His finger lashed out in a strike.

The door was a foot thick, and barred. Ryoga had shattered boulders of comparable size before. The two youma on the other side were surprised and knocked flat by the blast. Mars and Jupiter sprayed them with fire and lightning.

They were disappointed when the guards were not dusted. "They must be tough," Mars said.

"Or maybe it's the armor." Ryoga noted they they were both wearing breastplates and greaves. "At least we knocked them out."

Shampoo was quick to pick up the sword one had dropped. It was made of purple metal with red sparks dancing up and down its length. She swung it a few times to test its balance, then chopped at the former owner's neck. It turned to dust, leaving its armor pieces behind. "Is good weapon for Shampoo!"

The other one left gloves behind when it disintegrated. "I don't want to get slowed down with that armor," Ryoga said. "But these gloves..." He put them on over his hands. They were overly large at first, but suddenly shrank down to fit. "Yow! The perfect glove!"

A group of youma with various weapons and armor pieces came from the left side of the T-junction down the hall. "Humans! Slay them!"

"Looks like I'll get to test these right away," Ryoga said, meeting the youma with his gloved fists.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Ranma grunted and rolled as he hit the ground. As he had too much momentum to stop before falling into the next spring over, he pushed off with arms and legs to do a somersault in the air over it, landing shakily on the other side, ready to defend again.

The second round against Magnetite wasn't looking to go any better than the first. Without his curse, Ranma was limited to his training and natural physique. These would have been enough to conquer any human foe, but Magnetite was magically enhanced with dark power, making him stronger and faster than even Ranma. The young martial artist had so far remained on the defensive, losing ground slowly but surely.

"Can you hold up?" Magnetite taunted as he darted around on the bamboo poles, and sometimes simply flying through the air. The Amazons were throwing things and leaping at him, to no avail; he dodged effortlessly while keeping up his assault. "You're not dodging or blocking as well as you were when you had her power. If you keep this up you'll lose your life!"

Ranma did not deign to answer. With a wordless roar, he charged directly at his elevated foe, leaping to the attack, trying to dodge at the last instant, and getting bounced back across the springs to land on his feet once more. It was all a matter of distraction from his point of view: with Magnetite's attention divided, something had to give.

It gave out on the cursed lake formed from the pools of Jusenkyo. Most of them had been drained of power and curses before the group had arrived, but several live springs had been merged as well when Magnetite had turned the grounds between them into mud monsters, shaped by spirits from the springs. The Senshi had been reduced to an atoll in the middle of the lake, dodging the mud creatures' attempts to grab and immobilize them. Now, with Magnetite distracted, the mud creatures were much slower and less coordinated, easier to dodge.

Nevertheless, the Senshi still felt the pressure. "There's got to be some way off this island!" Neptune said.

"There is! SHABON SPRAY FREEZE!" Mercury's blast was directed at the surface of the lake, creating a path to the edge. Two towering mud monsters were also caught in the effect, being frozen solid and rendered harmless. The group ran safely between them to make it to shore.

This still put them on a thin strip of ground between pools; they did not stop until they reached the edge of the grounds, at the foot of the western slopes. There they stopped and waited for the others.

"Such inconstant allies," Tatewaki Kuno said. "Truly, it does show that such powers as theirs are not meant for the hands of women."

This got him a solid bonk from Lotion. "They've got the right idea! It's a bad enough idea to fight at Jusenkyo in daytime, doubly so at night. This battle isn't over. We need to regroup." She waved her staff to the rest of her party. "Fall back!"

Ranma continued to avoid Magnetite's blasts and swoops, working his way north. One attack that connected threw him clear over the spring on the northern edge of the field, leaving only dry ground between him and Jusendo. As Magnetite continued to press him that way, the Amazons moved behind him, helping Ukyo free of her binds.

"Ranma!" the chef called. "This way!" She motioned with her arm and started heading with the Amazons to rejoin the Senshi.

"It seems your friends have no stomach for this battle," Magnetite said. "Will you be as much a coward as they? Or do you have the will to finish this?"

Ranma stood his ground. "I'm going right where I need to."

"Ranchan... nooo..." Ukyo started to follow her fiancee, ready to help. The Amazons did not try to stop her; they knew a woman could not be kept from her man under these circumstances.

They headed due west to the edge of the springs, where the Senshi came up to meet them. Sailor Moon was less understanding of Ranma than the Amazons were. "What's he doing? He's going the wrong way!"

"Calm yourself, child," Lotion intoned. "I believe he still intents to sabotage whatever that man is doing at Jusendo."

Mercury activated her visor and began to scan. "There is a lot of power under that mountain," she reported. "Magnetite must have something growing there. Those bird people were there with him, weren't they?"

"They might have a part in his plan," Lotion said. "I can't guess what until we see for ourselves..."

"Then let's go!" Sailor Moon almost led them straight north across the springs, but stopped short. "Err... maybe we can go a little way around... I don't want to get any closer to that water than I have to."

"Wise decision," Lotion said. "We will make a flanking attack. Let us hope that Ranma can hold out..."

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Along with their wings and talon-like hands and feet, the bird men of Mount Phoenix had inherited a notable weakness from the bird that had imprinted their mountain's well: poor night vision. They had brought plenty of torches, as well as provisions for standing guard for the three days Saffron would be cocooned, and were mostly keeping to the tunnels under the mountain, where their torches would be lighting limited spaces.

Koruma gripped held his spear at the ready, hovering just off the ground, ready to fly out to help the approaching Magnetite. Their strange benefactor was now fighting some youth on a rocky outcropping across the pool from the cliff. "Should we help him?"

"We stay here," Kiima ordered. "The darkness weakens us more than it does them. Besides, it doesn't look as if this Magnetite needs any help. He has that boy on the run."

Out on the rock, Magnetite was chasing Ranma in circles. The circles started getting tighter, spiraling toward a center. Well before he could have Ranma down to pivoting on one foot, however, he broke off and flew high in the air. "I hope you didn't think that would be effective here," he said, darting around in the sky. "Out in the open, I can simply ride it out."

Ranma chuckled. "Now who's the coward? Come down here and fight!"

"I do not pretend to any foolish views that limit my effectiveness. I tire of this little game. I shall end this from right here!" He extended a hand and fired a power blast.

Ranma dodged easily, but was soon running in circles again - this time simply trying to dodge Magnetite's fire. Fortunately, Ukyo was just arriving. "If you won't come down, we'll just have to BRING you down!" She put another bag on her spatula and heaved it at the flying general.

Magnetite casually destroyed it with a power bolt as it got within reach. It exploded into a cloud of dust which engulfed him. He continued firing at the two on the ground for a few seconds, then stopped and began to sink. "What... what have you done...?"

"Something Kodachi whipped up with the herbalist," Ukyo said as Magnetite sank to the ground. "They said it was equally potent. You've breathed enough to knock out an elephant." She stepped up to him and raised her spatula high to deliver the coup de grace.

Suddenly Magnetite's eyes went wide, fully alert. His hand shot out and grabbed Ukyo by the ankle. And then they were both gone.

"UCCHAN!" Ranma could only stare at where his fiancee had been.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Ukyo was aware of a shift in the light, and then she was tumbling backward down a flight of stairs. As she reached the bottom, Magnetite threw something at her. She was suddenly engulfed by something like her rubberized noodles, but they covered her more completely, and quickly began to harden...

Kiima regarded the egg now resting at the foot of the stairs, just inside the entrance. "This is the girl from out there? How did you bring her in here?"

Magnetite stood up at the top of the stairs and began to descend. "More of my power. Quite a simple trick, really, if you have the power to do it." A good chunk of power, actually; more than enough to spare for occasional use before the Senshi had appeared, now he was becoming more conservative about teleporting. "I believe she is the boy's lover."

Kiima's face showed alarm. "Then he will want her back as soon as possible. He and his friends will want to attack during the night!"

"Exactly," Magnetite smiled. "This is our stronghold. In here we can capture and turn all of them." He chuckled at the thought of presenting Queen Beryl with Sailor Moon as a willing slave.

Kiima scowled at Magnetite. "Better for us that they break off! In the morning we can fight them outside at greater advantage."

"We will have plenty of advantage as it is. Although, if you are worried about defending that doorway, I can be of some help there..." He cast an earthshaping spell at the door area, causing the rock around the door to flow over it, making it look to be just another section of cliff face.

"I hope you can reverse that when Lord Saffron hatches," Kiima said.

"Rest assured, our foes will create their own opening. I recommend you have your guards patrol the tunnels to intercept them. With good timing and the use of a few eggs, we will add their forces to our own this very night."

Kiima started giving her orders to her guards, feeling less and less comfortable with this ally of theirs. Hopefully, she could arrange for him not to survive the coming battle.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Ranma! Are you okay?" Sailor Moon asked. The Senshi had met up with the Amazon party and were now arriving at the foot of Jusendo. "Where's Ukyo?"

"Magnetite took her," Ranma said. "She hit him with some sleeping powder, thought he'd be out all night. He must have expected it and held his breath. Oldest trick in the book. Should have seen it coming." He looked toward the mountain. "He grabbed her and vanished."

"He does not want to allow us to retreat for the night," Lotion said. "The Phoenix soldiers will be all over that mountain. We do not wish to enter unless we must." She turned to Sailor Mercury. "What can you tell from this distance?"

Mercury worked her computer and looked through her visor. "There's a large amount of power being gathered near the top of the mountain. Some kind of magical flow from the base."

"What's with all the doors?" Venus said. "There's so many..."

Mercury hit a few more keys. "I'm sorry. The magical power is giving too much interference. I can't get a good map of the interior."

"We'll just have to try them all," Ranma said. "I've been waiting to use this move ... MOKO TAKABISHA!" The chi bolt blew one of the doors off its hinges, and detonated a bomb behind it, leaving a hollow in the cliff face.

"Better save your energy for the enemy," Lotion said. She gave a command in Chinese to one of her squad, equipped with a chain with a metal claw. This allowed her to pull at a door from a distance, tripping another trap.

The area guide had kept his distance while there was fighting, and was joining the group now that things looked safe. He looked out over the lake, tears flowing freely. "Long time I be guide to Jusenkyo springs. Never think this happen." He turned back to the Senshi. "You fight bad man what do this to springs?"

"He's in there," Sailor Venus confirmed. "Do you know about this place?"

"This Jusendo, ancient source of magic springs. Not know what bad man do in there, but cannot be good. You go in there, beat him, you maybe make springs back way they were?"

The Senshi sweatdropped, unsure how to answer his concerns. Lotion saved them. "The springs can be restored to their old appearance, but the curses must go. You must remember they are TRAGIC springs. It is time for the tragedy to end. You can tell visitors about what they used to do, but they will only be normal springs."

The guide bowed sadly to her. "If honored elder say it must be so, then it be." He turned to the mountain before them, pulling a sheet of yellowed paper from his jacket. "Have map. Show all inside Jusendo, ancient source of cursed springs."

Sailor Moon popped a vein when she looked at it. "No it doesn't! This just shows us where we already are!"

"Is special ink. Like curse of springs, need hot water to show."

"There's a cursed ink?"

Sailor Venus gave her a friendly bonk. "Baka! Didn't you ever play with those color-changing stickers? They sell them at toy stores all over the place."

"It's an old ink formula, but completely mundane," Lotion said. "An ancient form of cryptography."

She gave another order to her squad. As they had been expecting a fight at Jusenkyo, they were prepared with canteens of Spring of Drowned Girl water, as well as normal water and torches. Several of them had shields that could serve as bowl. The water was heated within a minute. The paper changed its diagram when dipped.

Sailor Mercury looked over the diagram of the interior tunnels. It was quite rough, but would do for their use. "Looks like these three go into the tunnel network."

"There were supposed to be some of those Mount Phoenix soldiers in there, weren't there?" Sailor Neptune said. "Won't they all be gathered at those doors?"

"I hope so," Ranma said. "I got a plan..."

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Like the youma guarding the treasure room, those in the cave were facing the wrong way to avoid sudden death. Their attention was directed out the entrance, waiting for a possible attempt by the Senshi that had gone through earlier to force their way back in. They were completely unprepared for the fire and lightning spewing from the portal behind them.

Ryoga and Shampoo were the first to come through bodily, followed quickly by the Senshi. They had fought a few more youma guards and patrols on their way to the portal. These showed where the weapons and equipment from the empty racks in the armory had gone. Beryl had decided not to hold back the good stuff in the wake of the decimation of her ranks by the Senshis' invasion. Virtually every youma killed had dropped some weapon or armor that was not integral to it, and therefore did not disintegrate with the body.

Both martial artists now looked more like geared warriors: in addition to the weapons dropped by the first pair of youma they had killed, they had now added various pieces of armor and trinkets. Ryoga had a pair of bracers, boots, belt, and headband. Shampoo wore earrings, necklace, rings, a breastplate, and a pink ribbon around her head. (It seemed unassuming to her, but many youma had ribbons just like it; the fact that this one had not been integral to its youma made it suspicious. She wondered if it had some special enchantment.) Whatever extra gear they could not carry (mostly weapons) they had buried under some rocks in a dead end room, hoping it would have a low priority among the damage control teams that were cleaning up debris from the earthquake.

Ryoga cautiously looked around the cave, then peeked outside. No other youma were in evidence. "Looks like we got them all," he said.

They peeked out the entrance to the cave, noting the dusky scene. "Is this the place, Shampoo?" Mars asked.

