The female fatale practically purred out "I am Lilith." Senshi Eris gulped as a shiver ran down his spine. Something about how she spoke seemed to both excite and terrify the planetary champion.

Lilith walked passed Senshi Eris until she reached the edge of the roof and then she looked down. After a quick glance, Lilith turned around and called out, "How good are you at wide area attacks?"

Senshi Eris quickly thought about Lilith's question and then answered back, "I can fire off my long range attacks in quick succession now that I no longer have to dodge enemy fire." Privately, the planetary champion was kicking himself for not thinking of creating an attack for just this situation. If he made it out alive, that would be the first thing that would be covered in training.

The mysterious sorceress's eyes narrowed slightly and then she shook her head. "It was too much to hope that one as young as you would have what I was hoping for. Still, we can manage with what you have."

A low growl escaped Senshi Eris's mouth. "And just what was that about me?" Eris's champion had sweat and bleed for his abilities and he wasn't about to just let some woman dismiss them like that.

Suddenly, Lilith's aura flared up so that she was practically radiating sex appeal. "For the moment, my dear boy, I can't call upon my stronger attacks. My spell on the youma will not last long and when it ends they will be able to escape. Thus, I need you to kill them now before my spell ends. If necessary, I can make it worth your while." Lilith brought an arm to her chest had pushed up to emphasis her talent as she spoke

"I don't need any promises to fulfill my duty!" Senshi Eris shouted this and then jumped into the air. Bluish-black energy started crackling from Senshi Eris's fists and he called out, "Chaos Slash Revised: Chaotic Claw Windmill!" The planetary champion started spinning in the air and released a Chaos Slash each time his hand passed a certain point. Each blade from Senshi Eris's attack struck true and slew a youma. He took a grim satisfaction that the first youma to die from his hastily created technique was the same youma that had put him on the defensive.

There were still two youma remaining when Senshi Eris landed on the roof breathing heavily. Mentally, the young champion was berating himself for using so much energy on an untested technique. This was why one should never go into battle with a technique without first in how to use it. You simply waste too much power on it because you haven't mastered it.

Still, the Chaotic Claw Windmill did do its purpose in reducing the youma from twenty to a more manageable number. Senshi Eris knew that he could handle two youma by himself in his current condition. However, he really didn't want to if he didn't have to do so. "Hey Lilith," Senshi Eris called out, "do you think you could lend a hand?"

"Asking a lady to join in a fight? Well aren't you just a paragon of chivalry. Still, I suppose that I could lend you a hand. My powers are strong enough to deal with one enemy so I'll take the youma by those crates."

Senshi Eris nodded his head. "Good, I'll take the one by the east wall." With that said Senshi Eris jumped down to the ground and formed a Chaos Claw in his right hand. He quickly rushed to his target while weaving out of its attacks. As soon as the distance was closed, the planetary champion grabbed the youma's arm with his left hand and then hacked it off with the Chaos Claw. He next used the Youma's cry of pain to disembowel it causing its disintegration.

Meanwhile, Lilith was up on the roof moving like she was dancing to some exotic tune. As she danced her left arm extended outwards with the palm facing the youma. She immediately called out, "Bendis Blast!" A silver orb the size of a basket ball shot out from her palm and rocketed towards the youma. The orb hit and exploded like a concussion blast. Senshi Eris noticed that most of the energy didn't hit the youma. This was why the youma staggered around for almost a minute in pain before it died from the injuries.

The planetary champion looked around at the battlefield making sure that no enemies were left alive. Once this was done, he allowed himself to relax a bit and lean against a warehouse wall. Senshi Eris then watched as Lilith walked over to the fire escape and climbed down to join him on the ground. Now that the battle was over he could deal with his unexpected help. "So Lilith," Senshi Eris began as she drew nearer to him. "I think that you and I should have a little talk."

However, talking was obviously not on Lilith's mind as she caught Senshi Eris off guard by leaping at him to deliver a kiss. This wasn't a friendly kiss on the cheek. This was a hungry and passionate kiss where the only thing stopping the duo's tongues from meeting was Lilith's face cloth. Furthermore, Lilith wrapped her arms around her stunned companion and pulled him closer so that their bodies molded together. Senshi Eris tried to figure out what was happening to him, but his mind seemed to be shutting down as Lilith's presence quickly overloaded his senses.

Things would have continued, but a terrible jolt of pain forced Lilith to practically jump away from Senshi Eris screaming in agony. Senshi Eris started to be able to think clearly again now that Lilith wasn't turbo charging his hormones. The planetary champion came out of his daze just in time to Eris appear looking as enraged as hell. "Alright you sorceress bitch, what in the hell is going through that slutty head of yours?"

