Title: Chaotic Rebirth
Author name: Trugeta
Special thanks to: BorgRabbit and MetroidVania for editing services rendered and for generally being a damn great sounding board.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ as well as Naoko Takeuchi and many others. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Note further that I don't own any of the trademarked properties mentioned in this story. Also, the OCs used in this story are works of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is not intended and purely coincidental.
This story takes place after the failed wedding in the Ranma series and the defeat of Galaxia in the Sailor Moon Series. It's an AU, and reviews are welcome and appreciated.
Chapter 11
Easter Island, 3:57 p.m.
The group of six Senshi consisting of Sailors Moon, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Pluto were still standing on the selfsame cliff they had teleported in on, side by side, waiting for something, some hidden starting signal that seemed to only be known to one of them.
And while curious glances were thrown Sailor Moon's way every now and then, her being the leader after all, the majority of said glances were directed at a tall and elegant green-haired woman clad in a black and white fuku standing to the rightmost side. The Senshi of Time, Sailor Pluto.
The woman also known as Setsuna Meiou kept her face impassive and pretended she didn't notice the looks as she gazed out onto the ocean, but neither the surge of the tide crashing against the massive rock beneath nor the warming sun were of any interest to her.
She calmly and elegantly turned around when she felt two more Senshi teleporting in, and inclined her head in greeting at Sailors Uranus and Neptune and saw the other Senshi do the same while Haruka and Michiru stepped to Pluto's side.
Setsuna was inwardly very relieved that her fellow Outers (bar one) had arrived in time and she almost snickered at her in-joke, but not even a twitch of a muscle betrayed her true emotions. A quick internal Tempus revealed that things were about to get really interesting any moment now, and Sailor Pluto kept her senses trained on high alert so as to be able to react as quickly as possible.
And then the moment came. "Quickly!" Setsuna yelled out, and the fact that she, the always cool and collected mysterious Senshi of Time actually raised her voice startled the other Senshi, "Everyone link hands and follow my lead! There's a hole in their shields!"
A flurry of activity ensued and not a second later all Senshi had done as ordered, and seconds later the large cliff stood empty again.
-.-
Sailor Pluto felt herself reappearing inside an unknown structure, and her mind, having been honed to razor-sharp perfection over countless millennia instantly took in the situation and tactically dissected it. Before her enemy, standing roughly ten metres away, had a chance to react she had already fired off a non-lethal Dead Scream at her target's abdominal area, secure in the knowledge that the magical attack would be fatal for the unborn baby at point blank range.
Her red eyes flashed satisfaction, as she watched her fuchsia coloured ball of magical energy speed toward her target, certain that it would put an end to all her troubles, and she completely ignored the surprised exclamations of the Inner Scouts in favour of watching the outcome.
A sudden shout of, "Silence Wall!" rung through the air, bringing the completely unexpected appearance of a violet-coloured dome around her target, Hotaru and a third, cloaked figure.
Pluto's world turned on its ear, and a shocked "S-Saturn..." escaped the stunned green-haired woman's lips, and even before her attack hit the shimmering barrier the Senshi of Pluto knew that it would never be able to penetrate her adopted daughter's shield.
Eight shocked Senshi watched the magical attack hit the Silence Wall and diffuse to nothingness. Sailors Neptune and Uranus, Saturn's unofficial parents, were amongst the most gobsmacked. The shock quickly gave way to feelings of betrayal, hurt and anger, but the sudden appearance of a flickering silver shield around Ranma, Hotaru and the disguised Usa stopped the exclamations dead on their lips.
But what shocked them even more was the fact that Ranma was now very differently garbed seeing as her magic had automatically upgraded her to her Senshi form to properly deal with the threat posed by Pluto's attack. Two ethereal and dangerous looking blades of magic and energy had formed in Ranma's hands almost on reflex, and the now Sailor suited Saotome glared daggers at the intruders while thinking, 'I really have to do something about these clothes. Seems I didn't think things through, 'cause this… fuku's way too restrictive in a fight. But I'll think about it later, now I've got a few heads to bash in.'
"A fuku armour," Mars breathed, her eyes almost popping out of their sockets.
"One just like ours!" Mercury added and looked down at the readings of her computer, "And it's the real deal as well! Increases in magic, endurance, strength, et cetera. Even the talismans are real! And the attack she's wielding... It's magical as well as something else that is familiar somehow! How's that possible?"
"Your Highness, I apologise for not properly protecting you before," Muri spoke up directly after materialising in front of Ranma and drew all attention on her (which had the side effect of temporarily defusing the situation), the AI's echoing voice sounding genuinely embarrassed and guilty, "I was not able to redirect sufficient energy quickly enough to deflect the attack. I'm sorry I failed you."
Ranma's face cycled through a myriad of emotions before settling on a neutral expression except for a small, ironic smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, and she let the vacuum blades dissipate seeing that the situation seemed to be under control for the moment. "Doncha worry about it, Muri," she replied dismissively amidst curious whispers amongst the Scouts pertaining to why the newcomer had called their target 'Your Highness,' and glanced at Hotaru, the smile still on her lips, "It's not your fault, and I seem to have had unexpected help."
The young Saotome's comment caused angry expressions to blossom on the faces of two particular Scouts, but while Haruka and Michiru were about to lay into their adoptive daughter, Setsuna simply asked, "Why?" in a deceptively cool and collected voice.
Hotaru's unwavering gaze met Setsuna's cold red eyes. "Because someone I trust more than anyone else told me she," the raven-haired girl inclined her head and indicated Ranma, "is a protect at all costs asset. I don't have to tell you what that means do I?"
"You have doomed our future, Saturn, or you will if you don't desist. This is far too important to listen to an outside source, and you know as well as I do that protect at all cost status is only given to members of the Royal Family. Need I have to remind you that there is but one such member in existence, namely our Queen?" Sailor Pluto downright demanded, nodding toward Sailor Moon who was holding herself in the background for the time being.
Hotaru faltered for a moment and lowered her gaze, but then her posture firmed and she stared defiantly at her adoptive parents and 'aunt'. "She would never lie to me, especially not when it pertains to her family. I-"
"Whoever told you otherwise is wrong, Saturn," Sailor Moon interrupted gently but firmly and stepped forward until she was only two metres away from the shimmering barrier, "There is no one left but me."
"Wrong." the cloaked figure said, speaking up for the first time, and shrugged off her black cloak, revealing her features for all to see. "Hello, mom. As you can see, the rumours of my demise were greatly exaggerated."
"Usa!" every Scout bar Pluto (who was hit by the possible ramifications of the continued existance of Usa and thus too preoccupied with trying to make heads or tails of it) seemed to exclaim at once.
"How... Why..." Sailor Moon stammered in shock and almost stumbled when she stepped back, staring at her supposedly deceased daughter who was wearing her full Senshi garb.
"It's a trick, Your Highness," Pluto , (who had finally come to the decision that this was all a ploy somehow staged by their enemy), spoke up before hope could bloom in Usagi's heart. "This is likely nothing more but an elaborate scheme to sow discord in our ranks."
"No," Usa exclaimed intently, "Listen-"
"Yeah! They're defiling Small Lady's memory! WORLD SHAKING!" Uranus yelled before anyone could do anything.
The powerful energy attack slammed into the shield Muri had created in front of Saturn's Silence Wall, and a grin appeared on Uranus' face despite the fact that the shield hadn't given. "The shield flared! That means they won't be able to keep it up for very long, and we just have to convince Saturn to stop this foolishness! Everyone, attack!"
"ENOUGH!!" Ranma yelled enraged, and her hair began to float around her like a halo as she began to bring forth her Greater Magic.
The power that began to roll off her in waves caused Hotaru and Usa to take several steps until they had reached the limits of the Silence Wall's perimeter.
"Scary!" Hotaru mouthed.
"Ru-chan, focus your Silence Wall around us now!"
"But-"
"Do it!"
A confused Hotaru quickly followed her friend's request, and not sooner had she done so then a gigantic pulse of magical power emanated from Ranma. All present had to blink away the spots dancing in their vision, and the assembled Senshi stared as one at the sight presented to them.
"It cannot be!" exclaimed a shocked Sailor Mars. "She looks-"
"Just like the Queen!" concluded Sailor Mercury, and stopped her goggling in favour of consulting her Mercury computer, "Even her magical signature... The power output... Her looks... There can almost be no doubt... She is of the Royal family."
"But how-"
"SILENCE!" bellowed the fully transformed Ranma furiously. Her eyes glowed an eerie silver as she swept her powerful gaze over her uninvited guests, finally coming to rest on Pluto, "You dare invade my property, dare attack me and, what's worse, attempt to murder my unborn daughter, expecting me to let you get away with it, bitch? You're sooo dead."
"Hey! You threaten one of us you threaten all of us!" snarled Sailor Neptune angrily, hands planted on her hips in an aggressive manner.
"Hell yeah!" agreed her lover, her posture conveying that she was more than ready to attack despite the strange turn of events. "She probably brainwashed Hotaru as well. Future stealing bitch!"
Ranma, whose gaze had never left Pluto, sneered contemptuously, "And which future would that be? Oh, you mean the one built upon the bones of over six billion innocents?" she asked sarcastically, her silver eyes shooting daggers particularly at the three Outers standing not ten metres away. "The one that would've turned Earth into a frozen ball of ice for centuries? That one?
"Too bad that future's gone for good now, isn't it? If only it hadn't been prevented by something far worse..."
"Yeah, by you!" cut in Uranus angrily, and nodded her head at Pluto, "Pluto saw it through the Gates of Time!"
"Just as your profile says," scoffed Ranma and made no effort to keep the disdain out of her voice, "you're trigger-happy, hotheaded and quick to lose your temper, stop at nothing to attain your ends and attack without having all the facts. Excuse me that I'm not awed by your display and grovel on the ground, begging for forgiveness."
"Why you!" snarled Uranus angrily, energy beginning to crackle in her hands.