The Chinese girl nodded. "Is Jusenkyo. That way to village." She pointed south.

Their attention was soon drawn by a series of pops in the other direction. "That sounds like a war," Jupiter said.

"Probably Sailor Moon and the others," Mars said. She opened her watch. "Sailor Moon! This is Sailor Mars! We're at the portal in the valley!"

There was no response. Jupiter tried next. "Sailor Moon! Come in!"

"Some kind of interference, maybe?" Mars suggested.

"Or maybe it's just too noisy there?" Uranus said.

"Doesn't look all that far away," Ryoga observed. "Maybe a couple of miles. We can run it."

They began jogging, as opposed to running at top speed. It would not do to arrive at the battle too exhausted to do anything.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Koruma flinched as yet another booming sound came through the doors. "Are they really going to try EVERY door?"

He and Masara stood several feet back from their door. "I hope they run out of people before we run out of doors."

Koruma patted the bronze case at his belt, holding a dozen eggs. "Even if they don't, they'll be outnumbered by then. And we have enough of these for everyone."

Magnetite looked on from several yards down the tunnel and shook his head. "Such fools," he said under his breath. The Senshi could simply blast down doors at range. Hopefully, the bird-men would not be so inept as to fail to egg them as they came through.

"I shall check on our... prisoner," he announced, heading off to where the girl was being kept. He expected that to be where the battle was truly decided.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Ranma burst through the tunnel wall and looked both ways, ready to deal with a patrol. He saw none. "Looks like we're in luck. Coast is clear."

Sailor Venus was next, holding up her glowing chain, as much for light as to be ready for battle. The light proved unnecessary; a few yards up the hall there was a wall sconce, in the fashion of a giant clam, holding a tindered fire. "This way, isn't it?"

Ranma nodded. "Everybody be quiet and stick together." He took point, leading the Senshi in a search of the tunnels, looking for either Ukyo, the upper chamber, or something else vital to destroy.

They found Ukyo first, bound and gagged at a junction, guarded by two bird men. The men saw them coming and raised swords. Venus lashed out with her chain, disarming the two. They quickly broke and ran.

"Looks like they got no stomach for fighting," Ranma said. He picked up one of the fallen blades and used it to cut the ropes binding Ukyo. "Ucchan! Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

Ukyo rubbed her wrists. "I'm fine. I'm going to need my stuff, though. It should still be where they left it. Come on." She started off down one branch of the tunnel.

They followed her to a room with a balcony ending in a staircase. Two more guards were standing at the foot of the stairs, with Ukyo's spatula, bandoleer, and several bags of tricks. Ranma didn't expect them to put up any more of a fight than the other two, and leapt off the balcony to deliver flying kicks to knock them down. Ukyo rushed in to grab her things.

"Right, then," Ukyo said as she re-equipped herself. "Let's see what they've got on them..." She searched the dazed bird-men, taking some metal cases from their belts.

Ranma opened one. "Eggs? Their lunch, or..."

"A weapon, actually. It works like this." Ukyo put both cases of eggs, perhaps two dozen, on her spatula and swung it in a wide arc - throwing the eggs at Ranma and the Senshi.

Ranma evaded by pure reflex. "Ucchan! Watch where you're throwing that stuff -"

"Yaa! Help!" Ranma turned to see Mercury and Neptune being engulfed in some sort of goop with threads in it, like a miniature version of Ukyo's rubberized noodles and batter-glue mix. The stuff seemed to have a life of its own, engulfing the two Senshi and smoothing into an egg shape, which quickly hardened.

"Ucchan! What did you do?" Ranma rushed to examine the eggs, knocking on them to check their hardness. He felt they should be no trouble to break, and raised a fist to free Mercury.

He suddenly sensed a presence behind him and jumped aside. Near the ceiling two bird-men were hovering. They flapped their wings forward, throwing feathers at Ranma, possibly not their own, or plucked earlier and reinserted to serve as projectiles. The feathers flew at the remaining unencased party, proving razor sharp. Ranma, Sailor Moon, and Sailor Venus all got more small cuts, and much of their clothing was shredded - now becoming par for the course for their fights.

Ranma ended up guarding himself against a far wall. "Ucchan! What the heck are you doing? You're on our side, remember!"

"Not anymore," Magnetite said, emerging from the tunnel exit. He must have been close behind them; perhaps they had passed him and not realized it. He bounced an egg in hand. "Handy little trick these bird-men have. These eggs carry a sort of brainwashing serum in them, absorbed through the skin. Your comrades, when they emerge from those eggs, will be as baby birds, ready to be imprinted, to follow whoever they see first."

"Just stand still and join us, Ranchan," Ukyo said, readying another batch of eggs. "It'll be easier that way."

"Oh, no you don't! Venus Love-Me Chain!" Venus lashed out, knocking the eggs from Ukyo's hands. She tried the same with Magnetite, only to have her chain slowed by his shield. He casually grabbed the end of the chain and used it to pull Venus off her feet, throwing his eggs at her while she was vulnerable in midair. Within seconds she, too, was encased.

Ukyo was disarmed of her eggs, but still facing off against Ranma. She leapt at him, throwing knives and chopping with her spatula. Ranma dodged as best he could. As he was constitutionally against hitting girls, and this girl was, of all people, his fiancee, he could not simply slap her: a slightly trickier method dealing with her wrath was called for.

He allowed her to lunge with her spatula, slipping by to one side. She cut across in a flat arc, which he easily ducked, moving past her in the other direction as momentum continued her pivot. He ended up behind her, allowing him to grab her close in a hug. "Ucchan! Look at you! Look what you've done to your friends!" He faced her toward the eggs now hardening. "Try to remember!"

"I have no friends!" Ukyo struggled to free herself from her fiancee's grip. This was accomplished with some support from Magnetite, who fired a burst of power at Ranma, forcing him to break off to allow the bolt to pass between them.

Ranma ended up in a corner, near Sailor Moon, who was in a full panic and was now cowering in the corner near a bronze demon dog statue. Ranma realized Magnetite and the bird men would swoop down at any moment to pick her up; he would have to stay close. He ducked again as Ukyo made another level cut, hacking through the statue.

None of those present knew about the handle in the statue's mouth, or the rope that connected it to a secret door in the nearby wall underneath the balcony. Without tension in the rope, the door could move freely on its pivot. Sailor Moon was the first to find out, as she was backed up against it, and felt it give slightly under her pressure.

"Dammit... she's under some kind of mind control!" Ranma turned to Sailor Moon, trying to dodge further attack. "You gotta help me here -"

He was cut off as Ukyo smacked him across the back with her spatula, sending him flying into Sailor Moon. Both of them grunted as they were slammed together. There was a second or two in which the world seemed to spin before they both fell to the floor, briefly stunned.

They picked themselves up, trying to regain their bearings. Ranma noticed the light was suddenly much dimmer. They were now at the foot of two staircases, one heading straight out from the wall, the other leading off to the left. "What the heck? How did we end up here?" He looked back at the wall. "A secret door...?"

Sailor Moon shook the wooziness from her head. She started climbing the stairs opposite the door, frantically trying to put distance between herself and Magnetite. Ranma chased after her. "Wait up! We gotta -"

Again he was interrupted, this time as the secret door was blown off its pivot mounting. Ranma flinched back; if he had stayed on the landing, he would have been crushed. Now Mangetite regarded him from the room they had just vacated. "Don't think you can get away! we control this whole mountain!" He started rushing at Ranma.

With Magnetite behind him, and Sailor Moon climbing ahead of him as fast as her legs could carry her, Ranma had little choice. He followed her up the long staircase. It looked to be a very long way with no landings. *I just hope this exhausts her soon...*

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

It was full dark when they arrived at the northern edge of the pools. The magic weapons they had taken from the youma they had fought on their way out provided at least as much light as torches of comparable size. "So... these are the cursed pools of Jusenkyo?" Jupiter said. "Looks more like a small lake now."

"It wasn't like this before," Ryoga said. "Last time I was here, this part was all smaller pools, like the southern part. Something must have happened here..."

"You think the PLA Corp of Engineers was here?" Uranus said. "Maybe they had their own idea what to do with this place."

"There's still evil here," Mars said. "I can feel it. That lake... there's spirits there... crying out for justice..."

They continued on to where the explosions had been coming from. The noise had stopped by the time they got there; it was hard to tell what was happening on the mountain in the darkness, but Sailor Mars had more useful senses than sight. "There's a lot of power in there. If Ranma is trying to do something here, he must have gone in."

They were halfway up the mountain when a light in the darkness stopped them - a flashlight. A pudgy man was making his way down with a woman and child in tow. "More visitor come at night! You is like other girls what go in Jusendo?"

The Senshi were suddenly guarded, ready to attack, but Shampoo held out a hand to indicate they should hold. "Is Jusenkyo guide. He friend." She noted the woman and child, as well as the boxes they had with them. "You is leaving with family?"

"Is time for vacation, I think. Is something bad happening underground here, inside Jusendo, ancient source of cursed springs, right under guide house. Mount Phoenix troops go inside, follow by other girls what dress like you. Is going to make very bad feng shui here, I think."

"How many were there?" Jupiter said.

"Four like you, in blue, orange, green, and orange." he pointed to Shampoo. "One made up like you, too."

"I better fighter," Shampoo said proudly.

"One other with them, boy." He pointed to Ryoga. "Kind of like you."

"Can't be Ranma," Ryoga said. "I look nothing like him."

"Maybe at a distance..." Uranus said.

"Some girls from your village, too," the guide said to Shampoo. "Lotion in charge. They attack doors in cliff, your friends make own way in. Say fighting bad man, what do that to Jusenkyo." He was almost in tears as he waved his hand toward the lake. "Say he doing something in Jusendo, with bird-men. Capture one of your friends, they say. Call Ukyo."

"Taking hostages?" Ryoga said with distaste. "Cowards. Just what I'd expect from the likes of them."

"No wonder Ranma didn't wait for us," Jupiter said.

"That evil man is probably a general," Mars said. "You said this is the source of the cursed springs? Makes sense there'd be a lot of power there. The Dark Kingdom would want that. Where did they go in."

The guide produced his map and began pointing out things. "They go in here. Tunnel way in. They make way to top, look for girl."

"Start at the bottom and make their way up?" Ryoga wondered. "Wouldn't Ukyo be held in the top, where they're doing whatever it is they're doing? Ranma's being stupid. He should have started up there."

"Ranma's always known the best way to go," Jupiter said. "If he went that way, it's because it's the best way."

"Or it WAS the best way," Mars said. "He's always talking about how timing is important. He could always avoid any patrols in there. We might run into them if we take the same route..."

Ryoga stabbed his finger at the top chamber. "We're pretty close to HERE already, and we know he's headed there. I say we meet him there. We ought to have enough firepower to deal with a dozen guards or so."

"Amazon womens in there too," Shampoo said. "Fighting bird mans. They have too much to handle, Shampoo think."

Uranus squinted her eyes at the markings on the chamber. "What are these? Some kind of glyphs? Cave paintings?"

"There be statues there," the guide explained. "Phoenix and dragon. Have key tools in head, control water. Phoenix have Kinjakkan, have fire magic, heat water. Dragon have Gekkaja, cold magic, cool water."

"So they're giant faucets?" Ryoga said.

"Pretty much," Uranus chuckled.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Jupiter said. "Let's go!"

Off they went, making their way around the pool in front of the cliff to make their way up. The guide continued to lead his family down, praying he was wrong about what the bird men were doing there. If he were right... he wasn't sure even those magical girls could fight a god.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Ranma couldn't decide if it was a good sign that Magnetite had broken off pursuit. Knowing him, he's probably moving to cut us off up ahead...

The good news for him was he had nearly caught up to Sailor Moon. She had nearly reached the top of the stairs anyway, crashing into a door marked in Chinese. This proved to be bad news an instant later, as Ranma and the Moon Senshi found themselves falling from a great height. Both cried out in surprise.

Ranma managed to grab Sailor Moon by the waist. He had only seconds to get a look at their surroundings: a circular shaft at least fifty feet across, spanned by wooden beams at various heights and angles. He quickly twisted in midair to kick off from one as they passed it, angling him to land safely on another. A final leap took them into the mouth of the tunnel at the far end, where they were less exposed and on solid ground.

Sailor Moon was shaking like a leaf in his grasp. "Calm down! Get a hold of yourself! We're safe now. Everything will be fine -"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" She kicked him away, backing up against the other side of the tunnel. "Everything will NOT be fine! Because of you, Mamo-chan is lost somewhere and Sailor Pluto is TOTALLY DEAD and your own fiancee is trying to kill you! My friends are in those egg things! I bet you have no idea what to do now!"

Ranma normally had a hard time responding to a woman's tears; his father had taught him to listen to his protective instincts where they were concerned, but had little advice to offer on how to comfort them or allay their concerns. There was little he COULD say under the circumstances. He could not argue her points. He slumped back against his side of the tunnel. "I know. I haven't done to swift lately. I have to admit, I'm kinda in over my head. Magnetite's got Ucchan and the others under some kind of spell. But YOU have the cure for that. We need to use the guinzuishou to free her. Mabye the others, too, if he does it to them. You with me?"

She was calming down now, becoming more steady. "Ah... yeah. Right. Got it." She summoned the Moon Stick, ready to cast her healing magic.

There was a cry of alarm from deeper in their tunnel, followed by a volley of arrows. The two were forced back out into the shaft. There were many beams crossing it at all angles and heights, some ending flush with the walls, some leading into other tunnels. There were also some tunnel exits on the walls with no beams. Ranma prepared to jump to one of these - only to see Sailor Mercury there.