Lilith quickly bent her knee to the planetary spirit and hurriedly spoke, "A thousand apologies, Oh Eris-Sama. I did not mean to offend or insult you in any way. I've exhausted most of my magic in aiding your champion and I was merely trying to restore some of my power reserves by drawing off the excess power radiating from your champion."

To Senshi Eris's shock, his lady backhanded Lilith and sent her sprawling backwards onto the cement. "That," Eris growled out with razor sharp edge to her voice, "was for taking what is mine without permission. If you ever do that again I'll kill you." She nodded her head in satisfaction seeing that Lilith was on the verge of unconsciousness. Then her whole demeanor softened and she called out, "Hey champion, get your cute butt over here now."

Senshi Eris blinked his eyes in confusion and then walked over to Eris. "What is it Eris?" He asked not knowing what his unpredictable lady might do next.

The planetary spirit smiled at her champion's slightly nervous request for orders. "As a personal favor for me, I want you to lie down on this girl and kiss her." After seeing the shocked, nervous, and slightly enraged look on her champion's face, Eris decided to explain her request. "You owe this young woman for saving you from that bad situation with the youmas. She is currently low on power and injured as a direct result of her interactions with you. The debt you owe her can be repaid by helping her regain her power and recover from her injuries. Given what she is, both can be achieved by letting her absorb your radiant energy and the best way for you to do that is by insuring as much physical contact between you two as possible."

Senshi Eris gulped and wondered how he got into this situation. For a second, he thought about asking Eris why she was having him do this after she just KO'ed Lilith for basically doing the same thing. That idea quickly died a fiery death as the look on the spirit's face told her champion that he'd better get with the lip locking. The young champion carefully got down on the ground and gently positioned himself on top of the unconscious sorceress. He then softly placed a kiss on the cloth covering Lilith's face where her mouth should be.

Eris watched as her champion kissed the sorceress and nodded her head in satisfaction. The planetary spirit quietly altered the nature of the power Senshi Eris was drawing from her. This altered power was stronger so that Lilith would recover faster and was designed to speed up the natural growth of Lilith's power. Eris was pissed that Lilith had taken her power without asking, but respected why the sorceress did what she did.

Lilith opened her eyes a few seconds after the kiss began. As soon as Senshi Eris realized that Lilith was awake, he bolted and nervously stood off to the side. Eris shook her head and offered Lilith her hand to help the sorceress up. "Looks like I'll have to train my idiot champion a bit more. He's too good to pull a sleaze ball move like kissing and running." Once Eris had gotten Lilith up, the spirit whispered into the sorceress's ear. "If you continue to help my champion out I will allow you to draw a portion of my power to replenish your own. However, you will ask each time or I will follow through with my threat."

The sorceress nodded her head. "I understand Eris-Sama. Thank you for forgiving me my transgression." Once Lilith said this she pulled her cloak over herself and disappeared in a cloud of sand.

Ranma woke up with sun and took out his earplugs before getting out of bed. He then proceeded to head downstairs and noticed Shampoo in the kitchen making breakfast. Noting that his father's mistress was in a bad mood; Ranma quietly tip-toed to the fridge and pulled out a cola. As the young champion got his dose of caffeine he deliberately ignored Shampoo's grips about his father's inadequacies and his mother's over exuberance.

Shampoo got so aggravated that she accidentally bumped the wall causing a box of salt to fall into her meal. "Damn that worthless husband, I should have been a better fighter and killed him!"

The younger Saotome male positioned himself so that he'd have adequate cover if necessary before speaking. "Okay, I'll freely admit that a pile of manure is probably worth more than my Old Man. But don't you think that death threats are a little over the top?" Seeing the glare that Shampoo was giving him, Ranma decided to hurriedly get to his point. "I read that law book your friends left the other day and from what I could tell you only have to stay with Pops until you have a daughter. After that, you could leave and never come back if you wanted. So uh, what I'm trying to say is that theirs a way out for you." Ranma had been reading the law book at Eris's prompting in order to avoid getting into trouble with the Amazons.

Shampoo pouted slightly and then started to cry. "But eldest daughter supposed to be one that I can be proud of. How can I be proud if Genma her father? He is perfect example of what a worthless male is!"

Luckily for Ranma, he didn't have to deal with the bizarre situation of trying to cheer up his father's mistress because the doorbell rang. Ranma took off like a bat out of hell for the front door and opened it. "Good morning and welcome to the Saotome household." After his bow and greeting were over, Ranma noticed that the person at the door was a middle-aged man in a suit carrying a briefcase.