Ranma cocked a silver brow in amusement and regarded the Scout like a pesky annoyance, but turned her head when Usa muttered, "Ranmaaa..."
"Anyway, I did not destroy your 'future utopia'," she said coolly and made derisive air-quotes, "But I'll fight the ones that are going to bring an end to the world as we know it tooth and nail, and you better not stand in my way!"
"A likely story," spoke up Pluto coldly, "I-"
"Leave my base, you especially, time-witch," Ranma cut in, her eyes shining with unholy anger as she glared at Pluto. "You have more than overstayed your welcome. Not that you ever were welcome in the first place."
"You stupid, arrogant-"
"Shut up, Uranus. That's an order," Sailor Moon snapped authoritatively with power lacing her voice, and swivelled her head to look at Ranma once her fellow Senshi had indeed snapped her mouth shut, her gaze softening. "I'm sorry. What did you mean by that, that Crystal Tokyo has been prevented by something far worse? And how can you be of the Serenity line?"
"I don't have to answer you, nor am I inclined to. Muri, teleport everyone bar Usa and Saturn-"
"Stop, Ranma!" Usa yelled, drawing the older teen's attention on her. Once she had said attention her face softened for a moment, only to turn imploring and almost pleading. "This is your chance to explain to them where they went wrong. To tell them what will happen if they don't stop."
"Usa?" Sailor Moon queried uncertainly.
"Not now, mom," the said young woman replied without taking her eyes off Ranma, waving her hands about distractedly. "Ranma, now is the chance to make them listen. They're here and can't teleport out. Muri can prevent them from damaging the base. Not to mention what you'd do should they try anything."
"Why you little…" Uranus began angrily.
"Stuff it, Uranus," Usa interrupted calmly. "I could wipe the floor with you without breaking a sweat, but that's nothing on what Ranma could and would do."
"I hate to break it to you, Uranus," Mercury interrupted before the hotheaded young woman could retort, "But she's right. According to the Mercury Computer she," the bluish-black-haired girl nodded her head at Ranma, "is roughly as strong as Moon when she goes all out. And I mean really all out. Don't look at me like that, she is that strong! How, I don't know."
Tenma's heir fought the smirk that wanted to appear on her face, but the situation was much too precarious which made it easy to paste a pissed off expression on her face. "Maybe you should ask the timebitch over there how that came about. Or did her precious Gates of Time not show it?"
"How do you know about the Gates of Time?" demanded Michiru Kaioh with narrowed eyes, the Senshi of Neptune being the first to form words after learning this precarious bit of information.
Ranma's answering smirk was so self-confident it bordered on arrogant. "I know everything, Outer Senshi Neptune. The Witches 5. Wiseman. Mistress 9. Pharaoh 90. Beryl. Galaxia," she listed and rejoiced in the gobsmacked expressions the Scouts were sporting, and a broad grin almost escaped her when she heard Pluto mutter, "We've been compromised. But how?"
"Aww, don't look so shocked, Neptune, Uranus. It's bad for your skin and might leave wrinkles. Hmm, on second thought, not that it'd matter in your case seeing as you seem to be on the wrong side of forty anyway, and I better don't even mention Pluto. She's older than dirt anyway," she mused with a mock-thoughtful look and watched Uranus' face purple despite the disguise field, and had to hide a grin when Neptune (who looked pissed off as well) squeezed the other Senshi's hand, hard.
"Anyway," the martial-artist-turned-magical-warrior (who was a tad disappointed that Pluto hadn't visibly reacted to her insult) continued before the impotently fuming Uranus could pop a vessel, according to Pluto me awakening my magic is probably due to the 'demon-spawn' in my oven, right, Pluto?" she spat sarcastically, making mocking air quotes.
Ranma's words were like water off a duck's back where Pluto was concerned, but Neptune and Uranus predictably bristled (again). A commanding wave of Moon's hand, and not least her expression that screamed Queen Serenity stalled their retorts, though. "I for one would like to hear your view on things, Ranma, was it?"
"Yes," Ranma replied, and Moon's openness and apparent want to understand the situation made her relax a bit. "And I will agree to that if you promise me that neither you nor your Scouts will attack me. Or-"
"Or what?" challenged Uranus, only to flinch under Moon's disapproving glare.
That was nothing on Ranma suddenly unleashing her full power, and everyone present (Pluto included) gasped. "Or we will find out if the combined might of Lemuria and my own will be sufficient for kicking your sorry ass all the way to Uranus so you can find out if your bond-planet still has habitable zones. Got me?" she asked in a tone colder than zero, unblinking silver eyes drilling holes into the offending Scout.
Ami for her part had the presence of mind to check her computer, and shook her head in fascination upon her findings. "There's no doubt, it's pure Silver Millennium energy in a concentration that's incredible. And it's all her, not the other source we picked up on a while ago."
"But how?" asked Mars, a mixture of worry and curiosity on her face.
"Maybe Ranma'd be willing to tell you if you'd give her the vow she asked of you, mom. She said as much," Usa chimed in in an attempt to counteract Ranma's growing annoyance.
Moon met the muttered comments of 'traitor' originating from Sailors Uranus and Neptune with a glare and turned her head to regard Ranma. Searching the other woman's silver eyes for long moments Usagi's expression suddenly firmed, her eyes showing that she'd come to a decision. "I, Sailor Moon, Heiress to the Silver Millennium, herewith vow that no attacks upon your person will be permitted whilst our being on Lemuria. Infractions will be dealt with... harshly," she concluded seriously, her gaze lingering on the three Outer Scouts for long moments before returning to Ranma.
The Saotome inclined her head in acceptance, respect briefly flaring up in her eyes. "That's acceptable. Don't think I didn't notice you left yourself with the option to attack me outside my base," she said with a smile that turned cold, "but that was to be expected. Should she," Ranma's head jerked over to Pluto, and she laced the Time Mistress with a death glare, "try something, anything, though, I'll turn her into her component atoms and spread them over the milky way. I've had it with her attempts on my child, and I have more than enough power to see my threat through, consequences be damned."
"And she could do it," Ami spoke up, her face showing a mixture of shock and awe, "Easily in fact. She circulated 4.2 Terawatts worth of energy a few moments ago, almost as much as your max, Moon."
Moon's soft gaze met Ranma's cold silver eyes. "I understand that you're angry, and admit that you apparently being of the Serenity line intrigues me, but until I have all the facts I ask you to cut down on the threats, okay?" she asked friendly, but her voice held a steely undercurrent.
"Fine," Ranma agreed after a last glare at Pluto and powered down, "I agree to the mutual cease fire and suggest we all sit down around the large table over there," she said and pointed at a circular table that'd easily accommodate their number. "Everyone grab a seat. Usa, you mind being bartender?"
"Not at all, Ranma," Usa replied with a small smile and pulled out something that looked remotely like a portable computer.
"Bossy much?" muttered Uranus snidely.
"Pregnant much," Ranma shot back irritably and muttered, "and if you don't stop annoying me you'll never experience the 'joys' of a pregnancy."
"What was that?" Uranus growled out.
"You heard me, bi-" Ranma began, but was interrupted by Moon clearing her throat and sitting down. "That'll be enough, Uranus. I for my part would like to hear Ranma's story, and your comments don't help."
"B- But she did something to Saturn, and she destroyed our future, Moon!" Uranus protested, "And she really rubs me the wrong way!"
"Couldn't agree more," added Neptune demonstratively, crossing her arms underneath her breasts.
"That feeling's soooo mutual," Ranma muttered with dangerously narrowed eyes.
Moon, whose sensitivity to magic had steadily grown stronger ever since the Galaxia incident, closed her eyes and concentrated. "There's not a hint of foreign magic in Saturn, Uranus. And it hasn't been proven yet that it was Ranma who caused the disappearance of Crystal Tokyo. All we have is Pluto's word, and while that is normally enough for me there are mitigating circumstances in this case that make a thorough investigation necessary," she said with a half-apologetic glance at Pluto, who took her commander's words with a minute inclination of her head, "We also don't have a shred of prove that Ranma caused Saturn to act as she did. So I ask you to cut back on your antagonism, Uranus, Neptune. Personal feelings should never stand in the way of our duty."
"But-"
"Drop it, you two, that's an order," Moon emphasised authoritatively, her stern, powerful gaze prompting the other Senshi to shut their mouths with a click.
"Finally. I almost thought the tomboy and her sweetie would never take the hint," Ranma muttered just loud enough to be heard, the smirk playing on her face making her eyes gleam.
"Ranma, it's not helpful to antagonise them," Usa spoke up in a chiding tone and nodded her head at the fuming Uranus, effectively wiping the smug look off the silver-haired woman's face, "You don't want to shoot your chance to convince them to hell right from the start, do you?"
"Too late," muttered Neptune but was largely ignored seeing as most of the Scouts - especially Moon - were gobsmacked by the maturity Usa was displaying.
"You're onto something there, squirt," Ranma allowed, a small smile tugging at her lips, "So, how about you take the orders now? I for my part would like a cuppa Oolong tea."
Usa inclined her head and noted it down in her handheld. Letting her gaze wander over the group she said, "Everyone, order up!"
Their surprise overcome the Scouts did just that, and not five minutes later everyone, including the 'bartender', was nursing a variety of beverages (non-alcoholic). Even Pluto, who seemed to have accepted that she had for the time being lost her opportunity to eliminate the 'threat', had ordered green tea.
As soon as everyone had been served, the same aura of anticipation Ranma had encountered before in Nerima prior to telling her tale to her friends had sprung up. Firming her expression the silver-haired man-turned-woman began to talk.
"First off, my name's Ranma, Ranma Saotome, not Ranko Tendo. I was born the son of Nodoka and Genma Saotome," here she had to interrupt herself due to a cacophony of exclamations of disbelief.
"That can't be! Ranma Saotome is a hunky, yummy guy!" Venus exclaimed, in the throes of confident belief.