"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!" Ranma narrowly dodged a blast of ice. Sailor Moon jumped in the other direction, ending up on a higher beam, then falling off to a lower one. A green energy ball from above cut through the beam, sending Moon dropping again. She was plucked from the air by Venus' chain.

Ranma had problems of his own. More bird-men were pouring into the shaft, enjoying the advantage now that they had room to fly. Ukyo and Magnetite were with them, facing Ranma from different beams.

"It seems only one now remains free," Magnetite said. "One who serves no further purpose. Kill him!"

"Yes, Magnetite-sama!" Ukyo threw more knives and leapt with her spatula high.

It would take all of Ranma's considerable skill to avoid every form of death being thrown at him.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Ryoga broke through the wall into the upper chamber, and landed on his head after falling ten feet to the floor.

He was resetting his neck when Shampoo landed with feline grace next to him. The Senshi all came down in good order. They all proceeded to gawk about the chamber, absorbing the scene.

"So, that's the statues?" Jupiter said. "And what's THAT?"

"That" appeared to be a giant egg in the central basin. It seemed mostly smooth, except for some fibrous tendrils that gave the impression it was like a giant plaster cast. Water was pouring onto it from the beak of the Phoenix. The surface of the egg glowed strongly.

"Must be something the general set up," Uranus guessed. "Some super-youma or something."

"They don't seem like the type to share power," Jupiter said. "They wouldn't give it to a youma if they could take it for themselves. That could be the general himself in there."

"Why aren't there any guards?" Uranus wondered. "This thing looks kinda vulnerable just sitting here alone."

"That general must be a fool," Ryoga said. "All we have to do is break this thing before it gets too much power!" He walked up to the egg and gave it a low-power punch, expecting it to break easily.

It didn't. The tendrils came to life, starting to grasp at him. "What the hell -?"

"Ryoga!" Mars said. "Get away!"

Ryoga found his legs wrapped up in the tendrils. He charged a pair of bandannas and cut himself free, bounding to the wall of the chamber. "Okaaay, I guess that explains why there are no guards. It can take care of itself!"

"Looks like we need to try a ranged attack," Mars said. "BURNING MANDALA!"

"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"

Mars' and Jupiter's attacks had no effect. If anything, the egg glowed brighter. "It just absorbed them!" Jupiter said. "We just make it stronger!"

"Maybe if we starve it," Uranus suggested. "We have to cut the water off! We have to turn that key in the head of the Phoenix!"

"I'm the lightest of us!" Mars said. "Ryoga, boost me up!"

Ryoga took her by the waist and gave a mighty heave. Sailor Mars almost made it to the top of the head, but slid down the back of the neck. From there, however, she could jump the rest of the way. She grabbed the Kinjakan and turned it.

The water flow slowed to a trickle. The Kinjakan flared with light. Mars flinched back, shaking her hands out. Her gloves were burned through. "That's hot! Some kind of backlash..."

The tendrils suddenly stopped menacing Ryoga and changed direction. Mars jumped away from the head of the Phoenix, landing on the neighboring Dragon. She watched in frustration as the tendrils wrapped around the Kinjakan and turning the water back on. That done, they started moving toward Mars.

"Aww, come on!" Jupiter said. "That thing can even turn on its own water? So much for starving it..."

"We can still do that. WORLD SHAKING!" Uranus aimed her shot at the water main feeding the two statues. It was shattered, along with the surrounding rock it was mounted in, sending the two statues falling forward over the basin. The Phoenix landed right on top of the egg, crushing the shell.

Water was now pouring freely from the main. The group all made their way to the exit. Mars pulled the Kinjakan free of the Phoenix head on her way. "Best to make sure."

"So much for the Dark Kingdom's plan," Ryoga said. "Now to find Ranma."

Further down the tunnel they reached a junction room at the same time as a group of bird-men, including one woman. "Who are these?" Ryoga asked. "Some kind of youma?"

"No," Shampoo declared. "Is legendary bird-mans from Mount Phoenix. Is not part of Dark Kingdom. Or is you?" She readied her sword.

The oldest of the men was apoplectic at the sight of Sailor Mars. "Wh... wh... what is this? Who ARE you people? How can you have the Kinjakan?"

"This thing?" Mars held the Kinjakan up. "I ripped it out of the Phoenix."

"But... Lord Saffron needs the hot water for his transformation!"

"That egg we saw?" Uranus gestured back to the basin room. "Smashed now. We brought the Phoenix down on it. Guess you wish you had posted guards there now, huh?"

Jaws dropped all around. The woman was the first to recover, pointing her sword at the group. "Sacrilege! Do not think you have won. Lord Saffron is as the Phoenix, ever reborn after death. He will survive this. But you have interfered with his transformation to his adult form. I know not how you survived the touch of the Kinjakan..."

"I survived because I have a... FIRE SOUL!" The Senshi slipped past as the bird men recoiled from the flames. They tried to pursue, but tremors emanating from the tunnel to the basin room stopped them.

"Lord Saffron must be emerging!" the chamberlain said. "It is too soon! He should have been in there for another three days! Quick! We must attend him!"

Kiima ground her teeth in frustration. "Those invaders can't get away. That way leads to the water supply shaft. Magnetite and the rest of the guards will deal with them..."

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Ranma bounced from beam to beam, and sometimes off of Phoenix soldiers, trying to present an erratically moving target. It was more enemies than he'd ever had to dodge before. He was holding up well so far, having taken no hits, but eventually they would get lucky or he would wear down.

Sailor Neptune took another shot at him; it was way off. Sailor Venus swung her chain at him; he caught it and yanked her off her feet, using her as a counterweight to swing the chain in a high arc above his current beam to clothesline a Phoenix soldier. This also bent the chain, sending Venus pivoting around the hapless bird-man.

In a training session, she would have released at the right time to come flying straight at Ranma. She let go early, bouncing off the wall of the shaft and ending up on a lower beam. "Mind control has made you guys slow," he observed.

"Numbers compensate for speed," Magnetite said, firing another blast at the same time as Mercury and Neptune, whole the Phoenix soldiers shot arrows. Ranma continued to give the lie to Magnetite, dodging everything thrown at him, but he wondered how long he could keep it up.

Sailor Moon was being held higher up in midair by two bird-men, one holding each arm. She wailed and scissored her legs madly, dangling over a seemingly bottomless drop. "HEELLLPPP! I'm not a wishbone!"

Ranma checked the other Senshi. Mercury was charging up a shot. Ranma leaped to a beam between her and one of the soldiers holding Moon. As expected, she took the shot, icing one of the soldiers when Ranma jumped away. This allowed Ranma to bounce up to the remaining captor and grab him, inhibiting his flying. The group dropped down several beams.

Which put him on the one Ukyo was now on. Ranma had managed to get her out of the fight temporarily early on, pinning her arms and dropping down with her to a very low beam. She did not have the jumping height Ranma or the Senshi did, and none of the Phoenix soldiers, nor Magnetite, had offered her a ride up. She had been forced to work her way back around through the tunnels to gain altitude.

Now she was back in the shaft, on a level with Ranma. By this point, she had used up all her glue, noodles, gunpowder, and throwing knives. She had only her two-handed spatula. Tactically, she was the easiest opponent in the shaft; personally, she was perhaps the hardest.

Her overhead cut separated Ranma from Sailor Moon, and nearly his arms from his body. He threw the bird-man at her, forcing her to check her balance, and leapt up toward the next beam above.

He didn't make it. Magnetite anticipated his move and fired a force-bolt at just the right angle. Ranma was hit squarely and thrown into the far wall hard enough to leave an indentation. He sat in it, dazed for the moment.

Everyone in the room except Sailor Moon was converging on him, ready to fire or charge, when they were stopped by the sounding of voices Ranma hadn't heard in a while. "BURNING MANDALA!" "SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" "WORLD SHAKING!"

Ranma recovered his senses and found the voices coming from a tunnel exit across the shaft from him, a bit to the left, two levels down. Fire, lightning, and energy spewed from the tunnel mouth, scattering the forces in the shaft and giving them pause. Magnetite floated down almost to Ranma's level, across the shaft from him, much closer to the Senshi. "So, it seems the gang is all here at last..."

"Guys... you all came...?" Ranma's spirits soared, though part of his pride didn't go very far. For him, it was embarassing to have to be rescued.

"What the heck's going on here?" Jupiter asked. She looked around the room, noting that Mercury, Venus, and Neptune were all preparing attacks against Ranma. "Why are you guys fighting AGAINST each other?"

"They've had something of a change of heart," Magnetite said. "They're on my side now."

"This is no time for jokes, guys," Uranus said.

Ukyo turned to face the rescuers, spatula at the ready. "All enemies of Lord Magnetite must die!"

Ryoga elbowed his way to the front of the group, standing on the edge of the abyss, holding the Time Key Staff. "RANMA! What are you doing, playing around with these guys! Here! You might want this!" He threw the staff across the shaft at Ranma.

Ranma caught the staff easily, but stared at Ryoga in exasperation. "And what am I supposed to do with this?"

"BAKA! What do you think? Transform and kick their butts!"

"I CAN'T!"

"What do you mean, you CAN'T?"

Magnetite chuckled at his foe's helplessness. "It is true. It seems he is no longer Sailor Pluto's host. Cleansed by the light of the guinzuishou. A pity. That staff would be the Pluto's own staff, which she used to channel her powers over time and space. With it, I daresay your cursed form would have been at its full effectiveness. I had almost forgotten about that thing. I should thank you for reminding me of it."

Ranma held the staff in a guard position. He was primarily a specialist in unarmed combat, but could use any traditional weapon if he had to. "Well, I may not be able to use it like that now, but if it was hers, it's still a good idea to keep it away from you."

"As if you could," Magnetite said, reaching out toward Ranma and the staff. "That weapon is now attuned to me. It responds to my will alone, and comes when I call. Observe."

Suddenly the Time Key Staff was flying out of Ranma's grip, spinning across the shaft, tumbling end over end through the intervening space between him and Magnetite. The pig-tailed martial artist could only stare in horror as it returned to the grip of its Dark Kingdom master.

And there SHE was, falling down from a higher beam, a vision of pure impossibility, her bronze skin, her green hair, her Senshi fuku, all in Ranma's eyes misplaced outside of a mirror, descending just in front of Magnetite. For an instant the two mortal enemies faced each other, he levitating vertically, she falling horizontally, both reaching out, grasping at the Time Key Staff between them.

And then she was below him, staff in hand, spinning like a top, tumbling head over heels, twirling the staff about like a cheerleader, making complex and graceful arcs. Light flared from the staff, silvery mists streamed out and engulfed her, and she became a silver comet vanishing into the depths below.

And then the mists broke into random wisps, fading away to nothing. The air of the shaft was undisturbed, as if nothing had ever been there.

Ryoga was the first to find his voice. "Ummm... what just happened?"

"That... that... that..." Sailor Moon stammered as she looked rapidly between Ranma and the place Sailor Pluto had just vanished. She finally settled on Ranma. "That was YOU, wasn't it? Your cursed form? Shouldn't it still be a part of you?"

"No..." Mars said softly. "It was... HER..."

"The Lady." Shampoo's voice held a mixture of awe and sadness. "She alive..."

"ALIVE! After all these centuries, Sailor Pluto lives again!" Magnetite's maniacal laughter cracked the air of the shaft. His gaze fixed upon Sailor Moon. "And she has YOU to thank for it, Princess."

Sailor Moon was again flustered. "Me? THAT'S what happened when I...?"

"Yes. The guinzuishou is the ultimate expression of Silver Millennium magic, able to make almost any wish reality... in the hands of its rightful wielder, Queen Serenity. And now you, her heir. No doubt that was her plan from the beginning." Now he looked to Ranma. "That was why she chose you, of all people, as her host this time. You were the only one coming who offered to take her to the only person who could truly set her free. Little good it does you, however. As you saw, she has abandoned you."

"She did..." Ryoga said. "But... why? Shouldn't she know we would need her help?"

"She has other priorities. She has gone back to her duty at the Gates of Time. A duty given to her by her Queen, one she cannot, WILL not shirk anymore. I imagine she learned her lesson after what I did to her." He raised his hands again, charged with dark power. "And without her to aid you, your last, wishful hope is gone. You face only me, and I have wasted enough time fighting all of you. It is time to end this. TAKE THEM!"

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Deep in its cocoon in the Dark Kingdom, Metallia stirred.

It felt a lingering presence, almost familiar. Someone had just been here. Someone with a magical aura like... one of the ancient defenders of the Moon Kingdom. One of their Sailor Senshi. It knew their power signatures well; it had killed them once before, and would do so again when it regained sufficient power. This new presence, whoever had just visited its chamber and left, was like them, but did not quite match any of those it knew.

A Senshi that had not been at the battle, perhaps? It knew there were more than the four it had faced before. The Outer Senshi, perhaps? But their duties lay elsewhere. They should not be here, on Earth. If they had rewakened as well, they should look to those duties first and foremost.

Some new threat, then? Perhaps the Senshi had some new trick, some way to disguise their auras? Not impossible, but it would take an expert mage, and most of them were subverted to the Dark Kingdom's service.

It was no matter. The presence had been fleeting, a minute at most, and was now gone. the cocoon was undamaged. Perhaps the Senshi had found someone who could penetrate this far and had them scout the room before an attack.