The man bowed his head and replied, "Greetings. I am Tanaka Ishida from the Greater Tokyo School Board. So sorry for coming over this early in the morning, but certain issues need to be resolved concerning the school applications of Ranma Saotome and Shampoo Proctor."

"I'm Ranma Saotome and Shampoo is inside making breakfast. What's the problem with our school applications that you need to personally come and see us?"

Mr. Ishida bowed his head and then calmly stated, "A couple of issues have turned up that need to be straitened up. I've been sent so that we can get everything sorted out now so that both you and Miss Proctor can receive your education."

Ranma motioned with his head for Mr. Ishida to come inside. "The living room is on the right. Just take off your shoes and I'll go get Shampoo so we can sort this out." A few seconds later Ranma stuck his head into the kitchen and hollered, "We've got someone from the school board that wants to see us Shampoo. He says it's about our high school applications."

Shampoo quickly came around the corner and followed her adopted son into the living room where Mr. Ishida was waiting. The duo then sat down and waited for the school board representative to explain what the trouble was. "Let us start with Miss. Proctor's issues first. Your application shows that you are to be going to Furinkan High this fall. However, you've filled out the wrong form. The paperwork you've submitted is that of an international student when your status indicates that you should have filled out a legal alien resident form. This is only a minor mistake made by your aunt and can easily be corrected by having you fill out the correct form. I have one such form with me if you wish to fill it out right now."

The Amazonian woman nodded her head and gratefully accepted the form from Mr. Ishida and a pen. Shampoo had to stop and double check some of her kanji, but this ended when Mr. Ishida stated that Hiragana was fine for filling out the form. Once Shampoo was done she handed the form to Mr. Ishida and grumped out, "Stupid bureaucracies".

Mr. Ishida nodded his head and replied, "I will admit that the system can be a pain at time. But, it is better to have everything in order and in its place than to not have a proper system." He then paused to put Shampoo's form away in his briefcase. "Now then, let's move on to Mr. Saotome's issues. According to the school board's records, you've applied to Infinity Academy. Is that correct sir?"

Ranma nodded his head. He did not particularly like school even though he knew it was necessary. However, that didn't mean that he was willing to just coast through his school years. Infinity was the best in the greater Tokyo area and Ranma was determined to be the best; even if it was at something he hated. The young martial artist folded his arms across his chest and then spoke. "That's correct, so why do you need to come here? If my application was accepted or rejected I would be informed by a letter. So the question is why you are here for me?"

Mr. Ishida simply smiled at Ranma. "That's part of why I am here Mr. Saotome. I would like to state up front that you have been approved to go to Infinity. That I must state is quite an accomplishment given your somewhat spotty academic record. Now the reason why I'm here is because our system shows that you've been accepted at another school as well: Furinkan High."

"WHAT! How the hell could I be accepted at Furinkan High when I never even applied to go there? That school wasn't even on my list of alternatives." Said list of alternative schools had been created by Ranma and Eris for both his scholastic potential and the chance for Senshi Eris to do some good.

The school board representative sighed and stated. "It appears that your father, Genma Saotome, applied for you to go to Furinkan as your parental guardian. He also cancelled your application to Infinity stating that you were going to Furinkan. The major problem for us is that your work immediately cancelled your application for Furinkan stating that you were going to Infinity. Our computer systems show you both going and not going to the two schools at the same time. We need to sort out just where you will be attending when school starts up next week."

A week later Ranma was walking next to Shampoo as they headed to school with a sour expression on his face. "Hey Shampoo."

"Yes Ranma."

"Is that offer to off my Old Man still open? I know someone that is willing to help us dispose of Pop's fat carcass." Both Ranma and Eris were annoyed that Genma had won in selecting Ranma's high school. The cursed panda had simply caused so much trouble for the school board that Infinity had decided that Ranma wasn't worth the hassle. Ranma wanted to know just what his father was thinking that going to Furinkan was for Ranma's own good. Just how was going to an average school better than going to the best school in the region? Furthermore, what did a high school dropout know about real education?

Never the less, Ranma was going to Furinkan whether he liked it or not. About the only decent thing about going to that particular high school was that it was in the weird section of Nermia. With a little luck, he'd be able to take care of any youmas and avoid the 'normal' insanity.

Shampoo sighed and looked at her 'son'. "Do you think we'll learn anything useful at school Ranma? I don't see the point."

Ranma shrugged before he answered his 'mother'. "The school board sets a standard set of requirements; so we shouldn't be too bad academically. At the very least it will teach us how to interact in a modern urban society." Using a more refined way of speaking was annoying to Ranma, but it wasn't as annoying to him as it was to his father.