"He is one of Japan's, if not the world's, best martial artists! So how can you claim to be him?" Uranus demanded with angrily narrowed eyes, outrage tingeing her voice.
'Interesting. She seems to respect my male side for some reason, or she wouldn't have reacted like that,' Ranma thought with a calculating look, 'Maybe I can use that to my advantage somehow.'
"You are forgetting about the Starlights," Hotaru spoke up in a firm voice before anyone could add their two cents, her expression going stern, "And it's not polite to hack away at someone without even giving them the chance to bring forward proof," she added in a dangerously quiet tone, her violet eyes easily conveying her displeasure.
Moon sipped her tea and frowned while the chastised Scouts tried to inch away from Saturn's stern glare, Neptune and Uranus wearing looks of surprise. "Not to sound like a total ignoramus,"
"Too late for that," chimed in Mars with a smirk.
"- but who's Ranma Saotome?" Moon concluded, ignoring Mars' barb.
"Mom, you're so outta the loop it ain't funny," Usa sighed and rubbed her temples amidst an indignant "Hey!" from her mother. "Ranma here's one of Japan's premier martial artists, maybe the worlds'. Isn't that right, Ru-chan?"
Hotaru somehow managed to suppress the rosy blush that wanted to bloom on her face when all eyes were on her and sent a glare her friend's way before clearing her throat. "What Usa just said is true. Ranma holds mastery in at least ten martial arts styles, is proficient at handling almost any weapon and wields several special attacks. His... Her strength level and endurance surpasses that of any of us easily, in short, her body's a highly trained weapon.
"From what is known of her and her alter ego, Ranko Tendo she's honourable to a fault, trustworthy and compassionate, but with a boatload of problems you wouldn't wish on anyone," she concluded, her violet eyes softening when her gaze came to rest on Ranma.
"So that's why I drew blanks... Somehow the Gates were confounded," Pluto muttered to herself, a scowl of displeasure marring her features.
"Your precious Gates aren't worth shit, timeb- Pluto," Ranma hissed venomously, startling everyone in the room with her vehemence, "If you hadn't put so much faith into your 'unbeatable' tool none of this might've happened," she growled and forced herself to relax, "But more to that later."
"If you have something to say, say it," Pluto said evenly and gazed at Ranma with cold eyes, her face emotionless.
"I said later," Ranma emphasised icily and her silver eyes briefly lit up with power, before she swivelled her head to regard Moon, "Saturn accurately summed up my curriculum vitae, and now allow me to establish my bona fides.
Ranma noticed Pluto's widening eyes, "What, surprised that I'm not a dumb martial arts jock, that I can use big words?" she queried sarcastically, a delicate silver brow raised mockingly, and she internally rejoiced for the first time that her dear relatives and Senny-chan had practically stuffed a dictionary sideways into her brain. "I cannot afford to be dumb or naive, in fact, I never could," she retorted and paused to add 'If only the price for realising that hadn't been so damn high,' mentally, and a mean grin playing on her face she added, "Too bad, would've made things easier for you, eh?"
"Oh yes," muttered Pluto clearly wistfully and downed her tea in one go.
Ranma glared daggers at her and flipped the Time Mistress the bird, completely uncaring of how immature the act was. A scoff later the silver-haired teen turned her gaze on Moon and reached for her tea, calmly taking a sip. "Regardless of a certain someone's wishful thinking, I'm Ranma Saotome, not Ranko Tendo. And as Saturn can tell ya, that opens up a damn can of whoopass on ya."
"Is that a threat?" asked Jupiter matter of factly, a brunette brow cocked.
"It can be," Ranma retorted with a smile that had a decidedly savage edge, and turned her head when she felt two kis in particular flare, her silver eyes now hard as diamonds, "Save it," she growled in Neptune's and Uranus' directions and conjured twin silver-blue Moko Takabisha in her palms, "That's one of my signature attacks, the Moko Takabisha. I invented it when I had to go toe to toe with my friend Ryoga Hibiki, who was more of a rival dead set on defeating me back then, and I'll gladly demonstrate its effectiveness.
"Or, would you like to test how your fuku armour fares against a salvo of vacuum blades?" she growled and stared hard at all three Outer Scouts while balancing an ethereal looking silver blade of ki and magic on each index finger, "Or, would you like to get intimately familiar with my Hiryuu Shoten Ha and its variations? Any volunteers?"
Gasps had echoed throughout the lounge during Ranma's demonstration, and the silver-haired teen had been hard pressed to keep her composure when Pluto had palmed her face and muttered, "Oh Goddess shoot me badly, it can't get any worse."
"B-But how?" Uranus finally managed to utter, her face showing just how gobsmacked she was.
"You believe her?" Neptune asked her lover, surprise showing on her face for a different reason.
Everyone in the room seemed to be looking at her, but it was evident Uranus didn't care. "The proof... It's too damn good, dear. No one but Ranma Saotome can do what she just did, even if the energy attack, the Moko Takabisha, was a bit off-colour."
"That's due to the fact that all of her attacks consist of magic as well as what is commonly called ki and reiki," Ami spoke up, her blue eyes showing the satisfaction she felt at having solved yet another scientific puzzle, "After I had remembered where I'd seen the sameself energy being used, in Mars' fire readings in fact, identifying it was easy. The attacks are genuine, as far as the Mercury computer is concerned. How it is possible for Ranma Saotome and Ranko Tendo to be one and the same-"
"And not to forget of the Royal family!" interjected Jupiter.
"- I cannot say," concluded Mercury seamlessly.
Ranma continued to nurse her tea for a few moments, then she placed her almost empty cup on the table and let her gaze travel over the assembled Senshi. "Due to the fact that not all of you seem to be irrational and trigger-happy I'll give you the answer. And it is quite simple. Magic.
"Don't look at me like that, you being Sailor Senshi and throwing around magical attacks every day should at least go a long way in opening up your minds to the possibility."
"She has a point there," muttered Mars, her face sporting a thoughtful frown, "Magic does allow for the seemingly impossible."
"Well said, Mars," agreed Moon, her comment drawing incredulous looks, "And let's indeed not forget the Sailor Starlights. So, how did that," the Moon Princess waved her arms about, "come to pass?"
Ranma almost chuckled. "You won't be surprised that it's an often told tale, and all I can say, here I go again. Well, it happened over four years ago, when I travelled the Qinghai Province in China..."
-.-
Incredulous looks were prevalent amongst the Scouts, and it was Neptune who commented first. "The odds for something like that happening are pretty long. And why did we never find hide nor hair of this supposed magical valley?" she wanted to know, her face showing disbelief and distrust.
"Because the valley is shielded against detection," Ranma replied in the tone of voice of someone who had just had an epiphany, "And only those who are destined to be cursed for one reason or another are drawn to Jusenkyo. No one else."
"By the Goddess, it all makes sense," muttered Pluto unexpectedly, and the Guardian of the Time Gates palmed her face, much to everyone's surprise, "Why I couldn't get a lock on her, and why I couldn't trace her past. A powerful magic was blocking me, and it stands to reason it was this Jusenkyo magic."
"But Pluto, couldn't that have been caused by something else? I find that pretty unbelievable as well," spoke up Uranus, her face sporting a frown.
"Ooh, surprise," Ranma spat sarcastically and met Uranus glare with one of her own.
"To be honest, it isn't. There is no other logical explanation why I couldn't scry her life seeing as her magic hadn't manifested back then, and the baby couldn't have fully blocked me either. Curses that force a full-body transformation on a victim are without exception highly potent magic, and they are the types of magic that have the effects described," Pluto replied, her eyes going distant for a moment, "No, the probability that this part of the story is true is high, very high."
"Now there's a surprise, Pluto speaking up in my favour, if only 'cause she's stating the facts," mused Ranma, a mock-disbelieving look on her face.
"Raaanma, that's not helping," Usa muttered and tapped her right foot on the ground.
"Oookay," Ranma allowed, but didn't lessen her glare at the Outers - safe Saturn - one bit, "But I don't like them, and I don't trust them."
"That's entirely mutual," Neptune retorted, her calming hand resting on her lovers' own preventing Uranus from uttering a more severe comment.
"Be it as it is, Mercury's and Saturn's account brought forward pretty convincing evidence that your claim to be Ranma Saotome might be true, and Pluto pretty much confirmed your story just now. That, and the fact that I know that anything is possible where magic is concerned makes me more than inclined to believe you, " spoke up Moon before things could escalate any further, "So you fell into that magical spring, a boy of fifteen years, and emerged as a girl? Kami above, I dunno how I'd have reacted had I been in your shoes."
Ranma managed a true smile, respect for Moon briefly flaring up in her eyes. "It was beyond weird, and my first impulse was to kill my father. Imagine, you'd been a boy for fifteen years, hadn't known the first thing about how the other side lives, and suddenly, boom, I was of said other side with everything that entailed. And yeah, I mean everything, as should be obvious," she said and stroked her belly fondly, "No surprise I had the strongest urge to kill the stupid panda back then, no?"
"Not really," muttered Venus in a surprisingly gruff tone, "I mean, had someone taken my femininity away, and be it even half of the time, I'd have skinned them alive. How did you cope?"
"Not at all," Ranma replied, much to the surprise of many, "You see, I always tried to act like a man, even when I was in female form, and that only changed when I was coerced into having Senny."
"Coerced into? You mean it didn't happen of your own free will?" Moon wanted to know, curiosity tingeing her voice.
"Not really. Or can you imagine that a man who's indeed forced to become a woman via application of cold water, and who thinks of himself as a man regardless of the body would agree to getting pregnant of his own free will?" Ranma asked almost sarcastically and helped herself to more tea.
Moon took a gulp of her own beverage and slowly shook her head, and seeing as it was readily apparent that she was about to comment the other Scouts chose to keep themselves in the background. Wiping away some excess moisture from her lips with the back of her hand Moon smiled ironically at Ranma. "If you phrase it like that, no. So what happened to convince you?"