And perhaps it was nothing, an ephemeral feeling, like so many it had had as its senses awoke from ages-long sleep. No matter. It had suffered no attack, taken no damage. It still rested comfortably, receiving energy from youma operations across the world. It went back to its slumber, waiting for the day it gained enough energy to fully awaken, and then the Sailor Senshi would not be able to stand against it any better than they had the first time.

It did not notice a few things left behind in its chamber.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

The short break in combat had given Ranma a much needed breather to recover energy and appreciate the situation. It looked much better than it had, with the reinforcements turning the odds from hopeless to something close to even.

His own forces included himself, Ryoga, Shampoo, and four Senshi. He knew the three Inner Senshi would be hampered in fighting in the shaft due to their fear of heights; retreat into the tunnels was a priority - but getting their turned comrades back was a higher one, and it would be more efficient for Sailor Moon to cleanse them as a group than one at a time. That mean they needed space to fight and collect them.

This particular space, however, favored Magnetite's forces. His own Senshi were also fearful of heights, but not so much as Ranma had expected, as they had all jumped down one or two beams already. Presumably Magnetite's control was giving them some courage.

What it gave in courage, it had taken away in speed and control. Ranma had found no challenge in evading their attacks and using them to his advantage thus far. He guessed that the free Senshi would have little trouble beating their enslaved teammates, and once would be enough to get them in one spot.

The Mount Phoenix guards were chaff in this battle, but could potentially tip the battle against the free Senshi if they swarmed them. Which they might be inclined to do, given their lack of success against Ranma. The Amazon scouts had reported at least twenty bird men were in the mountain, of which six were in the shaft now; one of these was still recovering from icing and would not be combat effective for a few minutes at least, but they were aerial troops by nature and had a great advantage in this place.

Ranma could handle them all, or mostly, himself, but someone had to keep Magnetite himself occupied. That left Ryoga and Shampoo as extra factors. One or both could take on the guards, and one of them helping him would make Magnetite that much more under control. But he didn't expect to get much time to give orders.

He was right.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Everything seemed to happen at once.

Ranma was first off the mark, leaping back from Ukyo. A split second later Shampoo was jumping out into the shaft, landing on the nearest beam. Ryoga hesitated as Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus filled the space between them and Magnetite with fire, lightning, and energy.

He was expecting the attacks; he dropped down, allowing the lightning and energy balls to go overhead. Mars tracked him with her stream of fire rings, setting two beams alight, including the one Sailor Moon, Ukyo, and Ranma were on. Ranma was surprised by the new attack; it looked like it could make a Hiryu Shoten Ha attack useable in the shaft. But he could not spare a moment to change his plans.

First, Ranma had to deal with the complication caused by the fire on his beam. Sailor Moon was wailing her distress, trapped between the spreading fire and Ukyo. Fortunately, Ukyo was focused on Ranma.

He backpedaled, leading Ukyo away from Sailor Moon, giving Moon room of her own to back up. When he reached the point on his beam nearest to the next one up he jumped, hoping to rebounding off the higher beam to land next to Sailor Moon. But she, in her panic, had fallen off the beam, barely catching herself on the next one below.

Magnetite had now gotten his shot off. It seemed to be a ball of compressed air, a whirling globe of wind, which shot over the heads of the free Senshi and exploding behind them. Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, and Ryoga all went flying out into the shaft, catching themselves on two different beams, all separated. Sailor Moon was one beam above the highest of them.

Shampoo passed her on the way up and kept going, dodging potential fire first and looking for the best place to contribute to the fight. The young Amazon seemed to have some new gear: a purple sword glowing with red sparks, a breastplate not unlike the one she counted among her own posessions, and a few trinkets. She jumped much farther and moved faster than he had seen before, as well. He was relieved when she decided to handle the Ukyo problem for him, making her way to his fiancee. She had never beaten Shampoo in sparring.

Ukyo hadn't forgotten, either. "This time I beat you!"

Shampoo casually dodged Ukyo's lunge and cut the head off the spatula. She followed up with a pommel to Ukyo's head, knocking her on her butt. "You still not ready for Amazon fighting."

"What are you guys doing?" Jupiter cried as Mercury dropped down to her and threw a punch. "We're all Sailor Senshi! We're on the same side!"

"Magnetite's got them under control!" Uranus said as she dodged blows from Neptune. "Knock him out and we get them back!"

"No!" Ranma said. He was preparing to leap toward Magnetite. "We get them back with the guinzuishou! Get them in one place! Sailor Moon, get ready!"

"Got it!" The Moon Stick appeared in Sailor Moon's hand.

Magnetite decided to give her a very short window to use it. "Guards! Up there! Get Sailor Moon!" The bird men, scattered by Mars' attack, now began to converge on the named target.

Ryoga jumped up to her beam in time to meet them. He grabbed one and threw the man with enough force to collide with another one, then readied his bandannas for anti-air fire. "Don't worry! I'll keep them off you!"

Shampoo picked up the stunned Ukyo like a sack of potatoes and threw her down toward the far end of Sailor Moon's beam before joining Ranma's leap. They converged on Magnetite as he floated behind the burning section of beam, power charging in his hands. He was suddenly surrounded by a globe of fire, followed by rings of lightning. Being in flight, the incoming martial artists could not stop themselves and flew through the barriers.

Ranma was washed by a wave of agony as he crossed the barriers. The force of his punch to Magnetite's head suffered for it. Shampoo seemed to survive the crossing without a grimace, probably due to her greater armor coverage; her sword would have impaled his heart if he had not dodged at the last instant, leaving him with only a burning flesh wound.

Both of them tried to hold on to Magnetite to stay inside his shields - Ranma certainly didn't want to cross them again. They fought a two-on-one wrestling match in midair, drifting down below the burning beam, before Magnetite summoned a wave of force to throw them off. Fortunately, his shields had dissipated during the fight.

Ranma recovered and readied another leap at Magnetite, sparing a glance at the Senshi battle. It was going as he had expected: Mercury, Venus, and Neptune were being thrown to the spot where Ukyo had landed, all of them piling in a heap. "Now, Sailor Moon!" Mars called.

The Moon Senshi needed no prompting; the bird men had regrouped and were rushing from all directions. Ryoga would not be able to stop them all. "MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"

Everyone in the shaft shielded or averted their eyes as the light blazed forth, dazzling and sparkling. The bird men, rushing in upon Sailor Moon, were forced to pause and draw back, fearing a magic strange to them.

When it was done, Sailor Moon rushed to the Senshi on her own beam. "Okay! Now you're in for it, Magnetite! The tables ahve just turned! Go get him, guys!"

"I've got a better idea," Sailor Venus said, wrapping her chain around Sailor Moon. "How about we bring YOU before Queen Beryl?"

"Urk! What the HECK -? It didn't WORK!"

"Sailor Moon!" The free Senshi all prepared to jump up to aid their princess; they could not use ranged attacks with enough precision to pick off the guards holding her.

Given their fear of heights, Ranma estimated it would be a few seconds before they could get up to her. He could get to her faster. He made the jump easily, hoping Magnetite could wait.

Unfortunately, Shampoo and Ryoga had much the same idea. They both broke off and leaped toward Sailor Moon, knocking aside bird men as they arrived. Seconds later, the free Senshi made it up to them, making for a dense knot of people engaged in melee on the beam.

The crowd scene did have one benefit: Magnetite could not get a clear shot at anyone. He floated around them, looking for a better angle and laughing again at Sailor Moon's failure. "What's the matter, Sailor Moon? A bit weak right now, are you? Perhaps you used up too much power trying to cleanse me. It might take you days to recover. I'm sure Queen Beryl will keep those days... quite lively."

"Beryl won't lay a hand on her!" Ranma said. The free Senshi and martial artists were now winning out, throwing their attackers off for the moment. They formed a pocket around Sailor Moon. "Quick! Get her out of here!"

"You don't have to tell us twice!" Mars led the group to the tunnel exit at the end of their beam.

They were all surprised when Amazons began emerging from it, levelling weapons. "You all stay!"

Ranma's spirits soared again. More warriors were appearing from the exits at either end of the beam he was still on. "All right! Looks like it's game over for you, Magnetite. The Amazons beat your bird men at the entrances."

"The other way around, actually," said another new voice. The incoming Amazons moved aside to allow winged guards to pass. They started throwing eggs at the free group. The free Senshi were suddenly engulfed in white thready goop.

Ranma moved to free them, but their attackers were encouraged by the reinforcements and charged, starting a melee again. Ranma knocked one Phoenix guard away, then another, then turned to face a threat from behind. It was Sailor Neptune. He instinctively moved to block the punch she was throwing. Her magically enhanced strength proved to be on a par with Ryoga, sending Ranma flying off the beam and cathing the edge of the beam the free Senshi had just jumped up from.

He quickly climbed up to his feet and began moving to within jumping range. The formerly free Senshi were now all encased in what looked like giant eggs. Sailor Moon had apparently managed to avoid the same fate by dumb luck. Ryoga and Shampoo were busy getting swarmed by guards and Amazons alike.

Things were looking dim, but to Ranma the situation was still very straightforward: jump up, break the eggs, and help get bird men off of Shampoo and Ryoga. They looked to be able to hold out the few seconds necessary - Shampoo was moving faster than he was used to, and seemed to be hitting harder. It also helped that her sword seemed to be flaming.

But now Magnetite had found a good angle. Ranma found himself struck by a shadowy bolt of energy just as he leapt. He was slammed back against the wall of the shaft, stunned. He tried to rebound, but only weakly kicked off, sending him moving away from the wall, but still falling. There were no beams below him within reach.

The darkness yawned before him. A giant fish leaped up to swallow him. He fell into its mouth with a splash, again stunned by the impact, and began to sink into the depths.

Above him, light blazed. *Keep trying, Sailor Moon,* he prayed. *Never give up...*

The waters went down, and then up, and kept going for a very long way.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

It was looking to Ryoga as if rushing to the battle had not been the wisest idea.

It certainly seemed as if they had been doing well to bring those statues down on that giant egg. That should have put an end to the Dark Kingdom's plan here. But the bird woman had warned that "Lord Saffron" - apparently the person in the egg - was hard to kill. And indeed, as soon as they had gotten away from her the mountain had begun to shake, as if something powerful were waking up or coming back to life. Ryoga's martial senses hadn't stopped tingling since then, as if a massive chi source were somewhere in the mountain.

Now his senses were screaming that that chi source was right on top of him. Literally, from the angle of the light on the wood in front of his face. It was as if it were daytime outside and someone had taken off the roof.

At the moment, he was getting such a close look at the wooden beam because he was being held down by Sailor Neptune and half a dozen bird men. He wriggled under their grasp, but could not get an arm free of the chains that Sailor Venus had gotten from somewhere and now used very expertly. Not far away, Sailor Moon likewise wriggled in the grip of two bird-men holding her over the depths of the shaft.

He considered them lucky. At least they were still free. The reinforcements had thrown some sort of trick eggs at them, encasing Sailors Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus in some goop that had hardened into much larger eggs. He and Shampoo had fought heroically, nearly freeing Sailor Moon and their comrades, but with the numerical imbalance further against them than ever the outcome had not been in doubt. Even the extra speed and strength given him by the equipment looted from the youma had not been enough. When the bird men had thrown their remaining eggs at them, he had managed to escape being hit, but Shampoo had not been so lucky, and was now encased along with the other Senshi.

Magnetite made a dusting-of-hands gesture. "That cleans that up. Hmmm. It looks as if you've been looting my armory. Have to get that back and accounted for. As for our other prizes..."

He made a few mystic gestures, and suddenly the glare from above was replaced by pitch black. It was hardly surprising to Ryoga that a lord of the Dark Kingdom could banish light when he chose. He heard the eggs behind him crack, one by one, always followed by Magnetite's voice. "And who do you serve?"

"You, my lord," the three released Senshi said in turn. Suddenly Ryoga realized how Magnetite had subverted the other Senshi.

He had to do something. If he couldn't move, at least he could hear what was going on around him... and so could the released Senshi. "Resist him! Don't give in!"

"Quiet, you," Venus said. One of the loops of her chain snaked up to his neck, choking him into silence.

The last egg was cracked: Shampoo was being released. "Whom do you serve, my lovely?"

"ME!" Suddenly the darkness was dispelled. Magnetite was impaled on Shampoo's sword. She pulled it free and set upon the crowd holding Ryoga down, scattering them. Sailor Venus she gave a solid bonk on the head, dazing her, disrupting her concentration, causing her chain to dissolve. Now free, Ryoga joined her in leaping down several levels to escape through a tunnel exit.

Ryoga gulped in large breaths, thankful he could breathe easily again. "Glad at least you managed to resist that egg thing. However it works. I guess it's up to us to free the rest."

She stopped in the tunnel and looked at the walls and ceiling, then applied a few Breaking Point strikes to cut off pursuit. "Free them later. Run now!" Shampoo poured on the speed. Ryoga pressed himself to keep up.

"Wait! Do you know how to get out of here?"

"We find way! Or make way!"

Ryoga hoped they could at least find a tunnel close to the surface before they began digging.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

The light in the shaft changed and the chi aura in the area grew overwhelming as their source approached. A young man, looking to be a grown-up version of the child Saffron that had cocooned himself in the upper chamber earlier that day, floated down to Magnetite. Evidently Saffron had hatched early. "Having a bit of trouble, are we, Magnetite?" he asked.