The Amazonian warrior nodded her head and then noticed the school gates coming up. Both Ranma and Shampoo entered the courtyard and headed off to the freshman initiation ceremony. Ready or not, their school year had begun.

Once the initiation ceremony was completed, Ranma and Shampoo headed off to their classrooms. Luckily, both had the same homeroom so it was easy for them to find. At this point, the two martial artists split up to find separate seats as the classroom filled up. Ranma took a seat near the middle of the classroom in the 'I want to learn but I'm not a nerd' zone. Shampoo on the other hand decided to pick a seat in the back row. She had noticed the looks a lot of her classmates were sending her while walking through the hall and wanted to avoid that during class.

All of the students' attention turned to the front of the room as the door opened. A woman with long green hair and a supermodel's body dressed in a professional office worker's suit walked into the classroom. The woman put her briefcase on the teacher's desk, adjusted her glasses, and then turned to face the students. "Good morning class, I am Setsuna Meio and I will be your homeroom teacher as well as your history teacher this year."

Setsuna proceeded to explain what she expected of her students for the upcoming year. However, she was only half concentrating on what she was saying. Her mind was focused on trying to locate the new freelance planetary champion. Setsuna had sensed that a new champion had been chosen, but she couldn't figure out who the champion was.

Even with the timegates, Setsuna had only been able to narrow down the new champion's location to Nerima. Something about the champion's power made her impossible to track. The Time Guardian figured that becoming a teacher at Furinkan would get her into a perfect location to find her potential comrade. Hopefully, Setsuna would be able to find and convince the newest Sailor Senshi to join with the other Senshi or at least take a neutral stance with them.

The one thing that Setsuna didn't want to happen was for this new Sailor Senshi to fight with the other Senshi. Such a thing would be an absolute disaster as it would undermine the public's trust, create undue stress on the princess, and could potentially weaken Earth's defenses against enemies. Sailor Senshi had battled Sailor Senshi constantly in the era before the Silver Millennium when the worlds were all independent nations. The level of barbarity that existed back then was something that made Setsuna proud her ancestors had decided to join the Lunar faction and bring about the Silver Millennium. Hopefully Sailor Senshi would never have to face another Senshi in battle again.

Eris's astral form phased into existence in Dysnomia Castle wearing Daisy Duke jeans, a tied flannel t-shirt, and a cowboy hat. She then calmly walked to the training room and watched as her champion went through his workout. Today Ranma was training in his normal form wearing a pair of black tangs and a dark blue muscle shirt. The planetary spirit watched with satisfaction as Ranma moved through a series of self-created katas he had dubbed the Shiva dances. Each 'dance' was built around a combat technique in the Yamisenken.

Once Ranma finished his current dance, he stopped and turned to face his lady. "Did you enjoy watching Eris?"

She politely nodded her head in response. "You did very well as always Ranma. Once again, I applaud you for your drive at self-improvements. Some of the other planetary spirits are already muttering about possibly putting their champions through some training." The grin on her face showed just how pleased Eris was about all of this.

Ranma nodded his head accepting Eris's praise. His lady was not an easy person to please, but it made Ranma happy that she appreciated his work. "So Eris, is there something that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Eris nodded her head and then moved to stand in front of Ranma. "Fight me Ranma." Seeing the surprised look on his face, the planetary spirit decided to charge at him and let loose a bone-crushing kick.

The young champion quickly blocked the kick with his right arm and didn't wince at the force of the blow. All questions fled from Ranma's mind as he entered into an almost zen like state where all that mattered to him was fighting. Back and forth he traded punches and kicks with Eris. Neither one dominated the other causing the ferocious dance between the two continued for what seemed like hours.

Finally, the battle ended when Eris let Ranma sweep her legs and pin her to the floor. Eris smiled at Ranma. "Very good job my champion. Now, how much of that battle did you notice?"

This remark caused Ranma to blink his eyes in confusion. He then looked down at Eris again and his eyes bulged upon discovering that her top had come off. Ranma quickly tried to jump back in embarrassment. However, Eris would have none of that and she quickly pinned him on the ground.

Eris brought her mouth close to Ranma ear and then in a mockery of a lovers' whisper growled out, "On handling the feminine form while fighting you pass. However, you're situational awareness and your ability to deal with a little skin when not in the heat of battle stinks! If you keep on failing, I'll have no choice but to turn you into a buxom redhead."