"First off, it was a harebrained plan to kidnap me and force-impregnate me with a mixture of genetic material from Queen Serenity VI. and my own female DNA that was sprung at me. So nothing much with convincing in the first place," the Saotome elaborated and elicited gasps.
"F-Female DNA? You mean to say that-"
Ranma interrupted Mercury with a firm nod, her eyes hard. "The bastards that kidnapped me found a way to combine two female egg cells. Don't ask me how, said it was advanced genetic engineering, and that's not really my forte. It works, though, and I'm living proof."
"S-So they took an egg-cell from you, likely one that fit with their prerequisites, and merged it with an egg cell that they had from Queen Serenity VI.?" asked Mercury incredulously in place of her fellow Scouts, the mind of the young medic in training struggling with the concept.
Ranma, who let her gaze unobtrusively wander over the Scouts, noticed a myriad of different emotions on their faces ranging from compassion to incredulity to jealousy, nodded, her facial expression conveying that she'd come to terms with what had happened. "Right on the dot, Mercury," she confirmed.
"Who- Who'd do something like that? That's practically rape!" Venus breathed, outrage tingeing her voice
"And why?" Moon added, compassion visible on her face, and it was obvious from the Moon Princess' face that she hadn't yet realised the family relations between Senny and her, "To force someone, you, to go through that... Unbelievable!"
"It's abhorrent! I'd have killed the bastards!" agreed Jupiter.
"Silenced them…," whispered Saturn quietly, yet heard by all, her violet eyes almost black in colour.
"Why do you all believe her so easily?" Uranus demanded, casting an annoyed glance at her fellow Scouts, "This story about combining two egg cells is pretty unbelievable on its own, but that her kidnappers mysteriously had samples from our Queen can't be anything but a lie!"
Ranma, who'd carefully hidden her surprise at how compassionate some of the Scouts were reacting and who'd just reminded herself that it might be an attempt at cosying her along suppressed the urge to punch the annoying Scout through a wall with great difficulty. "So you're saying I'm a liar, yes? In that case I'm sure Mercury's computer thingy," she waved a hand at Mercury's computer, "can confirm that I am a direct descendant of the man known as Orion the Hunter, brother to Queen Serenity VI., the man who founded my line. And he was the one who insisted on taking safety precautions like keeping samples of the Queen's DNA in a safe place, to which Serenity agreed.
"Only when everything went to hell during the Fall did he retrieve the samples in hopes of restoring the Kingdom, but that never came to be. Tenma had to hide on Earth and placed himself in a cryo sleep to wait for more favourable times to come, which ultimately led to him founding my line. Which brings us to the here and now."
Gasps followed Ranma's announcement, and Ranma shot Pluto an evil grin. "You weren't as thorough as you thought when you killed my ancestor, timebitch- oh, pardon me, Pluto."
"I did no such thing," Pluto objected evenly, her arms folded underneath her breasts.
"Of course not. The same as you did not eliminate tactical threats to Crystal Tokyo all throughout history, isn't that right?" Ranma spat, and shook her head to get herself under control, "Anyway, we're getting off topic here, but mark my words, everyone will see to what lengths you are willing to go to ensure the coming about of your perfect utopia."
Pluto met Ranma's hard gaze evenly, "I have nothing to hide."
"We shall see what your fellow Scouts think about the skeletons in your closet, Pluto. It'll be worse by far to be judged by them rather than by me," Ranma said with a hint of eager anticipation in her voice, and she was hard pressed to hide her smug grin when she saw the other Scout's curious and puzzled faces, "But we'll come to that. Anyway, it was determined that I was the one with the greatest magical potential and capacity in our line since, well, forever. Just my luck, that.
"But even the prospect of gaining unbelievable power held no allure to me, even if this power was mine by birthright. Or would have been, had I been born female. I had lived all my life as a male, had in fact been raised to be a man amongst men, and here they wanted me to be mother to some magical super mutant just because I had taken an accidental dunk in the Nyannichuan? I asked 'em idiots if they were serious, and told 'em to go screw themselves when they said yes!
"I would never have agreed to undergo the procedure, never have even considered it, hadn't it been for something that is, as so often in my life as of late, tied to Pluto here. I'll have to speak verbosely, so excuse me if I help myself to some tea beforehand," the Saotome teen said with a shrug, and gladly accepted the cup Usa quickly poured her.
"Well, you all know about Crystal Tokyo and how some kind of natural disaster will lead up to it, right? A kingdom of love and justice," she said neutrally, her voice carrying no inflection.
Moon shook her head to gather her bearings, and the motion of the Moon Princess' head prompted Ranma to regard her with a questioning look. "Sorry, it's just that it is a shock to learn that I might just have – or almost assuredly have – family left outside of Usa. And it's also par for the course that we seem to be on different sides of the fence," she mused with a sigh.
"Par for the course? Ooooh yeah," muttered Ranma in agreement, her eyes holding a mixture of resignation and bitter amusement.
"Your Highness, maybe it doesn't have to be this way if you, we, just listen to Ranma's side of the story. There's enough evidence to suggest that Setsuna-ma – Setsuna might've been wrong about the situation," Hotaru spoke up, and everyone – especially Pluto, who flinched barely noticeably – noticed that the raven-haired girl had corrected herself when addressing one of her adoptive mothers, "She's human, just like the rest of us, even she's not infallible."
'Setsuna, eh? Finally a name to go with the face!' Ranma crowed delightedly, but kept her face impassive, 'And gauging from the timebitch's reaction Saturn correcting herself was a severe blow to her. Heh, getting out of bed already paid off.'
Ranma noticed further that Hotaru's words caused thoughtful expressions of varying degree to appear on the Scout's faces, and a laboured sigh escaped Moon's lips. "Hotaru is right, Pluto. We've gone through hell and back together, but no one is infallible, not even you, and I will continue to listen to Ranma's account, unbiased and fair as is expected of me."
If Pluto was surprised by the Moon Princess' words she didn't show it, and her only visible reaction was a minute inclination of her head. "I understand, Princess."
"Good," Moon said regally, and turned her head to look at Ranma, "In answer to your question, yes, Crystal Tokyo is, to put it bluntly, our drive, and the reason why we pushed ourselves to succeed despite the odds stacked against us time and again." nodded Moon. Her face cycled through a myriad of emotions as she remembered past hardships and sacrifices, "We knew there was a better future waiting for us if only we fought hard enough, and fight we did. To win." she concluded amidst agreeing exclamations of her fellow Scouts.
Ranma waited until Moon had collected herself and inclined her head in a warrior's gesture of respect. "And you did an admirable job. What you didn't have were the whole facts, or rather the knowledge of what has changed. Crystal Tokyo will now never come about, and it's not because of my daughter or me. So regardless of if you kill me or not, your future kingdom is gone. For good."
"And I assume you have the facts you alluded to?" Pluto's icy cold and sarcastic voice cut through the shocked silence.
"As a matter of fact, yes, I do," Ranma shot back in a tone that matched Pluto's to a tee, "And so would you hadn't you shirked your duties!"
Before Pluto, who had cocked a verdant brow in surprise at Ranma's accusation, could utter a word to defend herself Neptune had already hissed, "What would you know! She was always there for us when we needed her! She was the one to awaken us in the first place! You have no right to throw around accusations like that!"
"Is that so?" Ranma retorted in a deceptively calm voice, and not just Neptune didn't like the glint in the silver eyes of the Saotome youth. "Muri, have our deep space sensors been brought online?" she asked in a seeming non sequitur.
The AI materialised from thin air beside Ranma, head held in a brief bow. "Not yet, Your Highness. It'll take at least another twenty minutes, the same as with the rest of our sensors. I apologise for the inconvenience, but a lot of defective micro-circuits have to be replaced, same as with the controls for internal shielding."
Ranma frowned briefly seeing as that didn't play into her plans, but shrugged seeing as she knew the AI was doing her best. "Not to worry, Muri. I'll just have to give a verbal explanation before presenting our guests with visual proof."
"You mean to say that- that this base ain't fully operational yet?" Jupiter asked incredulously.
"Muri?" Ranma prompted.
"Lemuria is currently at forty-five percent of its full operational capacity. The details are restricted to need to know basis, and seeing as my Commander hasn't cleared any of those present this is all you will learn," the AI elaborated calmly.
"Incredible," Mercury breathed and consulted her computer, "Keep in mind, this base has been inactive for 14,000 years-"
"14,686 years, 267 days, 3 hours, 12 minutes and 48 seconds, and this information was for free seeing as it's uncritical," Muri interjected helpfully, and Ranma had to suppress a snort at how much like Nabiki the AI had just sounded.
"As said, 14,000 plus years, and it hasn't been more than half an hour since its reactivation. But it is almost up to half capacity, and the readings I'm picking up are nothing short of incredible!" Mercury enthused, looking from one face to the other until her gaze came to rest on Moon, "There're googols of nano-bots and much more complex repair drones at work, and one can literally feel the power output rising! I-"
"The scramblers have just come online, Your Highness," Muri interrupted with a far away look before refocusing her gaze on Ranma, "Should I block her?"
"Just redirect her from the security relevant zones, Muri. And yes, that's a gesture of good will," Ranma said to Moon, her voice holding a soft edge. "Blame it on the pregnancy or on li'l ole me being her naive self, but I feel not all of you are out for my blood," she mused, lacing Pluto with a sidelong glare, "Speaking of which, Muri, any explanation on how they managed to get through the shields?"
All eyes (except Pluto's who continued to nurse her tea without taking her eyes off Ranma) were on the AI, and Muri briefly spaced out. "My logs show that after you approved of Senshi Saturn's entry the selfsame approved of encrypted signal was used to teleport the group consisting of the eight other Senshi into the base. Due to the fact that this happened within a fraction of a second and taking into account that the majority of my limited capacity had been redirected I had insufficient resources to react quickly enough, contrary to my expectations. The remodulated shields slammed into place three point five nine picoseconds too late, for which I apologise."