"Just mopping up," Magnetite said, spending a little of his power on closing the wound in his chest. "They will not evade me for long. You have finished your transformation already? I was told it would take three days."

"These landlings interrupted it. They disrupted Lord Saffron's transformation!" Kiima pointed her sword at the newly released Senshi. "My lord, I will bring the others to face your wrath." With his nod, she began giving orders to her guards, half with her following the exit the boy and girl had taken, the rest to fan out to other exits to cut them off.

Magnetite snapped his fingers as he recalled the gear Shampoo had been wearing - one piece in particular. "The ribbon! Make sure you take that ribbon off the girl's head before you try to egg her - it makes her immune to control."

"I will take off her entire head," Kiima promised, and left with her guards.

"He will be the last of them to deal with," Saffron said. "As for the rest, now that I have them at my mercy... I shall show none!" He powered up another large blast, aiming for the Senshi.

The fiery chi washed over the group of slaves... too far over. Magnetite had shielded them in a force-bubble. "I am sorry," he said. "These are MY kingdom's enemies. Their fates are MY queen's to decide. I shall bring them to her." He turned to his Senshi and Ukyo. "Take the princess out of here. I will meet you outside."

Saffron was naturally further engraged. "You dare thwart my rightful vengeance? Fool! I was going to grant you a swift and merciful death, but now I shall see you burn slowly!" He fired his next blast straight at Magnetite.

The Dark Kingdom general simply modulated his shields to handle fire; he drank deeply of the chi given to him. "Ah... so refreshing. I had spent rather a lot of power on fighting that ridiculously agile boy."

Saffron's expression changed from rage to surprise. "So. Your powers are indeed formidable. You will find they do not compare to mine. You WILL fall to the wrath of the lord of Mount Phoenix!"

"And YOU will find you have made your last mistake, using the power of life energy against the likes of ME! Give me your worst, for all the good it will do!"

Residents of the regions would later remark they had not suspected Jusendo was a volcanic mountain until it erupted.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

The pipe seemed to go on forever. Ranma was about to pass out when he finally tumbled out the end of it.

He coughed and spluttered for breath for a few seconds, trying to clear his lungs of water. When he was finally able to breathe, he looked around to find he was in a moonlit crater.

It looked like it might once have been a cave; the walls were steep, in parts curving toward a roof now open to the stars. Debris was strewn all over the place. Ranma's hand brushed across a suspiciously regular piece, very smooth and round. A handle. He picked it up - moonlight glinted off the guinzuishou.

"The Moon Stick?" Ranma tried to remember what had happened back in the shaft. "She must have dropped it when those bird men grabbed her! But wait. That light. if that wasn't her, then what..."

The ground suddenly began to move. As a Japanese resident, Ranma had his share of experience with earthquakes, mostly minor; he did not know if this part of China was near any fault lines, but given Magnetite's presence and the Senshi left behind, he was willing to believe the tremor was artificial. He certainly did not want to stick around to see how bad it could get.

Climbing out of the crater was the easy part. Once on the downslope, Ranma found he could not keep his feet for all the shaking. He made his way down in a more or less controlled tumble. The explosion of the mountaintop behind him lit up the valley with a plume of fire and added dodging falling chunks of rock to his tumbling exercise.

He made it down in better shape than anyone else could have. It was as hard as some of his father's more ridiculous training sessions. Which left Ranma grating at having to admit his father had done the right thing... sometimes.

The flames coming from the top of the mountain provided enough light to plot a path safely around the pools and down the western edge of the valley. He managed to make out a couple of moving figures before the shaking and flaming subsided. He headed toward them, hoping they weren't some of Magnetite's youma or more of those bird-men.

There was one last explosion behind him - a small one. He looked back to see a glow at the base of the mountain - the glow of Shampoo's sword. She paused to seal the exit they had made, then ran as if the legions of Hell, or Mount Phoenix, were still hot on their heels.

Ranma shouted at them as they approached. "Yo, guys! Did anyone else make it?"

Ryoga shook his head. "Magnetite's got them under his spell now. Except Sailor Moon."

"Shampoo too strong for dark magic!" Shampoo boasted. "He try to control Amazon womans, but Shampoo not fall to charm!"

"She got egged, but it didn't take," Ryoga explained. "It's those eggs that brainwash people. If we can get our hands on some of them..."

Lotion and the guide were now approaching. "Eggs? What eggs? Where are the others?"

Ranma and explained what had happened in the mountain. Lotion's eyes went wide at the mention of Sailor Pluto's appearance. "The Lady! Alive! Such power Sailor Moon has, to free her... she has truly grown in recent days!"

"She has a long way to go," Ranma said, holding up the Moon Stick. "She wasn't strong enough to make it work all the way when she tried - made a pretty light show, but no effect. Then she went and dropped it during the fight. I guess we have to get it back to her."

"If she alive," Shampoo said.

"But what would THAT be?" Ranma asked. "I'm sure the free Senshi didn't have that much power."

"They were under Magnetite's control, too, when I left them," Ryoga said. "I guess it had to be Saffron." He explained what his group had found when they entered the upper chamber, and what the female guard had said it was.

"Saffron," Lotion mused. "That would explain much. He is indeed the lord of Mount Phoenix. A very powerful being - he has the chi of many thousands of people, and gives off enough energy to heat and light a small city. Which he more or less does, come to think of it. His light is usually seen near the top of the mountain, especially in winter."

"Sounds like the local utility," Ranma said. "And you haven't had a problem with this guy before?"

"The people of Mount Phoenix largely keep to themselves," Lotion explained. "We know that Saffron is immortal, as the phoenix itself, reborn after death. But he is not so powerful as a child. In fact it is about time he was becoming an adult, though we know so little about the details - what Magnetite was trying to do may have been accelerating the process. Or enhancing it, to judge by the way that part of the mountain exploded."

"Whatever he was trying to do, it looks like he got more than he could handle," Ryoga said. "I hope those bird-men got Kentucky Fried too. At least we wouldn't have to deal with them again."

"Most likely they know what their lord is capable of, and would have survived," Lotion guessed. "But for all our sakes, we should hope the Senshi survived, whether or not Magnetite has. Without them, there is simply no hope. Right now, all we can do is wait and see what the outcome is."

The explosions and earthquakes had apparently passed by now, but they had left a good deal of rubble around the mountain. They had no trouble arranging a good hiding spot to observe whatever came out. Shampoo lay her sword on the ground and covered it with dirt to hide the glow. Their eyes soon adjusted to the moonlight.

"So," Ryoga asked, "what are the odds they knock each other out?"

"Better than we deserve," Ranma said.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Magnetite sweated in concentration as he chanted and gestured. Runes were being written in the air in circles around Saffron. The Lord of Mount Phoenix was already under sedation from the many rings that surrounded him. With this last ring complete, he would be bound well enough to hold for up to a day. That should be long enough to get him to his laboratory and set up in a more permanent fixture.

A few final words, and the last ring was complete. Saffron's own power was turned upon itself, feeding the bindings, with a generous extra amount siphoned off to Magnetite. He sighed in relief. "Such power... I would not have thought a single being could generate so much life energy. Is this truly the power of the Phoenix?"

He shook his head, trying to dismiss such concerns. Time enough to investigate the matter later. Right now he had to make sure his captives were still his. He did not entirely trust chemical mind control. Magic was far more a known quantity to him. He would eventually have to perform the proper enslavement spells on the Senshi... if Queen Beryl allowed them to live.

The shaft was a wreck; all the wooden beams crisscrossing it had burned away in the fight, the roof had blown off, and the walls were scorched and melted. He tried to remember which way the Senshi had gone, then tried sensing their direction from their power emanations. There, that way in general. Which meant one of these tunnels...

Bird men were now coming out of several of them. All were dumbfounded, then horrified, at what they saw. Kiima flew up from a lower level to confront Magnetite. "Lord Saffron... what have you done to him? Release him!"

"He serves the Dark Kingdom now," Magnetite said easily. "Rest assured, we shall make good use of him."

"But this... this is impossible! He is a GOD! A god cannot be bound!"

"Then I must be a stronger and more worthy god, am I not? In truth, I should be your true god, for you would not be what you are without the magic of Jusenkyo, which I created. Serve me, and you will be well rewarded."

Kiima was enraged. "Never! I see now the truth of this Dark Kingdom of yours. We SHALL free our lord Saffron! I regret only that there is no death horrible enough for you!" She motioned to her guards. "All at once! THOUSAND WINGS OF THE SEABIRD ATTACK!"

Their wings swept forward as one, filling the air with feathers. When it was clear again, Magnetite's position was occupied by a fluffy-looking sphere. A simple gesture threw the feathers away from his shield in the directions they had come from, with as much speed as they had hit with. The bird-men were perforated with their own projectiles. Several fell dead at the bottom of the shaft.

Kiima was pinned to the wall by her wings, bleeding from wounds on her body. She grit her teeth through the pain. "You... you will not survive our wrath..."

"I rather think you are now irrelevant. Go, get more of your men. They will meet the same fate." He turned back to his task of finding Sailor Moon and his Senshi.

He eventually found them beyond a collapsed section of tunnel, easily reopened with some earthshaping. They seemed none the worse for wear. Sailor Moon was still conscious, and shaking like a leaf, scared out of her mind.

*And well she should be,* Magnetite thought. Things were not looking well for her. "You need not worry," he said. "The danger is now past. Other than the fact that your ultimate fate is still the same - Beryl will do as she will. But the mountain will not fall now that Saffron is under my control. Now. I don't want you recovering your strength and using the guinzuishou before Beryl can force it from you, so I will have to take it in hand now."

"I... I don't have it," she stammered out.

Magnetite gave her a condescending look. "Please. You can do better than that."

"It's true! I dropped it when those bird men hit me. It fell down the shaft!"

Magnetite sighed. "Well, that's going to be a bother. There's a lot of debris down there right now. It would hardly do to go before Queen Beryl without it. At least it shouldn't be hard to find." He gestured to Sailors Venus and Jupiter. "Bring her to the shaft. I will be there shortly."

Kiima and her surviving troops were gone when he returned to the shaft. They were of no consequence to him; if they wanted to throw themselves at him here, or try to force the portal to the Dark Kingdom, they would soon find themselves outnumbered. From what he recalled, the entire population of Mount Phoenix was still less numerous than the remaining youma, even after the Senshis' invasion the day before.

The Senshi waited on the edge of the shaft as Magnetite moved Saffron away from the mountain a safe distance; he did not want any difficulties in sensing the guinzuishou's power. "I don't suppose you have ever had to find the guinzuishou when it was hidden before? Concentrate. It should not be hard to sense."

Sailor Moon shook her head. "I'm not good at this kind of stuff! I'm not like Mars! She's the one with the weird feelings all the time!" She turned to Mars. "You try it!"

Mars closed her eyes in concentration for a few seconds. "No. I definitely can't get anything."

Magnetite sighed. "Useless children. Hardly any training in the arts that will rule their lives." He concentrated, knowing it should not be hard to find the most powerful mystic item in the world, but even he found nothing in the area. "Hmm. Perhaps if this debris were removed..."

He spent several minutes levitating rubble and burnt logs out of the shaft, sifting though it for signs of his objective, and left a clear bottom to search through. Once the bottom of the shaft was clear, he found something interesting - a pipe styled as a fish, with brush and coffee mug attatched to the fins.

He had to chuckle at the sight of the thing. "What do you want to bet it fell in there? And probably that boy with it. He is causing entirely too much trouble for a mere human." He turned to the Senshi. "Tear this mountain apart! Find the guinzuishou! And if that boy has it, kill him!"

"Yes, master!" They headed for the tunnels to search.

Magnetite threw Sailor Moon at the wall of the shaft and performed a short chant to turn to rock to mud, then harden it again. The Moon Princess was frozen halfway into the wall. "That ought to hold you for a while. I must say, you don't look very happy."

"Why should I be happy? This has been the worst day of my entire life! I've frozen my butt off at the North Pole, gotten groped by some hentais out of Arabian Nights, chased by your youma all over the place, Tuxedo Mask has gotten lost, Sailor Pluto's run away and now you've got my friends under your spell! And now I'm missing school!" She was getting hard to understand beneath her tears. "What am I going to tell mom?"

"Fear not," Magnetite said. "Our triumph is at hand. Beryl will break you to her will, and then we shall find your family and bring them in as well. And if Beryl decides to kill you... well, they will likely be just as dead as you in a few days."

Somehow, that wasn't encouraging.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Ranma was just beginning to feel the winter chill when there was light at the base of Jusendo. It was a line of torches, snaking down to the foot of the pools, passing safely away from their position. Ranma saw it was the bird men and Amazons, looking rather bedraggled.

Shampoo's face contorted in anger. "They enslave Amazon womans! They die!" She reached down for the hilt of her sword.

Lotion stayed her hand. "Let me do the talking. Freeing them may not be so simple a matter. The rest of you, be ready."

"Uhhh... they still kinda outnumber us," Ryoga pointed out.

"In their condition, you could take the lot of them. I suspect they would know it. Let us see what happens."

The rest followed as she hopped out to the line and started speaking in the local dialect. The woman of the group responded, apparently being in some authority. The next few minutes of exchanges seemed to Ranma to be quite heated. Finally the leader of the bird-men threw up her hands in a gesture of helplessness, then gave orders to the Amazon girls under her control. The Amazons walked over to Lotion and knelt before her.

Lotion turned to Ranma. "It seems that they can be freed, or given a new master, simply by commanding it."