Ranma nervously gulped in fear of losing his manhood. There was no doubt in his mind that Eris would follow through with her threat. He then watched as Eris stood up and pulled him to his feet. Eris then folded her arms together and shook her head. "I deliberately let my top fall off 15 minutes into the fight to see if I could get a reaction out of you. Luckily, you were able to handle that distraction and keep on fighting. However, you handled it by completely ignoring what happened and that's terrible. What If I had been a youma and my shirt had been a detachable part of myself that could come around and attack you?"

This caused Ranma to bow his head in embarrassment. He had been having too much fun fighting Eris that his mind had been in 'spar' mood and not 'battle' mode. "Is there anything else that you wanted to pound into my head Eris?"

"Not at the moment Ranma. However, I want to inform you of something. One of the other spirits tipped me off that their champion is looking for you. Of course, the other champion doesn't know who you are and only knows that you're in Nerima. I want you to figure out who this champion is before they find out about you. If you succeed I'll give you a big reward and if you fail I'll rip you a new one."

In all honesty, Ranma found the cheerfulness in Eris's voice to be rather disturbing. He swore then and there that he'd do whatever it took to find this champion looking for him. The young champion was a little leery about what his lady might cook up as a reward. But, it had to beat her threat if he failed.

Most people in Nerima avoided the city's sewers. Members of the city's Department of Sanitation rarely ventured into the city's underground tunnels. Not that anyone could blame them given that Nermia's sewers were home to ninja rats, poison snakes, alligators, and even a couple goblins. The Kuno family's Mr. Green Turtle was actually a runt that had fled from the city's unmentionable ecosystem to the relative safety of Kodatchi Kuno.

Lilith found that this made the sewers the perfect place to train and practice her returning power. Currently, the sorceress was in a cleaned up goblin den whose pervious owners she had aggressively negotiated with for the property. The den had a Persian carpet in the center of the room, a couple targets set up along a wall, and most of the den's walls were covered in writing. The writings on the wall would have driven historians mad as the script kept changing to different extinct languages that came from different peoples with no connection to each other. Yet, the writings themselves told one story that was continued throughout all the different languages.

At the moment, Lilith was meditating on the carpet trying to find peace within her. This was not an easy task for the sorceress as her present and past lives were not able to get along. Inside Lilith's mind, her present persona was looking at the shades of her past lives with all of them connected by a golden thread piercing the heart.

Present Lilith pleaded with her past selves, "Surely you can't be serious? Don't you realize what you're asking of me?"

Miko Past Lilith snorted and shot back, "Of course we do! After all, we are you!"

Another Lilith, this one dressed like an Egyptian priestess, snorted at Miko Lilith. "Like your one to talk. I remember you being quite hesitant about this as well when we awakened."

Yet another past shade who was dressed in a Viking era dress sighed. "Can't you two ever get along? It's sometimes an embarrassment to know that we were and became you."

Both Miko Lilith and Egyptian Lilith proceeded to punch Norse Lilith in the face. Norse Lilith retaliated by grabbing the other two Liliths' hairs and bashing the two together. The misty twilight mindscape quickly became the center of a giant cat fight as more and more past lives were roped into the brawl. Present Lilith put her head in her hands and started crying. Why was it that her other selves so difficult to work with?

"ENOUGH!" an old and shrill voice called out instantly halting the fight. A cloaked figure emerged from the dark mist and slowly walked with her cane into the center of the gathering. All of the past lives gulped and wondered why they had to bring HER into the discussion.

Present Lilith watched as the cloaked figure slowly walked over to her and laid a withered and chard hand on her shoulder. "So young," the crone haggardly whispered, "My child, you have awakened years before we intended. For that, I am truly sorry." The old cloaked woman slowly turned around radiating a presence that was far more powerful and intimidating that her physical self. "Shame on all of you, I didn't start this chain so that I could attack myself!" For emphasis, the hag pointed to her chest where the golden thread started.

The crone turned back to face Present Lilith and chuckled, "Just ignore yourself. I'll give you some advice and you're free to disregard it: Develop your powers how you want and take what you want from us as you please. You want your power to grow quickly? We know plenty of methods to do so from the holy, to the natural, and to the diabolical. Fight how you want. You want to use 'sacred' powers you go right on ahead. If you want to summon demons to fight for you then that's your right. After all, this is your life now. We are simply here to guide you and give you our lives' experience so that you don't have to make the same mistakes that we did."

Present Lilith nodded her head accepting the crone's words. She then watched as the crone walked back into the mist causing the other hers to follow. The other past lives silently walked past the present life and most seemed to recongise her presence anymore. However, Summerian Lilith winked her eye at Present Lilith as she walked by. Now alone in her mind, Lilith wondered what she was going to do about the youma and herself.