"Doncha worry, Muri, forgiven and forgotten," Ranma waved it away, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips, "And maybe Usa here's right, maybe something good will come with the bad. How long till the sensors are repaired?"
"Seventeen minutes, forty-eight seconds, Your Highness," Muri answered, unperturbed by Ranma's sudden change of topic. "Serenity, if I may-"
"Of course, Muri. Go ahead."
"I'm picking up low-level tetryon emissions originating from Senshi Pluto's left wrist. It's barely detectable and I only picked up on it due to the fact that the repair drones just restored one of the secondary energy grids which gave me barely enough energy for the internal sensors," the AI said, squinting at the Time Guardian's left wrist.
Ranma's gaze swivelled to Pluto's seemingly bare left wrist, a calculating look lighting up her eyes. "Now look who's keeping secrets from her fellow warriors," she said sarcastically, and was elated to see in the other Scout's faces that her barb struck home.
"Pluto?" queried Moon in a voice that betrayed confusion and surprise.
"The AI is indeed correct, Princess," Pluto replied in an outwardly calm tone and briefly pressed her right index finger to her wrist, which unveiled a bangle that looked strangely familiar.
Ranma's eyes immediately wandered from the bangle on Pluto's wrist to the selfsame ones Saturn and Usa were wearing, and her gaze narrowed in suspicion. Before she could speak her mind though Saturn expelled a shaky breath and asked, "Where did you get this?"
Unfathomable red eyes met shocked violet ones, and Pluto actually sighed. "It would be easy to blame it on you, but it seems I was set up. And here she said I'd learn something," she said, muttering the last part. "Be it as it is, shortly after I had sensed the magical outbursts originating from her," she waved her right hand in Ranma's direction, "I was visited by my future self. She handed me this," Pluto absently touched the bangle, "and explained it to me. It is-"
"The advanced version of this one," Usa interjected, raising her own arm to show her bangle, "It can cover up mass teleports, store pass codes, transmit them and so on. You waited for Saturn to send the encrypted signal that'd trigger the shields, the bangle recorded it and boom! Instant access."
Hotaru stared wide-eyed at Usa, and slowly turned her head to look at Pluto. "Is- Is this true? Did you use me?" she demanded, sounding hurt, betrayed and angry.
Ranma, who'd had her fair share of betrayals in her almost twenty years of life, felt compassion for the younger girl well up inside her, and couldn't stop herself from muttering, "Stupid time-bitch doesn't stop at nothing."
The looks on most of the Scout's faces conveyed that they didn't fully approve of Pluto's methods either, and the Senshi of Time had to have noticed, for an almost pleading look briefly flared up in her eyes. "You must understand, I did it for the greater good. Despite her claims, her baby must never be-"
"Shut up! Just shut up, Setsuna. I don't want to hear it," Hotaru almost shouted, tears trickling down her cheeks.
Ranma was almost as surprised as the Senshi of Saturn when she suddenly leant forward across the table and reached out to touch Hotaru's left hand, squeezing it gently. "My folks betrayed me too, and for the so called 'greater good' as well. I know how you feel, so punch her lights out. It'll make you feel better."
"I- Is that what you did?" Hotaru chocked out and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Yes," Ranma replied and squeezed Hotaru's hand once more before retracting it to reach for her cup, her eyes glittering briefly at the memory. "Punched the bastard into a wall. Felt mighty good too."
Seeing that the Senshi of Saturn was apparently heavily considering Ranma's suggestion Moon chose to speak up. "However cathartic that might be," her glare at Pluto spoke volumes, "I'd like to know why you ran away last time instead of trying to convince us that you were no enemy."
Ranma laced Moon with a disbelieving look and snorted. "Would you have listened? Your behaviour made clear that you were convinced I was carrying some demon spawn, and it was clear as crystal you wanted to 'exorcise' it," she replied and paused to glare at Pluto, "So, how likely was it that you'd have given me the chance to tell my side of the story? Pluto'd have blasted me into my component atoms before I'd have gotten a word in sideways about my heritage! And it's plain obvious that most of you don't believe me-"
It was at this point that Mercury looked up from her computer, her expression grave and serious, "Everything she said is true," she cut in, shooting Ranma an apologetic look. "I scanned her DNA as well as her magic and compared them to the genetic data I have of Moon, and they're cousins. As said before, she is of the Royal line, even if from a different branch than Moon."
Hotaru wiped more tears away and let a smug grin sweep over her face and muttered, "So much for giving me grief 'cause you doubted Usa's word. Hah!" into the shocked silence that had ensued.
Moon shook her head as if to clear it. "So let me get this strange, err, straight... You were born male," a nod from Ranma, "were given the ability to change genders by a curse," another nod, "and are now carrying a baby that's a mixture of my mom's DNA and your own. That right so far?"
"Yes," confirmed Ranma with a final nod and blew on her tea, "But don't think for a moment that Senny is your mother reborn. She's more of what'd have been had your mom had more children.
"I know," she added at seeing Moon's look, "It's weird as hell and makes your mind wanna explode, but that's how you have to see it if you wanna keep your sanity."
"Or at least something approximating it," Usa teased with a cocky grin.
"Hmm? Did you say something?" Ranma teased back and took a sip of her tea.
"Pulling a Kakashi on me... No fair!" Usa pouted.
"That's what you get for trying to be a smartmouth," Ranma retorted, her eyes shining with mirth.
Moon, who'd been silent throughout the exchange, shook her head in silent disbelief. "It's all true, isn't it? You- You really are of my line, aren't you? It all makes sense..." she whispered and stared at her daughter, "Why you disappeared, why you interact like you're family, because you are. You wanted to protect her, didn't you?"
"Yes," nodded Usa, her gaze meeting her mother's unwaveringly, "She's family."
"Oh my gosh!" Venus exclaimed in an almost squeal, her right hand raised to her mouth, "You know what that means? Moon's gonna have a sister!"
"W-What?" Moon uttered, her eyes going wide.
"Has all that fluff rotted your brain, Venus?" Uranus demanded, her hands planted on her hips, a glare drilling into the fellow Senshi, "That... thing is as much a sister to Moon as... as... Tuxedo Kamen!"
"This," Mercury pointed at her computer before a full out pissing match could erupt, "says you're wrong, Uranus. The baby Ranma's carrying is, genetically speaking, to be considered at least a stepsibling, and her genetic structure is diverse enough to make her more than just a genetic variation of the Queen. In short, this baby's as close to being Moon's sister as any step sister could ever be."
Ranma was inwardly very surprised and just a tad bit elated that at least some of the Scouts - note worthily exclusively the Inners and Saturn - were being objective about the situation, and she watched with interest how the gears in Moon's mind worked. "That- That's a lot to take in," she finally breathed, and regarded Ranma with a small smile, "But-"
"Princess! You can't seriously be considering to believe this shit!" Uranus interrupted, her tone disbelieving and outraged. "If this base is technologically as advanced as it seems then it'd be child's play to fool Mercury's computer!"
"Muri, is it possible to give Mercury unrestricted temporary access to your sensors and scanners even though they're off-line?" Ranma spoke up before the seed of doubt could even begin to take root.
"You mean the medical sensors specifically, Your Highness?" Muri inquired, her face showing understanding. "Yes, easily so in fact. It's just that I do not have sufficient energy yet to power them, but them being off-line doesn't hinder a survey at Senshi Mercury's hands."
"Then do it. And give Mercury permission to make a full status check on the sensors. There shall be no doubt that they have not been tampered with and that the results they show, once we have enough power, are genuine," Ranma said seriously.
"It shall be done," Muri bowed, and it was obvious from her face that the command was being carried out.
"Why are you willing to go to such lengths to offer proof for your claims?" Mars wanted to know, uncharacteristic curiosity shining in her eyes.
"You mean aside from having the small side effect that at least you," Ranma waved her right hand at the Inners and Saturn, "would stop considering me an enemy?" she asked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Good point," Mars conceded with a sheepish grin. "And the other reason?"
"Because it might mean that I'd have more family left aside from my idiotic folks," Ranma said, and Usa helpfully interjected, "Remember, the ones who practically forced her to have her daughter. Oh, and her father tried to kill Senny in a misguided attempt at helping her. Sure are pieces of work, huh?"
"Thank you, Usa, how could I forget?" Ranma remarked dryly, and quickly let a measuring gaze sweep over the attendees, and she was satisfied with how steamrolled her audience was. "It'd be nice to have somewhat normal kin for a change, and your silly speechmaking, penchance for ridiculous poses and sucky battle skills aside you seem to be pretty decent."
"Umm, thanks," Moon replied, before her mind caught up to the fact that she'd just been insulted, "Hey! My speeches aren't silly! And even less so my poses!"
"That's debatable," snorted Mars, her eyes glittering with repressed amusement.
"Don't be mea-" Moon started to protest, but stopped herself in favour of showing a rare moment of maturity, much to everyone's surprise, "Moving on, I understand. And if your claims prove to be true I promise I'll get to the bottom of things. I don't like the thought that we might have wronged an innocent, and gravely so, and an innocent who might be family to boot."
"Not that it should matter if I'm family or not in the first place. There are things a warrior shouldn't do," Ranma said and gave Pluto a long, hard look, "no matter what."
"Ooh, come down from your high horse already, bitch," Uranus hissed, and a mean glint lit up her eyes, "Or do you prefer bastard?"
"You decide when my boot meets your empty skull, shit for brains," Ranma hissed back, the silver lightning coursing around her body indicative of how angry she was.
"Oh yeah? Bring it on," the tomboyish Senshi snarled heatedly and got to her feet, making a come hither motion.
"Stand down, Uranus!" Moon commanded just in time to prevent Ranma from taking the invitation. "We have agreed to a cease fire until things have been resolved, and I won't tolerate your behaviour. Am I clear?"