Ranma noticed that Tatewaki Kuno was among the Amazons' number. "You think you could give me him? I got a few orders I'd like to try out..."

"I imagine you would, but this is no time for petty revenge. That one girl that came with you... Akane was her name? He seemed to be smitten with her, but I do not think he knows how to treat a woman with the proper respect. I will give him to her. If she just sets him free without any changes, she deserves what she gets."

The bird woman then addressed them. "Captain Kiima, of Mount Phoenix. I do admit I never really trusted this Magnetite. I might be willing to listen to your proposal in the morning. We must rest and regroup..."

"Name's Ranma Saotome," Ranma said. "I've been fighting Magnetite for a while, and I can tell you he won't wait till morning. He has what he wants, he has no reason to wait around for you guys. He's going to be gone before dawn. Maybe less than an hour, actually. You want your prince back, you'll have to scramble."

"That would be... difficult. We cannot really fly in the darkness - our night vision is... not the best. If he stays in Jusendo much longer, we may be able to help."

"If he discovers that Sailor Moon does not have the guinzuishou, he will want to stay to search the mountain," Lotion said. "We may have some time." She turned back to Kiima. "I speak on behalf of my people - we will be willing to call a truce if you will work together with us on this."

"Very well," Kiima said. "I will gather our forces and meet you here. Bring what warriors you can. Bear in mind our priority is our prince."

"Alright," Ranma said. "About those eggs. That was how the girls got mind controlled, wasn't it? Would they be freed if you egged them again, or something?"

"When the eggs encase someone, they become vulnerable to control. Whoever they first look upon when they emerge is their new master. It does not matter if they were under control before or not. If you become their new master, you can simply order them to be free if you wish."

"That works." Ranma turned his back to the bird men for a moment and removed the guinzuishou from the Moon Stick. He handed it to Lotion. "The eggs will be backup. They'll give us options - we can free the Senshi before Sailor Moon, or after. Sailor Moon can cure mind control with just the stick. I'd rather keep the big prize out of Magnetite's reach if we can help it."

Lotion took the guinzuishou and hid it under the folds of her robes. "He will not find it. If he should emerge before we are ready, follow him, but do not engage. I will be back as soon as I can." She quickly disappeared into the night.

Kiima also turned to her guards. "Koruma, Masara, stay with them and keep watch. Take note if they do anything suspicious. If they move to betray us, kill them."

The two sides settled into a tense circle as they waited for their reinforcements. "Ummm... see any good movies lately?" Ryoga asked.

"There's no theaters here," Koruma said.

Ryoga sweatdropped. "This could be a long night..."

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Magnetite was a patient man. He had spent the better part of two hours sifting through the burnt logs and shattered rubble at the bottom of the great shaft, hoping the guinzuishou was somewhere underneath. He could have spent all night looking there and tearing the mountain apart in search of his quarry if there were no other matters pressing.

Unfortunately, Saffron would not keep until morning. The makeshift runes binding him were already starting to deteriorate. He needed to be moved to one of the permanent fixtures for energy siphon in his labs. Still, the runes should last a few hours longer, and if Magnetite had any prospect of finding the guinzuishou in the shaft, he should have it in hand by then.

Which was why he was more than a bit fearful when he had removed enough debris to uncover the pipe intake at the bottom of the shaft. It was fashioned as a fish, perhaps someone's idea of appropriate decor, as the shaft was supposed to be a reservoir, with most of its height filled with water and the tunnel exit doors closed to hold it in. It was still possible the guinzuishou had fallen to one side, but he had the Sailor Senshi under his command, and could have them do the dirty work. His powers were better used finding where the guinzuishou, and most likely that annoying boy, could have gone through this pipe. With the bird men no longer on his side, there would be nothing to keep the boy from running miles away into the wilderness.

Magnetite closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to feel out the local earth, sending his senses into the pipe. It wound down some distance, then up to the top of the mountain, through a magical field that pumped it up, and out to the basin chamber recently vacated by Saffron.

He frowned as he saw the state of the chamber. Evidently Saffron's emergence had been quite violent. The roof of the chamber had fallen, leaving the basin exposed to the night sky. No doubt the destruction of the chamber had been responsible for one of the tremors he had felt in the shaft while fighting Ranma. He had been too distracted by the fight at the time to notice.

He sighed in resignation. No doubt the boy was long gone. Best to look about for possible hiding places.

He levitated as much of the remaining debris as he could manage out of the shaft, leaving a fairly clean bottom, and turned to his slaves. "Uranus, keep looking down here. Mercury, Venus, search the debris on top of the mountain - I've left it spread out well enough you should just have to look things over and kick a few rocks around. The rest, split up and search the tunnels. I will look around the nearby area for the boy."

He had to go up well above the tops of the surrounding mountains, taking cursory looks at the nearby landscape. Denizens of the Dark Kingdom were at home in the darkness, most being able to see in it as easily as humans could see in daytime, by a variety of senses mundane or magical. Magnetite could see villages all over, some in the valleys, some on mountain slopes. Only Mount Phoenix seemed to be settled at the peak. He made a note to check there as well - the boy might be wily enough to hide among his recent enemies, even if he had to spend his time among them in a cell.

His search was interrupted by a cold presence in his mind. An all too familiar presence, never welcome, not that he could resist.

Magnetite, report! Where are you and what have you been doing?

At least he had much more to offer this time than he usually did. My Queen, I have pursued the invaders through the adjustable portal I set up in my laboratory. They are now under my control, save for Sailor Moon herself. I trust you will want to break her to your will yourself.

She would be able to sense any lies; a fact that had ensured her officers and youma rarely tried to hide anything from her. It made her confident she could trust them, so she would not question the facts of a report, however outlandish they may seem. The Sailor Senshi? In your power? How were you able to accomplish that?

With the help of some local allies, since dispensed with. The effect is merely chemical, not magical, so I am not confident of it lasting more than a few days.

It will not have to. You have done well, Magnetite. Bring them to me. Bring them all to me and our victory over the Moon Kingdom shall finally be complete!

Now came the risk. My Queen, she does not have the guinzuishou on her. She has given it to another of her party, who is attempting to hide. That was close enough to the truth, anyway. It should not take long for me to find him, and then our victory will truly be complete.

The coldness of her presence turned warm - a sign of anger. It was mercifully brief. Do not tarry overlong, Magnetite. Bring them all to me at once! I have some new ways of getting Sailor Moon's compliance that I wish to test. She will not hold out against me for long.

At once, my queen. Magnetite turned back toward Jusendo to gather the Sailor Senshi once again. His mind raced with calculations. The bird men were now enemies of his, but not necessarily allies of Ranma. Best to be sure they did not cause any trouble, however. And those female warriors... they had come from that village to the west. If Kiima were smart, she would have given them their freedom in exchange for aid against him. He would have to hit that village too.

Looking down on the pools of Jusenkyo, he also decided he could spare a few minutes to finish the job on them. If he could not get the guinzuishou immediately, Beryl would probably send him back with a team of youma to look for it, and he did not want any hazard from the pools. Plus, it was still more energy reclaimed.

He dove to the top of Jusendo, where Mercury and Venus were searching through the debris as best they could by torchlight. They came to attention as he landed. "Master! No sign yet!" Venus said.

"Don't bother. It won't be here. Gather the others and meet me at the foot of the cursed lake. We will be leaving this place forthwith."

"As you command!" They saluted and made their way into the mountain.

Magnetite floated down to the bottom of the exposed shaft and repeated his orders to Sailor Uranus, who was also having no luck finding the ginzuishou. Then he levitated Saffron out of the shaft and made his way down the mountain with the glowing youth in tow. The dark energies keepiing him bound and siphoning his energies also kept him afloat off the ground, allowing him to be pulled frictionlessly along, and smothered the light of his chi field somewhat, though he still lit up the valley as a beacon. Surely there would be eyes in the darkness, but with the light of Saffron playing over the area, any attackers would have the darkness to hide in.

He set himself up at the edge of the cursed lake, at the point where he had begun his battle against Ranma, keeping Saffron just a little behind him, and calmed himself, preparing his enchants once again. The remaining energy in the pools of Jusenkyo was not much compared to what he could draw from the lord of Mount Phoenix, but he did want to tidy up lose ends before he went. And Queen Beryl might order him to return here with a team of youma to search for the guinzuishou, if Sailor Moon proved too tough a nut to crack. It would not do to have a magical hazard like this lying about. The pools had served their purpose; if the Dark Kingdom wished to curse someone, the curse could always be cast directly by a capable mage such as himself.

And so he resumed his task of earlier in the day, finishing what he had started, unravelling the last curses of Jusenkyo and reclaiming their power for himself.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

"You guys speak pretty good Japanese," Ranma observed of the bird men.

Koruma shrugged in the darkness. "Guards like us have to infiltrate humans for some things. We're both rated for foreign operations. We had to draw lots for areas to study. We got Japan."

Masara sighed. "I wish I'd got Vietnam or Thailand. Someplace warm."

"Better than Russia. You might have had to learn some Altaic or Turkic gobbledygook."

"There many language and dialect here," Shampoo reminded Ranma. "Shampoo know little bit of many things. Never study Japanese before come to Japan. Never think would need it."

"Might be a good idea, with all the martial artists finding their way - shh. I think he's coming out."

Light flared at the top of the mountain. Magnetite was pulling something very bright down the slope, lighting up the valley. "Lord Saffron," Masara seethed. "If only we had some way to free him."

The kept still, hidden low amid the rubble thrown clear by the explosions earlier, as their enemy made his way down to the cursed lake he had created earlier by merging several pools together. He stopped and began what looked to Ranma like a Tai Chi exercise, though with some unusual hand movements. Glowing runes and streamers of light soon surrounded him.

"That's what he was doing before," Koruma said. "So pretty..."

"He's taking the last energy from the pools," Ranma said. "Maybe he's about to leave and doesn't expect to be back."

"The portal!" Ryoga said. "If he isn't going to be back, he won't need it anymore! He might close it! We could be stuck here!"

"So what can we do?" Masara said. "He kicked our butts when there were dozens of us against him."

"We better hope Captain Kiima gets here with everybody else pretty soon," Koruma said. "I don't know how long we can delay him if he starts moving before then."

"We have some hidden weapons," Ryoga said. "A lot of the youma we saw coming back through the tunnels had armor and weapons they didn't usually have. The ones we killed, we kept any extra stuff - that's where me and Shampoo got this stuff." He flexed his fingers, showing off his gloves. "There was a lot of stuff we couldn't carry. Some of it is close to the portal out here, more hidden in the tunnels on the other side. We should try to get it before anyone else comes. It'll really help."

The bird men weren't very happy, but they weren't comfortable being out at night in any event; they decided they had no choice. Ryoga led the way, passing behind Magnetite on his way to the west side of the valley and making his way down to the portal.

They were nearly there when they spotted a line of torches coming from the south on the other side of the valley. It was much longer than the line of bird men that had left that way heading back to Mount Phoenix earlier. Every man had a torch; Ranma counted at least a hundred. "Looks like a lot. How many of you are there?"

"Enough," Masara said.

"You hope," Ryoga guessed. "From what I've seen, numbers aren't all that useful against a guy like him."

The line started moving faster, streaking toward Magnetite and his beacon. By this time Magnetite had finished his work and was coming their way down the valley of now-mundane pools, with all the Senshi in tow. Sailor Moon had her hands bound behind her back. The others walked freely.

"They'll want to attack immediately!" Masara said. "Quick! Where are those weapons?"

Ryoga showed them to a spot near the portal and began digging. In less than a minute Koruma was wielding a new sword, Masara an axe. They looked ready to charge across the pools to join the coming fight, but it was still too dark across the distance for them to feel comfortable finding their way.

Energy began to sparkle around one of the Senshi as the bird-men approached. Suddenly dense fog covered the area - a fog dimly lit by Saffron's light.

"Dammit!" Koruma swore. "That guy just has no end of tricks!"

"It's the Senshi," Ryoga said. "They'll slaughter your people!"

There were no sounds of explosions to indicate a battle. "Maybe Magnetite just wants to get away fast and easy," Ranma guessed. "Come on, we gotta hide before he comes. The Senshi can still see in this fog."

They felt their way along the slope until they came to the portal cave, then ducked behind the rocks above the entrance. The light around them grew very bright; there was a palpable feeling of energy in the air, which the martial artists recognized as an overwhelming chi field. They could hear Magnetite's voice as he addressed his captive Senshi. "Hmmm. I would have put the guard detail out here rather than inside. No matter. I will go in first to warn them that you are with me. Wait for me."

"Yes, master!" the Senshi chimed.

"If only we had some eggs..." Koruma wispered. "Now would be the perfect time to hit them!"

"Would Kiima try to come through the fog?" Ryoga asked.

"No," Masara said. "We hate anything that makes it hard to see."

"How long will this fog last?" Koruma asked.

"Ten or fifteen minutes, once the Senshi are gone," Ranma said.

Magnetite's voice again. "Come in one at a time. They will want to bind you all to be sure."

"What about the bird men?" they heard Venus ask. "They will attack as soon as they can see again."

"Those insects will not bother us. I can cut the portal off once you are all through."

"What!" Koruma said. "We can't let him do that! We have to get in first!" He rose to jump over the rocks hiding their position, only to be hauled down by Shampoo.

"We wait," Ranma said. He counted their footsteps. "Six... seven... eight should be Magnetite himself..." But there was a sound of earth moving. "Now! Go!"