Uranus looked like she wanted to object, but the power behind Moon's gaze stole her thunder entirely. A constipated expression appeared on her face and she nodded jerkily. "Completely, Princess," she ground out between clenched teeth and sat back down with a grumpy expression, crossing her arms underneath her breasts.
Ranma exhaled explosively as well, and the potential for violence that had saturated the air vanished. "Very well. Muri," she turned to the AI, her abrupt motions belying her lingering anger, "grant Mercury access as discussed."
"Done," replied Muri not a second later.
All eyes turned to Mercury, who was gazing intently at the display of her computer, and the women were witness how the raven-haired young woman put her left hand to her mouth as so often when she was engrossed in something. "Those sensors... are something else," she muttered to herself and set to work, completely ignoring her surroundings. Two minutes later she emerged from her concentrated state and looked around, her gaze finally settling on Moon. "The sensors are very advanced, and they're without exception set to factory settings. No hint of manipulation anywhere. It's almost-"
"Almost what?" prompted Mars.
"It's almost as if they were never used," Mercury elaborated, the look on her face communicating that her formidable mind was puzzling over the why, "as if the base was never used. But it makes no sense! A base like this would've been a trump card in the war!"
"Yes, it would have been," agreed Muri wistfully, "had the crew that was supposed to man Lemuria ever arrived. You must know, Lemuria was built in secret because Queen Serenity VI. suspected that something was up several months prior to the fall, and her plan was to gain a foothold in case something went wrong. The whole construction was only made possible due to the development of the cloaking device that was the predecessor of what is in use here, and it took place under heavy all around stealth.
"Political tensions were already high between Earth and the Moon Kingdom, and the construction crews were under the most severe stress of their lives. Detection would have meant certain death in any case seeing as they had orders to destroy the base in that case. But things went smoothly and the crews finished their jobs and 'put me to sleep', so to speak so that I wouldn't be detected by chance-"
"But how could a base this big have stayed hidden if you were, err, asleep?" Jupiter inquired.
"I was 'asleep', yes, but the cloaking device was designed as being completely autarkic. In layman's terms, it works without my being needed," the AI explained, eliciting understanding looks from those present, "A quantum black hole generator with a life expectancy of several billion years that operates outside my energy grids powers it, and the safeguards in place would have ensured that Lemuria would have stayed hidden until eternity's end had I not been reactivated. Luckily I was, so maybe I'll be able to do my bit this time around," she concluded with a heavy amount of guilt lacing her voice.
"Muri, it wasn't your fault," Ranma said gently, empathy making her eyes shine, "And it doesn't do to dwell on what ifs. Let's concentrate on the here and now and on what we can affect."
"Yes, Your Highness," the AI nodded, and squared her shoulders, "Moving on, the construction crews had just returned to the safety of their home worlds and the crew intended to man Lemuria and reactivate me had been cleared to go when everything went to hell. Literally.
"You will likely ask how I can have knowledge of the fall when I was asleep, and the sad answer is that I learned after my activation at Ranma Saotome Serenity's hands that Beryl had attacked the Moon Kingdom, ultimately leading to its fall. I received a few last updates from the Moon's AI via heavily screened channels before it was nuked," the AI said, and a translucent tear trickled down her face, "70.8 billion people dead, eight planets rendered uninhabitable and the Capital, Luna City, almost completely destroyed. And I, that is Lemuria, could do nothing to prevent it.
"The irony is, Beryl's home world survived, and might be the last hope of the remnants of the Silver Millennium. You," Muri concluded, looking from face to face.
A heavy silence hung in the air and solemn looks were exchanged amongst the Scouts as each of the Senshi, Inners as well as Outers, were reminded of what they had lost. Finally, several moments later Moon's gaze met Ranma's. "If your ancestry can be proven beyond a doubt I am more than willing to listen to the rest of what you have to say. My gut feeling says you are family, but we had too many supposed friends turn out to be enemies in the past, and Uranus and Neptune are right, everything we saw could have been manufactured to fool us."
"Damn right!" cut in Uranus, smacking her right fist into her palm for emphasis.
"Nonetheless," Moon picked up where she'd left off after silencing Uranus with a hard look, "if Mercury says you are whom you claim to be I am inclined to believe you."
"Princess! You can't seriously be considering-" Neptune began.
A commanding hand gesture from the Moon Princess stopped her cold. "All of this feels too authentic to be a lie, Neptune. And if Ranma is of the Royal line, then everything she has said is true."
"What?" exclaimed several Senshi in unison.
An explosive sigh from Sailor Pluto, who had been very quiet up till now, drew all attention to her. "It is a little known fact that members of the Royal family cannot lie. They are simply incapable of telling anything but the truth. Sure, they can evade telling the truth by beating about the bush or by simply not saying anything, but if they say something on a matter it is the truth. That is fact."
"So you've known all along," Moon mused and gave Pluto a measuring gaze that turned into a deeply pissed off look, "You could have spared me a lot of trouble had you told me this 'little known fact' from the start."
Pluto gave a half-shrug. "I could say it slipped my mind, Princess, but it was simply too amusing to see you insert your whole foot into your mouth time and again, Princess," she said, amusement glittering in her red eyes, "Besides, I was certain you'd figure it out on your own."
Moon, who'd grumbled curses under her breath (much to the general amusement), glared at the Senshi of Time. "Well, I didn't. I just thought I was really bad at tweaking the truth," she muttered, and turned her head when she heard Ranma scoff.
"Can't have been worse than me," the silver-haired teen snorted, and shook her head in bemusement, "I'm famous in Nerima as the professional inserter of foot in mouth, rumoured to having perfected the incredible technique of inserting two feet at once. In earnest, my mouth, or rather the fucking fact that I cannot lie has brought me nothing but trouble. Been punched through walls, got bruises to last me a lifetime, been malleted to Suginami ward more times than I can count-"
"Malleted?" interrupted a confused looking Mars.
"Yeah. You see, one of my friends has this ability to form a giant wooden hammer out of thin air, and she often used it to mallet me when she got mad at me. Thanks to my mouth that happened rather often," Ranma explained with a shrug.
"A… friend," reiterated Jupiter, a weirded out expression on her face, "And she used what amounts to a giant hammer to hit you? With enough force to send you all the way to another ward?"
"Yep! Was the greatest kind of endurance training!" Ranma agreed happily, and scratched the back of her head at the strange looks she was receiving, prompting her to ask, "What?"
"Endurance training?" asked Uranus in a tone that said she thought Ranma to be even nuttier than thought. The Senshi who prided herself at being the martial arts expert amongst the ranks of the Senshi raised a brunette brow in a perfect Spock manoeuvre, "What kinda nut would use being hammered by a mallet as endurance training?"
"Maybe the same nut who went through the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken training, a training where the trainee has to extract blazing hot chestnuts roasting over an open fire?" Ranma shot back, and blurred into motion, refilling everyone's cups with fresh tea in under two seconds. "See?" she asked smugly, and crossed her arms underneath her chest.
"See what?" Uranus asked, her brow arching into her hairline, "I see nothing."
"She- She... I- I don't believe it!" stammered Mercury, her gaze darting between the display of her computer and Ranma, "You won't believe what she just did! Sh- She just moved at roughly 4,000 kph! And- And refilled all of our cups without us even noticing! Hadn't I set my computer to record everything, and hadn't I been looking at the screen at just the right second I'd have missed it too! That- That's incredible!"
"Nothing special," Ranma said amongst the slack-jaws Mercury's pronouncement had produced, "Just pure speed. And as for my toughness factor, weren't it for my being pregnant you could bury me in a pool of concrete and drop a house on me and it wouldn't even slow me down.
"Anyway, this stupid curse of the Serenity line caused me no end of grief, but I guess it made me stronger in the end. True to the motto what doesn't kill you and all that," she concluded thoughtfully.
"Your Highness, the deep space sensors have been repaired, but the current available energy will, despite the repairs, only suffice for either powering the medical sensors or the deep space sensors," Muri interrupted and gazed at Ranma, "Standing by for your commands."
Ranma was raised out of her musings and turned her head to look at Lemuria's AI. "Really seems I can never catch a break, eh? Would've been too simple anyway...
"Choices, choices... Well, I can still prove that everything I said is true after you all are in the right state of mind, shocked beyond measure that is. That said, now I will show you all why I chose to have Senny, and why she," the teen nodded her head at Pluto, "shirked her duties, and that even without taking into account everything she's done to ensure the coming about of Crystal Tokyo."
Moon held up her hand to nip all protests of - primarily - the Outers in the bud, her expression showing genuine curiosity. "You have my - our - full attention."
Ranma inclined her head and turned silver eyes on Muri. "Muri, can you pipe down the images from the scans into the lounge?"
"Easily in fact, Serenity," Muri replied, and, with a mental command, made a 56 inch view screen appear on the adjacent wall behind Pluto. "If I may guide your attention to the screen,"
All heads followed Muri's outstretched arm and quick sitting realignments were made. Expectant looks were prevalent on even the Outer's faces, and Ranma cleared her throat. "Last time it had passed Eris and was slowly approaching Pluto," she muttered, and tried to recall how her grandfather had phrased it, "Muri, scan for a large asteroid between- hmm, on second thought, better triangulate between Pluto, Neptune and Uranus. It's roughly the size and mass of the Moon and accompanied by a cluster of various smaller asteroids, and it emits barely detectable rays from... How did he say? Ahh yeah, pure heart crystal generators," she said, causing several gasps, "The whole thing's heavily camouflaged and shielded, warded and Kami-sama knows what to look like a normal space rock, but if your sensors are as good as I think they are you will find it."
The AI seemed to swell with pride for a moment and nodded vigorously. "You can count on me, Your Highness," she said solemnly and her eyes unfocussed, "Commencing scan..."
"Aren't you worried that the scan will be detected?" Mercury wanted to know.
"This is not an issue, Senshi Mercury," Muri replied evenly, "There are precious few on this planet that have the required technology, and none of them are of concern. The target of my scan-"
"Will undoubtedly know," Ranma cut in, a hard look in her eyes, "But they're so assured of their superiority that they couldn't care less. Besides, use low level intensity to detect the rock in the first place, Muri," she added, to which the AI nodded.
"Who's 'they'?" Moon wanted to know, a hint of worry now detectable in her voice.
"You will soon find out," Ranma assured her, and her expression was foreboding, "But you won't like what you'll find. You least of all.
"Muri, allow Mercury restricted access to our network and download the unfiltered raw data from 'Doombringer' onto her computer once you've found the damn rock," she added to which the AI complied with an inclination of her head, and Ranma almost smiled at the surprised expressions the Scout's were showing, "Take it as a gesture of good will, or it might just be my being hormonal. Who knows?"
"Thank you all the same," Moon replied, a small smile showing on her face.
"How can we be sure that whatever the AI's supposed to find is really there?" Neptune argued.
"Your Highness, if I may," Muri spoke up, and regarded Neptune with an even look once Ranma had nodded her okay, "Senshi Mercury's computer can verify the genuineness of the data. In fact, it can enter into the scan via uplink to further alleviate any suspicions."
"You'd do that?" Mercury asked in surprise, "Aren't you worried I might hack you?"
Muri snorted softly. "No offense, but that's as likely to happen as the spontaneous natural emergence of a stable Omega atom, Senshi Mercury," she said, causing Mercury's eyes to widen when she realised that the AI was saying it was short of impossible, "I'm protected in ways not even the Moon's AI was, so it's perfectly safe of us to offer it. Just link into my network once I tell you to, and you'll see."
"We accept your offer, Ranma," Moon said authoritatively, her stern glance telling the Outers, in particular, to drop the matter.
Ranma inclined her head. "Thanks, Moon," she said with a smile, and turned to Muri when something occured to her, "Do we have enough energy yet for Mercury to scan me, Muri? I'd like to back up my words with proof."
The AI met Ranma's eyes with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Your Highness, but the repair drones are making slower progress than anticipated. I still do not have enough computing power with all applications running and Lemuria at less than half power. Once I've found what you're looking for this'll be subject to change."
Ranma shook her head in silent bemusement, "S not your fault, Muri. What you managed to do in that round about one hour ain't nothing but incredible," she said with a smile.
"Thank you, Your Highness," Muri replied and bowed her head, her own smile reaching her eyes.
"Muri, if I may," spoke up Mercury, a deeply curious expression on her face, and went on after the AI nodded her head, "I've noticed that you seem to be able to feel and express real emotions, and I mean not just simulations of it. Is my assumption correct?"
A smile lit up Muri's face and the AI inclined her head. "Very perceptive of you, Senshi Mercury. My personality matrix is based on the personality profile of my creator, and I do not mean on the data in her profile but her personality imprint," she explained. "I'm as close to being a real person as an AI will ever be."
Impressed an almost awed looks were exchanged amongst the attendees, and Venus muttered, "That was possible?"
"You'd be surprised what was accomplished by blending magic and technology, Senshi Venus," said a knowingly smiling Muri. "And being more than a cold, logical artificial intelligence has its advantages seeing as I can act a lot more autonomous. Within the range of what is in my Commander's interests, of course."
"I suppose," muttered Venus, and the blonde shook her head, "But that's just.. Wow!"
Agreeing nods followed Venus' comment, and a pensive silence descended upon the lounge for a moment before Usa broke the spell. "So, now that we can really do nothing but wait, how about some more refreshments?" she asked with a winning smile.
"While that is a good idea don't think for a moment you're off the hook, young lady," Moon told her daughter sternly, only to add gently, "We'll talk later. It seems you had your reasons. Now shoo and get those refreshments."
A relieved look passed over Usa's face and the young woman nodded solemnly at her mother before getting up. Maybe she wouldn't be grounded till the cows came home before she was even born after all.
-.-
Five minutes later everyone was enjoying a new round of refreshments, and Ranma had just taken a sip from her steaming hot Oolong tea when Muri said, "Specified anomaly detected between Pluto and Neptune, five-hundred-thousand kilometres away from Neptune."
Ranma discreetly swallowed and placed her cup on the table. "On screen. And allow Mercury access."
"As you command, Your Highness," Muri replied, and the large view screen flared to life, displaying the primarily black vastness of space.
"Kami-sama above!" a gobsmacked Mercury had breathed almost simultaneously, her wide eyes glued to the display, "This system... It's incredible! And I thought the sensors were good... No weaknesses... Layers upon layers of firewalls, something unknown that's better than real time scanners, and bots guarding everything but the data stream from the sensors... Several things I've never seen, nor could I even name them... It's a fucking fortress!"
A few heads turned at hearing the normally prim Mercury swear, but most eyes were glued to the screen and the barely discernible anomaly that was slowly making its way through space. "So what? It's a big rock that blends in with its surroundings. Big deal," scoffed Uranus.
"Why are you so hostile, Uranus?" Venus asked, her face showing honest confusion. "She hasn't done anything to us."
"Except destroying our future," Uranus retorted hotly, her face showing a mixture of rage, anger and helplessness, "Everything we fought for, died for and saw our loved ones die for," her gaze briefly lingered on Neptune before returning to Venus, "for naught! Just because of her!"
Neptune, who had intertwined her fingers with Uranus in mid-speech to calm her lover down, nodded in agreement. "Exactly. I thought the time of hardships and sacrifices was finally over, but then she," Neptune nodded coldly at Ranma, "came and had to destroy everything. And now it seems we are too late seeing as she has somehow become powerful enough to inflict severe losses upon us should we attack her. It's all her fault, and here she's giving us some stupid sob story of a mysterious third party being the culprit. Hah!"
The other Senshi were slightly taken aback by the intensity of the couples' anger. "I fully understand-" Moon began, but was interrupted by low, sarcastic chuckling from Ranma that prompted everyone to look at her.
"It's all my fault, yeah? You have no idea how often I've gotten the shit end of 'that' stick! Almost always 'em that claimed it were dead wrong!" Ranma hissed venomously, the cold glint in her silver eyes that were like twin chips of ice causing Neptune and Uranus to flinch back. "Muri, scan to full intensity. Penetrate whatever they have, if my folks managed to do it so can you. Easily."
"Right away, Serenity," Muri obeyed, and the brief lighting up of her eyes conveyed that the command was carried out.
"The intensity of that scan... It's amazing!" breathed Mercury, and almost shouted, "There! We're getting something!"
All heads turned to look at the screen, and it seemed like some kind of fog was suddenly removed as the pitch-black asteroid was displayed in amazing clarity. "I'm picking up on a lot of armoury here, Your Highness. At least 4.7 times of what we have currently at our disposal. The whole body of the asteroid is littered with offensive and defensive weapons that can be extended to the surface, and their shields are almost as strong as our own."
Moon chanced a look at Mercury who nodded gravely. "It's true, Moon. There's not a hint that the data is falsified, and Muri is using standard Silver Millennium protocols to download the data. It's the raw data as the sensors are picking it up."
"And who's telling us that the sensors haven't been manipulated after all?" Uranus asked stubbornly.
Ranma arched a silver brow. "Suuure. This base's been up and running for what? Half an hour, an hour, tops? And the first thing I do is manipulate everything just to fool you?" she asked sarcastically.
"It's what-" Pluto began.
"- you would have done?" cut in Ranma acidly, her eyes alight with fire.
"- is a distinct possibility," the Senshi of Time concluded, completely ignoring the interruption. "What simpler way to get someone off your back than to present them with a common enemy?"
"And who says it's an enemy?" queried Venus.
"The odds that something like that is friendly are very low," answered Mercury, "And I can say for sure that the sensors haven't been tempered with. They are advanced versions of what I'm using, so I'd know. An-" she suddenly stopped mid-word and whistled lowly before swearing viciously. "Holy Kami-sama on a bike!" she breathed after she'd recovered from the cussing spell that had followed her initial exclamation, "Muri, are these figures correct?" she asked fearfully.
"They are." the AI replied with absolute certainty. "I wish my sensors were malfunctioning, but these are the black facts."
"What is it, Mercury?" Moon urged, acting as leader and spokeswoman for her fellow Scouts.
"Muri, verbal report on your findings, and underline them with schematics of the base," Ranma ordered, cradling her cup of tea in her hands as she stared almost absently at the screen.
"As you wish, Serenity," Muri replied amidst curious and worried whispers amongst the Scouts; said whispers ceased when an image that was quite apparently a scan appeared on the screen. "The whole asteroid has been hollowed out, and about five kilometres of the original rock layer has been left intact. It would have been enough to fool just about anyone on Earth as their scans would have revealed nothing but rock due to the lengths the enemy went to to camouflage it."
Muri extended her right index finger and indicated a point on the screen, a red dot suddenly appearing. "The whole structure has been separated into six levels of the same size with a seventh apparently being the engineering. The energy is provided by pure heart crystal generators here, here, here and here. It's unsurprising that each power supply is individually and heavily shielded.
"The purpose of the first to fifth level becomes clear once you understand the bio signs my sensors are picking up on," she paused, and the results of a scan appeared in the lower right half of the screen.
"Mercury?" Moon prompted.
"Youma, Moon, lots and lots and lots of them," Mercury answered in a strained voice, "At least one million, and that's my most optimistic estimation."
Gasps echoed throughout the room, and Ranma smiled grimly. "That's how I reacted as well," she said and sipped her tea, and then placed the cup on the table with a clatter, "But that's hardly the end of the surprises. Muri, tell them about the strongest energy signature in the base and cross-reference it with your data from the Silver Millennium."
If the AI was surprised by this order she didn't show it, the faces of the Scouts though clearly did. "Silver Millennium?" Jupiter asked, "But there can't be anyone alive from that time! Beside Pluto, I mean."
"No one thought there were living relatives to Moon either, Jupiter," Hotaru objected, her comment causing pensive looks.