They leaped over the rocks to land in front of the cave entrance - which was walled up in smooth rock.

"Dammit!" Koruma said. "We're too late!"

"Heh," Ryoga said, cracking his knuckles. "This is nothing." He hit the rock with a Breaking Point strike. It was only a foot thick. The hole he made was wide enough to walk through.

"Now we can wait for Kiima," Ranma said, settling in front of the portal inside the cave.

"How about you go in and check things out first?" Masara said. He and Koruma shoved Ranma and Ryoga into the portal.

The room on the other side had about eight youma in it, all armed and armored, mostly big bruiser types. "Uh oh," Ranma whistled.

Shampoo hit him in the back as she came through, then saw what they were up against. "Aiya. I get bird men." She turned to head back out to fetch them - only to smack into the wall behind her. "Aiya! Where it go?"

Ranma and Ryoga looked back to see that they were trapped. Their eyes went wide. "Oh crap."

The fight would be intense.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Magnetite smiled as he heard the sounds of fighting behind him. He had told the youma on guard that they should not leave until he had shrunk the portal to microscopic size to block intruders. It sounded as if at least a few had made it through before he could finish his chant. It could not be more than a handful, though. Easily handled by those youma.

He led the Senshi, now all bound in crystal, toward Beryl's throne room, calculating as he went. He had absorbed great power in the past day, greater than he had known Kunzite to have. With the Senshi at his back, and Saffron to draw upon, did he truly have enough to challenge Beryl herself for kingship? Dare he?

Any of his predecessors would have. Metallia would not interfere; it stood above such things, reckoning that underlings that could keep their own subordinates in check did not deserve their positions. It would come down to Beryl's resources against his.

And he did not know enough about her resources, the loyalty of the rest of the youma of the Dark Kingdom, to know just what those resources might include. He felt her powers still greater than his; by how much, he could not guess. If he had enough youma side with him at the start, or held up well against her long enough, hers would start to question their choice; some would switch sides. But would it be enough?

He shook his head. Too risky, still too risky. He was still very conservative when it came to power and position. Only move when you know you can win. He would play it safe.

He thus arrived in the throne room and knelt before Beryl. "My Queen, I present. YOUR Sailor Senshi. Sailor Senshi, kneel before your Queen!"

They did so. Beryl's smile was unusually warm. "Excellent, Magnetite. And what is this?" She rose from her throne and strode gracefully to Saffron. "An extra present? Such power... where did you find him?"

"A minor lordling of the Jusenkyo area. He accepted alliance, then tried to betray us. As you can see, his power rivals the guinzuishou! With him, we do not need it to awaken Metallia!"

"Rival the guinzuishou?" Beryl scoffed. "Did he vaporize an entire mountain? Perhaps you do not recall, but Serenity was known to vaporize comets and meteors that threatened her worlds, before she gained enough control to simply change their orbits. Do not overestimate your prize... or yourself."

Magnetite bowed again, this time in humility. "Of course, my queen. Forgive me."

"Metallia will certainly benefit, as you say. Take him down to the cocoon at once and set him up. I would see how long he will last." She then strode to one of the captives, conspicuously not in Senshi fuku. "And this one? One of those mere mortals who tried to distract us by forcing the Tokyo portal, if I recall."

"I believe it is the lover of the boy who was host to Sailor Pluto," Magnetite explained. "She has proven far below his level."

"Nevertheless, if he yet survives to cause us trouble, she could be of some use. I wonder what powers she might have hidden in her...?"

She held up her hands and began to cast her spell.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

They had been better fighters than previous youma. Ranma had to admit their skills were respectable compared to many he had seen before. If Shampoo or Ryoga had not been geared in the armor of their previously defeated foes, they might not have stood up to two or three at a time. Ranma didn't think HE could, but fortunately they had not realized he was the greatest threat of all until too late.

One by one they had fallen as Ranma had given Shampoo and Ryoga openings. He had picked up a scimitar from one of the fallen, then a pair of bracers that he could put on quickly - boots and such would have to wait until after the action - and whittled the enemy numbers down faster. Now they were down to only two, and Ranma was moving in on one.

"KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!" The youma was not particularly fleshy and resilient, allowing the shock of over a hundred blows in a few seconds briefly disrupt it. Ryoga's fist then made the disruption permanent, with whatever enchantment it had - Ranma was still not clear on it, and he didn't think Ryoga was either.

The last youma was a bunny-girl. She was armed with a small dagger and had been trying to get inside Shampoo's guard for the past few minutes, to no avail. Now her eyes went wide as she realized she was the last youma standing. "Oh oh..."

The relevant survival traits for rabbits were speed and agility, which the bunny girl demonstrated she had in abundance as she jumped away from the three martial artists and fled toward the outer chambers. Ryoga quickly gave chase. "Stop it before it warns Beryl!"

"Ryoga! NO!" But it was too late. Ryoga was gone after the fleeing rabbit, and Ranma and Shampoo could only give chase.

They bounced through the laboratories, destroying various tables, cabinets, and experimental apparatus in their pursuit. Beyond the labs were a series of ordinary tunnels, which the youma must have known by heart: it ran down a confusing series of branches and turns, eventually bolting through a small hole that barely fit it. *Usagi has nothing on this one...* Ranma thought.

Ryoga simply widened the hole with his fists. The wall was not thick; the cave on the other side had many pillars. The bunny girl dodged and weaved among them as the humans gave chase.

The ceiling of the cavern rose; the pillars became stalagmites and stalactites. The ground gave way too a foul-smelling, bubbling lake with stalagmites affording a precarious way across. The bunny girl easily leaped from one to another, sure of its footing.

Ranma had done exercises like this, as had Shampoo. They easily kept pace, chasing their quarry to a stone demon head in the opposite wall. The youma jumped to the mouth, grabbing the teeth, and went inside. Ranma and Shampoo followed, Ryoga struggling to keep up as he had to check his balance at each jump.

The tunnel beyond went some ways, with a few branches left and right and some rubble strewn along its length. Finally they came to a point where the tunnel had completely collapsed. The youma seemed quite surprised at this. "Ack! But it was clear just a few minutes ago!"

"Too too bad," Shampoo said. "You is trapped now." She charged ahead, sweeping her blade in front of her. The youma jumped over her, just above the blade, and hopped on Ranma's head on its way to backtrack to a clear branch.

It never made it: Ryoga came up just before the branch. Again the youma was surprised - more so than the first time, for this time it smashed face first into his chest. This knocked the wind out of him. The bunny-girl was also dazed, long enough for Shampoo arrive and thrust her sword through its back.

The group sighed in relief and stood there for a moment to catch their breath. Once they had done so, Ranma laid into Ryoga. "Great. Just great. So we chased it down. So where does that leave us?"

Shampoo pulled out her well-worn map from her breastplate. "Where was we?"

Ranma looked at the map he had drawn before their invasion. He turned it on its side, then upside down. "Heck if I know. It's not going to be on here, that much is sure. We were never supposed to go in those labs."

Ryoga had now caught up. "You got it? Great. Now how do we get back?"

"We don't," Ranma said. "We're lost. All I can guess is, she was headed to Beryl, so the throne room must be ahead somewhere. It's going to be full of youma. Even with what we can do now, we wouldn't stand a chance."

"Well, I don't think there's any way back behind us. I, ah, think some of those pointy rock things fell down..."

"Riiight. And we're doing no good just standing here. Looks like we have to take one of these branches."

"So tell us which one. You drew our maps..."

"I only looked at the main tunnels. I never saw this one." He looked down the nearest branch. The rubble was thick at this point in their shaft, and the branch looked to be knee-deep in pulverised rock.

Ryoga came to Ranma's side. "Hey wait a minute. This looks like one of my tunnels."

"Aha! So then you must have been here before. So, YOU show us the way."

"I didn't say I was ever here!" Ryoga shot back. "I only said it LOOKS like one of mine." He looked up and down the tunnel they were in. "I don't remember this place. Though I do have to admit I wasn't paying too close attention to where I was before ..."

Ranma threw up his hands. "I gave you a sense of direction! It's not MY fault if you don't use it!"

"Like you're any better! You're just as lost as I am!"

Shampoo's sword whistled through the air between them. "Is no time for fight. We go. There is patrols."

"Go where?" Ryoga asked. "I just said we were lost!"

"You really don't remember this one? Then what do you mean you've never been here before?"

"Baka! I'm saying this is a tunnel made with the Bakusai Tenketsu!"

Ranma paused to digest that for a second. "So... you mean someone who KNOWS the Bakusai Tenketsu made it? Which means..."

"Someone else who knows it is down here," Ryoga finished. "But who?"

"Aiya! Great Grandmother! She alive!" Shampoo was almost dancing with joy.

"I wouldn't think so," Ranma said. "Last I saw of her, I was pretty sure she was going to be dead. But even so..." He started making his way into the branch. "I think we ought to go this way."

They started moving forward, senses on hair trigger. *This is crazy,* Ranma knew. *Lost in the middle of the Dark Kingdom, just the three of us against an army of youma... it's like something out of a bad movie...*

They went as fast as the rubble allowed. The branch tunnel went down some ways before connecting to another tunnel, this one largely clear, but blocked to one side by another collapse. "Looks like this is the only way," Ryoga said.

"Looks awfully convenient to me," Ranma said. "I have an idea who it might really be..."

They continued along the new tunnel, also heading downwards, until it emerged at a large chamber. The three stopped to take in who and what was there.

Ranma was not entirely surprised. Ryoga was. "You gotta be kidding me..."

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

The throne room was once again crowded with youma, their numbers somewhat less than just a few days earlier but still easily in the hundreds. Tunnel patrols were no longer a priority with the Senshi now all accounted for; the martial artists, skilled though they may be, were no threat as far as anyone still knew. Everyone wanted to see the final victory of the Queen over the Princess.

Beryl was thoroughly enjoying the moment. The Senshi surrounded Sailor Moon in a circle with Beryl at their head - they were HER bodyguards now, her toys to do with as she wished. Now only one thing remained to make her victory complete. "And now, Princess, you will give me the guinzuishou. Perhaps I will let you live if you hand it over willingly."

Sailor Moon's tears had run out long ago. Now there was cold, steely anger in her eyes. "You're lucky I don't still have it. You and Magnetite and all these youma would be soooo dead right now."

Beryl sighed. "You will tell me where it is."

"Don't know. I lost it in the fight."

"My Queen?" Sailor Venus now spoke up. "Magnetite had us searching Jusendo for it, but we couldn't find it. He thought Ranma might have it."

"And where would this Ranma be right now?"

"Probably the Amazon village..."

"That might be too obvious," Sailor Mercury said. She summoned her computer. "He would take it somewhere far away to be really safe. I might be able to track it if I were in the area..."

Beryl wouldn't hear of it. "You and your Moon Kingdom toys! It should be very simple. The guinzuishou is bound to you, Princess. Now that it is in one piece again, and you have used it, you should be able to summon it to you wherever it is."

"You can't make me!"

"I'm sure THEY can." She waved to the Senshi. "Can't you, my pretties?"

They all hung their heads. "What would you have us do, my Queen?" Venus asked.

Beryl silently cursed. The control afforded by the chemical methods of these bird men Magnetite had mentioned left something to be desired. The Senshi seemed unwilling to do anything they would not have done when free. Endymion would be no more useful; he would need a week to properly break. With only one day in the bed, she dared not ask him to harm his princess.

There was one more thing to try before forcing the matter of the Senshis' loyalty. "Step back," she ordered.

The Senshi all stepped back several paces. Beryl began chanting, taking several minutes to draw a complicated magic circle around Sailor Moon. When she had finished, she paused for a moment. "With this circle, your willingness will not be a factor in summoning the guinzuishou. I will use you as a focus to get it. Just to let you know, it will hurt."

It was indeed like pulling teeth, but all over her body. Sailor Moon screamed her lungs out. The Senshi moved away, not wanting to see or hear.

Finally, after several minutes, Beryl stopped. "Most unusual. It seems your friends have not only hidden the guinzuishou - they must have some sort of magical protections for it. Perhaps if I merely scry..."

She returned to her throne and began to work her crystal ball. Sailor Moon found being used as a focus for scrying was not outright painful, but it gave her a creepy feeling that she thought was almost as bad. She whimpered and sweated through it as Beryl tried to conjure an image.

Beryl did not have to wait long to get one; the guinzuishou appeared against a featureless misty background. Beryl took this to mean Sailor Moon was trying to block the background image. "Such resistance! Fight if you wish. I have ways of getting the information I seek." She changed the motions of her hands slightly, sending shocks of electricity through Sailor Moon. She cried out in pain.

"I told you... I don't know... I can't see... even if I try..."

"Then try harder!" Beryl gave her another shock, then intensified her efforts to get a clear image of the background.

Beryl was suddenly angered as an shriek broke her concentration. It was not coming from anywhere close - she suddenly recognized it as an alarm. "Endymion! He has been disturbed! Someone is trying to take him!" She rose from her throne with unseemly haste and headed toward the room where she had placed Endymion, beckoning to the Senshi. "Come with me! And bring the princess. This might be a diversion. Whoever it is may come here to rescue Sailor Moon."

"Yes, My Queen," the group said. They dragged Sailor Moon with them, heading to save their Prince.

They arrived in the brainwashing chamber to find Endymion on the floor to one side of a dais. He dazed, seemingly just starting to wake up. There was no one else there.

"Endymion!" Beryl rushed to his side and cradled him in her arms. "Who was just here? Who did this to you? Did they try to kill you?"