"Found it, Your Highness," Muri spoke up, confusion showing on her face, "But my sensors must be malfunctioning-"
"Kami-sama!" Mercury breathed, shock prevalent on her wide-eyed face, "It's Beryl!"
-.-
Silence blanketed Lemuria's lounge like a leaden weight. Too deeply shocked to form something even resembling coherent thought patterns were the Senshi, and all Usagi Tsukino, better known as Sailor Moon and widely considered as Queen Serenity VII. by her fellow Senshi, could do was look at Mercury, her gaze pleading her friend to say that it had all been a mistake.
A grave shake of Mercury's head was all the answer Moon needed, and with experience gained from countless battles she managed to regain her centre almost immediately. "How?" she asked, and it was clear that Ranma was the recipient of her question.
Ranma's serious silver eyes met Moon's equally serious blue ones, and the Saotome's face could have been carved from ice. "I don't have much more details than you, but the gist of it is that your mom wasn't the only one who had a plan B. My Clan assumes Beryl cloned herself before the final battle."
A cold, harsh laugh coming from Neptune drew all attention on her. "That's the biggest load of bullshit I've heard since, well, ever," she ground out and glared at Ranma in unison with Uranus, the Saotome meeting their gazes unflinchingly, and then Neptune turned her head to look at Moon, "You mustn't believe this obviously fabricated story, Princess. A Beryl clone is as likely-"
"As a genetically altered reincarnation of the Queen?" cut in Hotaru dryly, a raven brow cocked.
"You keep out of it!" Neptune rounded in on her adoptive daughter, lacing Hotaru with a stern look, "You're grounded till kingdom come anyway!"
"That'd matter to me if I wanted to return home in the first place," shot back Hotaru and crossed her arms underneath her breasts in a defiant gesture, but the surprise briefly flickering in her violet eyes belied that she hadn't planned on saying that outright.
"What?" gasped her adoptive parents in stereo and stared in unbelief at Hotaru, only to round on Ranma a few moments later, fire burning in their eyes. "What have you done to our Hotaru?!" they demanded.
"I've never seen her before today, so, nothing, just as Moon here already confirmed before," Ranma retorted coldly and had to resort to using her soul of ice to keep her calm, "And if you claim I had to have done something anyway then it's both childish and plain stupid."
Uranus' and Neptune's eyes blazed, and both Senshi jumped to their feet. "Why, you!" both bristled in unison and assumed aggressive poses.
"Will you just stop, damn it! I've never met Ranma before in my life, and that's the truth!" Hotaru yelled angrily, red blotches covering her pale cheeks, her outburst causing everyone to look at her in surprise, "Usa came to my school yesterday in the guise of a teacher and explained to me that there was this relative of hers that was a protect at all costs asset, but she didn't tell me it was Ranma Saotome!
"No, I'm talking and you will listen!" she ground out, interrupting her adoptive 'mother' with a commanding hand gesture, and took a calming breath when her outburst produced her aspiration, "As said, Usa sought me out and told me that the world was in grave danger and not on its course that'd lead up to Crystal Tokyo. I asked her if Pu- Pluto couldn't do anything to set things right, but knowing what I know today she was right to demand I don't breathe a word. Using me like that… I still can't believe it."
If the abashed and dismayed look that crossed Pluto's face meant anything to Hotaru she didn't show it. "I trust Usa with my life, and when she said that the future was in danger I believed her. I only would never have imagined in my wildest dreams that we, the warriors of Love and Justice, would be the ones to endanger this future, or how far some people are willing to go to attain their ends," she concluded, a lone tear trickling down her right cheek.
"B- But she destroyed our future!" protested Neptune, pointing her right index finger at Ranma.
"I should've seen it earlier," muttered Hotaru in a seeming non-sequitur and angrily wiped her tears away, "I should've seen it when you three tried to kill me for being the Messiah of the Silence, and especially when you killed me to further your chances at bringing down Galaxia. That you had to kill Pluto as well during that incident was probably just bad luck. But my being raised as your daughter after my rebirth apparently blinded me," she said in a whisper, a fresh bout of tears trickling down her cheeks, which caused Ranma to reach out again and lay a comforting hand on Hotaru's, squeezing it gently.
Neptune, who'd looked like she'd been dealt a physical blow by what her 'adoptive daughter' had said (much as Uranus), turned her head and glared angrily at Ranma. "You have no right-"
"And neither do you," Hotaru interrupted her in a dead tone after wiping the tears away, neither face nor eyes showing any emotion, "if you don't see that Ranma just wanted to comfort me, for which I'm thankful. She hasn't done anything to you, to us, and here you're all mean to her, no, downright hostile. You're not acting like the papa and momma I know, and-"
"But you don't even know if she's telling the truth! For all we know it could all be one huge cockamamie story!" Uranus cut in, frustration obvious on her face.
"Yeah! She hasn't offered us anything that couldn't have been fabricated!" Neptune added, her gaze turning pleading, "Ru-chan, we just want to protect you, stop you from making a grave mistake!"
"Usa told me that Ranma is a protect at all costs asset, according to Mercury's computer her story is checking out and Usa is with her to boot, willing to go up against us all. And ready to die for her if need be. Doesn't that tell you something?" retorted Hotaru, involuntarily returning Ranma's squeeze, "And besides, it wouldn't be the first time Pu- Pluto was wrong, would it?"
"No, it wouldn't," admitted Pluto with a sigh after a moment of heavy silence Hotaru's comment had wrought, "But I had to act. Crystal Tokyo was gone and the Gates showed me her as being the perpetrator," she said with an almost tired nod at Ranma, her admission not just surprising the Outers, "There was still a chance at restoring our future, everything we worked so hard for, everything we bled and died for. It was my duty to do everything in my power, and I regret I had to use you, but the safety of our future was paramount."
"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" asked Hotaru between clenched teeth, her violet eyes glowing with anger. "How can I ever trust you not to use me again as long as your goals are more important to you than I? And don't even mention that the safety of the future is more important than anything! I'm not older than dirt, I'm fifteen, for crying out loud! I have my whole life ahead of me, and I cannot always count on Moon being able to bring me back after I die (again), probably due to you sacrificing me because your future is the most important thing in the cosmos! Again."
It was apparent that Hotaru's words were having a heavy impact on Pluto from her facial expression alone, and Ranma, still having her hand rest on Hotaru's, decided to add to it. "I'm sure you've heard the phrase 'Those who sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither freedom nor security,'. The same concept applies here. If you're willing to sacrifice your comrades and ostensibly your loved ones for your perfect future then you deserve neither your loved ones nor your future. Think about it."
Pluto's red eyes were unfathomable as so often as she stared at Ranma, but the Saotome still had the feeling that her words had some effect on not only the Senshi of Time but the other Outers as well.
"Mercury, how about you scan Ranma now that Muri has found the real threat? We should have enough computing power, shouldn't we?" Usa quickly asked before the situation could escalate again in any way or form.
"Umm, sure, I suppose," Mercury agreed after getting an approving nod from Moon (who unobtrusively gave her daughter a thumbs up), and the prodigal Senshi consulted her computer, "You're right, Small Lady, we have more than sufficient computing power.
"Hmm, a quick rundown, everyone… As said, the sensors are at standard Silver Millennium factory settings, no modifications, no hint of manipulation. That goes for all sensors and scanners installed, even the deep space sensors that are currently off line again. Any data they show is genuine."
Pluto, who had shown activity for the first time since her failed attempt at killing Ranma's baby, nodded in agreement from her position behind Mercury, something akin to defeat briefly touching her features. "She's right, Princess."
Moon inclined her head at the Time Senshi's simple comment, and nodded at Mercury. "Do your thing, Mercury."
That the Senshi of Mercury did, and ten minutes and several intensive scans later Mercury finally looked up from her screen, her expression once again solemn and serious. "It is as my initial scan using the Mercury computer unveiled, she is of the Royal line. Everything she said is true. Beryl and her army are on the way…"
to be continued…
Aaaand... done! My muse was very cooperative so I had the whole chapter done and polished in about two weeks, and my beta team was nothing short of brilliant. Now this quick update should have made up for the 'mean' cliffie last chapter, eh? :)
This quick update comes at a price as well as I cannot provide the Q&A section this time around. Almost everything in the chapter's self-explaining anyway (at least in my opinion), and that what isn't will be addressed in the next chapter; so I don't think the Q&A will be missed.
As for the chapter itself, I know, a lot of explanations, conversations, foreshadowing and so on, but chapters such as this one are quite necessary for plot development and such. But as hinted at, we'll get to the good stuff soon.
And yes, that things would play out as they did was planned right from the start, including the Beryl clone, her army and the base. Ranma's true reasons for agreeing to have Senny have been hinted at as well, and it'll soon become clear how exactly Pluto shirked her duties. The antagonistic attitudes of Sailors Uranus and Neptune will be explained as well, even though this chapter should have given several hints already.
I hope the explanation as to why the Senshi were able to enter Lemuria and attack Ranma makes sense, but my reasoning is simple: the base has been inactive for almost 15,000 years, so it's no surprise really that it's outta whack. If some of you find the reasoning to be faulty, let me remind you that similar things happened in a lot of sci-fi shows. It worked there, it does here.
One last thing… the 'Naruto' reference reminds me that I put up the stuff I had of 'Raiju' at my group in the files section. As some of you may or may not know, I decided to off the story completely due to the fact that I lost any and all interest in the 'Naruto' series due to the latest developments in canon, and chose to concentrate on my other stories, including those that'd been on hiatus, such as this one. Several people asked me if I could send them the existing 'Raiju' files, and Sean, a member of my group suggested this solution. Kudos for that.
Thanks for reading, and many thanks to those of you who were kind enough to leave reviews for the last chapter(s). It's nice to see that so many of you are still interested in Chaotic Rebirth despite its long hiatus, for it makes wanting to write more a lot easier. With this in mind, till next time.