Endymion's eyes came into focus. "Queen Beryl-sama?I... I don't know... I..."

The brainwashing had been going on only a day; Beryl had estimated it would take a week to turn Endymion fully. But one day's worth of the treatment should be enough to show the beginning of allegiance. She had to know for sure. "Prince Endymion, who do you serve?"

Endymion knelt before her. "I serve you, Queen Beryl-sama. Command me."

Beryl sighed in relief. "Stay by my side. It seems clear you are not safe anywhere else."

"Yes, my Queen." He rose and stayed close to her.

"Mamo-chan..." Sailor Moon whimpered at the sight of her love under her enemy's spell. "Please... no..."

Beryl turned to Sailor Moon. "So, Sailor Moon. Your prince is now mine. Would you perhaps be willing to trade the guinzuishou for him?"

"Mamo-chan..." Sailor Moon shook the tears from her eyes. "I... I CAN'T! I can't give it to you! It's like I said! I don't know where it is!"

An image came to mind of Magnetite - a magical sending. "Queen Beryl-sama! I am now able to report Saffron is fully ready."

Beryl swiftly tried to calculate the odds Magnetite had been the culprit. His image showed he was near to Metallia's chamber, not yet in it as they did not wish Saffron to be take by Metallia too soon. She had not sensed him teleporting here and back. Clearly he had indeed been at work all this time. Possibly a youma under his command could have done it. But his youma should ultimately be more loyal to her than to him. Still, he bore watching for any false moves.

There was only one way to find out for sure. She addressed the assembled Senshi. "I shall bring you before Queen Metallia. There you shall see the true power of the Dark Kingdom." And she could keep an eye on Magnetite. His powers were not especially great, even now. He could not hope to defeat her with the Senshi in attendance. If he tried anything, she would crush him.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

The chamber was as large as the throne room, at least. The tunnel Ranma, Ryoga, and Shampoo were in exited into the chamber high on the wall, above a walkway, and to the left of a central projection. From this vantage point they could see nearly everything in the chamber. However, what held their attention was not in the chamber itself, but on the lip of the tunnel.

"So," Ranma began. "I guess this is the real you."

Sailor Pluto lowered her eyes for a moment. "This is awkward for me, as well. I would have preferred not to ever see you again. But there are certain things you must know."

"What I'd like to know is, why me? Couldn't you have taken someone else? Like my pop?"

"You should know your father well enough to know he would not have worked. I needed to contact and work with the Senshi. He wouldn't. And you two were the only visitors going back to Tokyo between the time of the death of my last host and Shampoo's turn." She bowed deeply. "I thank you for serving as my host this past year. I am sorry for any inconvenience that might have brought you. I do not expect you to be grateful any time soon. But certain sacrifices are always necessary for the greater good."

"And you're all about the big picture, aren't you? You saw everything out from the beginning. You knew what would happen."

"I had hope," she said. "Even I could not fully predict what Happosai would do. And it was pure luck that I recovered from my reincarnation in time to get to the staff before Magnetite had it. He would have used it to stop time, and that would kill even me. Then Saffron would roam free, ever a threat... and would not be here to help us against Metallia."

Shampoo knelt before the woman she had almost hosted. "Shampoo would have gone!"

Sailor Pluto shook her head sadly. "Not in time. Your thoughts would have been to see to the safety of your village first and foremost. You would not look at the wider world before it was too late."

She turned to the chamber behind her and its contents. The room was filled with a large translucent cocoon attached by extensions to the ceiling and floor. It was and organic, living thing, having a large central ovoid with smaller ones above and below, and attatched to the ceiling and floor. There seemed to be a roiling, seething darkness in front of the main body.

"That darkness is a projected image," Pluto said. "It represents what is inside. That is the true enemy."

"So this Queen Metallia is supposed to be in there?" Ryoga said. "How can you tell it's a Queen?"

"That's what THEY call her," Ranma said. "I'm not so sure myself."

"Strictly speaking, it is genderless, and bodiless," Pluto said. "It has styled itself a Queen, so its servants have accepted it as such."

"And just how do we destroy it?" Ryoga asked.

"With the guinzuishou."

"But it's miles away right now," Ranma said, pulling the Moon Stick from his belt. "I might be able to get this to Usagi, and she can free the other Senshi, but we'd have to get right back out again. We have to finish this some other time."

Pluto shook her head. "That one won't work. It's a fake. The guinzuihsou that was with it, as well."

Ranma examined the Moon Stick. It seemed the same as he had always seen it before. "It is? Since when?"

"Since yesterday morning. I switched them when you were all asleep." She held out a hand and another Moon Stick, complete with guinzuishou, appeared in it.

Veins popped on the martial artists' foreheads. "So Sailor Moon isn't really too pooped to use it?"

"That kinda helps." Ranma let the fake Moon Stick drop to the ground. "I'm guessing you set things up here."

"There are a few explosives buried around the place. Most of what we have to do is just quick action." She handed the real Moon Stick to Ranma. "Beryl and the others will be here shortly. You free Sailor Moon and give her this. Ryoga, Shampoo, knock the Senshi down and keep them occupied. I will handle Magnetite, Beryl, and Saffron."

They ducked down behind some rocks they had set up for cover on the ledge as footsteps approached. Beryl led in the procession of Senshi, the imprisoned Sailor Moon, and Magnetite. The general was towing a levitating metal platform with a strange apparatus on it. Saffron floated in fetal postion in the center, surrounded by metal and crystal rings inscribed with runes in the Dark Kingdom's language. There were four crystal pillars supporting the rings, and a number of projections facing forward, some coming together to form a sort of nozzle.

Magnetite settled the platform into position and aimed the nozzle squarely at the cocoon. The Senshi lined up behind it and to the left, between Ranma's group and the apparatus. Sailors Jupiter and Uranus held Sailor Moon by the arms between them, her hands encased in a crystal block. Tuxedo Mask stood at Beryl's side, though his usual formal wear was absent. Instead he wore black enamelled armor decorated with silver trim and curves.

They watched as Magnetite adjusted a last few glyphs, then manned a bank of control crystals and instruments at one side of the platform. "All is ready, my Queen. We may begin at any time."

"We've got to stop them now, before it's too late!" Ryoga rose to jump from the ledge, but was held back by Pluto.

"Wait for it," Pluto said. "We will need the energy flow to defeat Metallia. The Senshi are not strong enough as it is."

Beryl turned to her captives and slaves. She swept her arms in a grand gesture. "Behold, Queen Metallia! The TRUE ruler of this and all other worlds! Now, at last, with the power of this youth in her hands, she will be at full strength in a matter of days! Behold as our victory is at hand!" She gestured to Magnetite. "Let it begin!"

Magnetite laid his hand on a single red crystal on his panel. White energy shot from the fixture to the cocoon, splashing over the surface. The darkness moaned, then cooed, drinking in the energy gleefully.

"The energy flow is stable, my Queen," Magnetite reported. "At this rate, Metallia will be able to emerge in a matter of days."

"Now," Sailor Pluto whispered, and the group jumped down from their ledge.

The ground beneath Beryl's feet exploded. An instant later, the same happened to Magnetite. A string of blasts came from behind the cocoon, across the backside and at the attachment points. The cocoon itself came open, exposing Metallia to the air. Queen Beryl went flying into the blackness.

"Queen Beryl-sama!" The Senshi started forward as a group, hoping to rescue Beryl. This left Sailor Moon momentarily behind them. Ryoga and Shampoo fell among them, taking them off their feet with throws and leg sweeps. Ranma got behind Sailor Moon and applied a Breaking Point strike to the crystal binding her hands, freeing them, and handed her the Moon Stick.

Sailor Pluto had landed by the apparatus. She pushed the nozzle up, redirecting the energy flow to the ceiling, but made no move to shut it off at the console.

Sailor Moon stood in awe as the last of the Senshi stood before the man who had betrayed her. "Sailor Pluto? Is that really you?"

Magnetite was now recovering, and turned to face the Senshi of Pluto. "But... you ... you would abandon your duties, after all this time...?"

"Someone once said that my duties should have been seen more broadly," Pluto said. "This IS my duty now. I serve my Queen."

"You will DIE with her!" Magnetite fired a bolt of darkness from his hands. Pluto easily blocked it with her staff, and riposted with her own attack.

"CHRONOS TYPHOON!"

Magnetite was suddenly enveloped in a vortex of energies, distorting his limbs, then dissolving him to dust and scattering it to the ends of time.

The enslaved Senshi and Ukyo were now getting back to their feet. Ranma got her attention. "Sailor Moon! Do your thing!"

"Right!" Sailor Moon bounded several paces away to catch everyone in the cast. "MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"

The light of her healing powers washed over the enslaved group, dropping them all to their knees. Their eyes briefly became glazed, then refocused. They looked like they had awoken from a long nightmare.

"Ranchan?" Ukyo blinked rapidly for a few seconds. She looked like her old self again. She rushed over to glomp her fiancee. "Thank Kami-sama!"

Sailor Venus breathed a long sigh of relief. "Thank you, Sailor Moon, Ranma." She turned and bowed deeply to Sailor Pluto. "And thank you, Sailor Pluto."

"Don't thank me yet," Pluto said. "We still have something to do." She gestured toward the darkness where the cocoon had been.

As they watched, it took human shape. A giant sized female body formed, bearing some resemblance to Beryl, though her skin and hair were distincly bluish. "Yes... yyyeeeesss... the time is at hand! The time to fill all living things with hate and ambition! I shall destroy all things but myself and turn this into a world of darkness!"

Energy was still flowing from the crystal apparatus. The giant Beryl-Metallia fusion reached out to the stream and began to drink it in again. The Sailor Senshi grew frantic. "She's gaining power!" Jupiter said. "We gotta stop that flow!" She rushed to the control panel, but was held back by Pluto.

"We will defeat her with that very energy," she said. "We would have to give our life forces to the attack. Saffron's energy will make sure we have more than enough to survive. Form up in front."

She walked to the apparatus and tilted it down so that it was almost horizontal. She then took her place in the circle of Senshi in front of it, allowing the beam to pass between them as they linked hands to complete the circle. "Everybody!" Sailor Moon began. "Poll our powers! MOON PRISM POWER!"

"MERCURY POWER!"

"VENUS POWER!"

"MARS POWER!"

"JUPITER POWER!"

"URANUS PLANET POWER!"

"NEPTUNE PLANET POWER!"

"PLUTO PLANET POWER!"

They all shouted the final phrase together. "SAILOR PLANET ATTACK!"

The bystanders had to look away and shut their eyes. A wave of heat washed over them; the noise was deafening. The Senshi, in the eye of the storm, saw the energy stream shift through a rainbow of colors before becoming pure white. The stream speared into Beryl/Metallia, causing her to cry out in pain.

"NOOOOO! THE LIGHT! IT BURNS! IT BURNS! MY CHILDREN! COME TO ME! YOU HAVE SWORN YOUR LIVES TO ME! NOW I NEED THEM! GIVE THEM TO ME! DESTROY THESE SAILOR SENSHI!"

She reached out her hands and summoned all her dark power back to herself. Throughout the Dark Kingdom, every youma and monster infused with her energy felt the pull. A pull none could resist. All fell lifeless, dissolving to dust, as their essences were gathered to their queen.

The darkness surged, engulfing the whole area. Ranma opened his eyes, but could not see his hands in front of his face - for a moment. Then the light returned, brighter than ever before, and he had to close his eyes again.

Waves of force began to push at him, battering him to the ground. The ground shook; the noise was deafening. He rode it out as best he could, hoping the place didn't come down around his ears.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

He wasn't sure when it stopped. It had seemed to be quiet for a long time, but he didn't know if it was the absence of sound, or he had gone deaf. He looked up and saw the place where Metallia had been was empty. The energy stream had stopped. The Senshi all were collapsed on the ground in front of Magnetite's machine. All were breathing; most had their eyes open, though they looked quite worn out.

"You guys okay?" They didn't look injured, just weak. Shampoo and Ryoga went to them to help them up.

"We will... survive..." Pluto said. "But this place will be unstable. We must get out while we can."

Ranma helped her up; she leaned on her staff. "So... can you make us a portal or something? Maybe do what you did back in Jusendo, with the mists?"

"Not right now," she said. "We will have to make for one of the Dark Kingdom portals before they fail. Best we head for the Tokyo one. There will be no youma on the way - they are all dead with Metallia."

As they passed the machine, Ranma noticed Saffron wasn't in it anymore. Instead there was a large egg laying in it. He picked it up; it was still warm to the touch. "Is this... Saffron?"

"The guinzuishou drew energy from him faster than even he could produce it," Pluto said. "He is now reborn as he always is. The bird men will be quite grateful if we can return him..."

Sailor Moon hugged Endymion closely. "So we won?" she asked. "That's really it? There's no more enemies to fight?"

"There are always enemies to fight," Pluto told her. "But we have time. You will be able to rest for a good while."

"YAAHHHH!" Sailor Moon panicked. "I've missed a day of school! I'll have to do all kinds of makeup work... and Mom will kill me... I'll be grounded for life..."

"Get a grip," Ranma said. "At least we can make it to Japan. Akane is going to have to fly back from China with the Kunos."

That actually cheered him up.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

And so that's the story. Intended to be the last full chapter. Probably an epilogue or two coming somewhere down the line for better closure, but all the important events have been done. I really should have asked for collaborators, proofreaders, etc.

Thank you to everyone who read and enjoyed.