Temporary Note

Since there are no more chapters written after this one, this will conclude the updates. I just thought I'd say that so no one would be left with the impression that there might be more coming in a few days. I have no idea when I'll get back around to working on this story again, all said.

Chapter 7

Mercury and Mars had known each other — and worked together — long enough to know what to do in their present situation, without saying anything or communicating via gesture. They might not understand exactly what was going on, or were sure of all of the details, but there was no question that something strange was going on. When something beyond the ordinary was apparent, Mars saw a negative vision pertaining to it, and the details of said vision began to come to light, it pretty much went without saying what it was that they were supposed to do.

So, as Mercury leapt away, Mars twisted around and shot an arrow of fire right into the creature's surprised face, which made said creature fall to the ground. Right around the time that the creature landed on its rear, who appeared to be strong enough to take an arrow of fire to its unguarded face without any apparent damage, Mercury covered the immediate area with a fog in order to hide their movements and give them the few seconds that would be needed for the rest of their team to arrive.

"What the hell?" Ranma groused as she got to her feet, whose pride had been injured more than her bottom and face. Those two tree-borne ice skaters hadn't even given her a chance to offend them in some way before attacking. What was up with that?

As she tried to peer through the fog, she wondered what was going on. The two girls seemed familiar in some way, now that she thought about it, but they weren't any martial artists that she could think of, and neither could she be sure that their demonstrated abilities were derived from martial arts. Idly, she began to wonder if her current situation had anything to do with the reason for why she was stuck in the skin suit, because it would be nice to get the process of removing it started sooner rather than later.

Since she could still sense where her opponents were, she made sure to face them, though their presence suddenly grew so strong that she tensed for some kind of attack. However, it wasn't any attack that was the reason for that, but the increase in their number, which became apparent when the fog faded away. It was almost like they had appeared out of nowhere, because she hadn't sensed anyone else — within the range of her awareness — converge on their location from any particular direction.

Regardless of how they got there, two opponents had grown to nine. Their outfits appeared to be color-coded, and followed the same style, though the outfit belonging to the one in the front and center of the group deviated more than enough — what with being the only one with wings — to make her distinct from the others, possibly because she was the leader. A couple of them weren't empty-handed, but the polearm being wielded by the shortest and youngest-looking of the group was the only object that she recognized as a weapon without question; she wasn't sure of the nature regarding the scepter and the impractical-looking staff that looked like a giant key.

Once she was finished with her assessment, it was only then that she recalled why they seemed to be familiar. After planting the side of her fist into her palm, she said, "Oh, hey, so you sailor sensai guys are real, huh?"

"That's sailor senshi," Came Mars' cross reply. "We're not ex-wives."

"We're the soldiers of love and justice!" Moon proudly declared, with a complementary pose.

Ranma released a long-suffering sigh, since she'd heard a thing or two about the kinds of things that the sailor senshi were known to do. "Lemme guess: you're not here for the love part."

The one with the wings pointed at her dramatically and declared, "Schools may be boring, stressful, too long, a source of head—oof!" She imagined that she probably would have said more, if not for that elbow to the gut from her companion in blue. "But that's no reason to harm innocent students! In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"

"I've done what, now?" Ranma replied, who was confused by the accusation.

"It's not what you've done," Venus clarified. "It's what you're going to do."

Ranma frowned at that. "What I'm going to do? So, you're accusing me of doing something I haven't done yet, and you're passing judgement before any supposed wrongdoing has even happened? When does the justice part come in, exactly?"

"Oh, that's a good point..." Moon commented thoughtfully.

"Don't be fooled, princess," said Uranus, who was tense and ready for battle. "No matter what she says, it's obvious what we're dealing with here, now that we've uncovered her operation and seen her without her disguise."

"Well, technically, she wasn't disguised," Mercury commented.

With an impatient sigh, Jupiter asked, "Why are we still talking? We know she's bad, so let's get this over with before the lunch period ends and we have to explain why we were late for class."

"I agree," Ranma said, with a hint of agitation in her voice as she glared at them and cracked her knuckles. "As if I'm just going to stand here and let a bunch of prejudiced, self-righteous ice skaters do whatever they want." To herself, she thought, "I was kinda hoping to find a good way to blow off some steam, anyway."

Now that she had properly offended them, she ignored their cries of protest and took the initiative by sprinting toward them. They scattered before her, and tried to keep their distance from her whenever she chose someone to chase, but she was too fast for them to escape. However, since she was up against nine attackers with unknown abilities, she didn't try to put any one of them down immediately. Not only did she not want to tip her hand so soon, but she wanted an idea of their group tactics and abilities so she'd be able to take advantage of them and make it less problematic to come out the victor.

After the time it had taken for her to rough up a few of them, she'd learned a couple of important things. The first was that most of her opponents were long-range fighters, and that they were unwilling to attack her when she was close to one of their own, until they could coordinate separating them from her when they organized an attack. The few that were willing to tangle with her in close-range combat didn't have much skill in that area, with the yellow-colored senshi being the only real threat once she brought out that energy sword of hers. She had also noticed that one of them — the one with the wings — had hung back longer than the rest of them, who seemed rather intent on keeping her within her sights.

She had also noticed the crowd that they had attracted. Between the attacks that had missed their mark and continued well beyond the battlefield, the sound of trees exploding or being knocked over, and the ground being torn up, cratered and furrowed, it would have been a surprise if the whole school hadn't noticed their battle. Most were content to watch from within or near the school building, but there were quite a few who were brave — or stupid — enough to watch the action from behind the soccer field's embankment.

While her foes reined in their attacks whenever they faced the soccer field, unless they had either the black or purple-colored sailor senshi in a position to put up a protective barrier, she didn't take advantage of it: there was no need to help them get the wrong idea about her, regarding yet another thing. She didn't know when or how she would be able to prove her innocence to them as is, but it wouldn't help her case if she took advantage of the bystanders' location and effectively held them hostage. It wouldn't have done her much good, anyway, since that's exactly where a pair of fiancées had just arrived at.

"Really, Ranma?" Akane shouted, more so that she could be heard than due to exasperation. "The sailor senshi? What could you have done to get on the wrong side of love and justice?"

"Oh, I don't know," Ranma replied, her voice thick with sarcasm, "maybe they're prejudiced against cute dragon half girls? Personally, I think they're jealous."

"We're not jealous!" Jupiter retorted, as Ranma lazily dodged Venus' heart-linked chain. "And you're certainly not cute!"

After she dodged Jupiter's Coconut Cyclone attack, which — due to a lack of coconuts — falsely advertised what the attack actually consisted of, she pointed at the sailor senshi in question and yelled, "Uncute!? I'll show you uncute!"

Before Akane could make a comment about a shoe being on the other foot, one of the nearby boys sounded rather distraught when he said, "But Sailor Jupiter was blushing! Does that mean she swings that way!?"

Between the comment, and the sudden, unwanted attention, Jupiter's cheeks lit up even more brightly than before, much to the surprise and chagrin of some of her teammates. She tried to deny the assumption being made, and explain herself without admitting that she found their enemy cute in the same sense as she would one of her throw pillows at home, but — between her embarrassment and the heat of battle — all she managed to do was dig herself deeper into the false image that had been projected onto her.

Ranma noticed that this amusing development had a rather profound effect on their coordination, and what they were paying attention to, but not all of them were so easily distracted or affected all that much. She'd already noticed how the yellow and sea-green sailor senshi pretty much worked on the same wavelength, and that showed when they had both spared Jupiter a speculative glance, while they and the purple and black sailor senshi were a pretty cohesive group.

When she took advantage of the situation and teased Jupiter, Ukyo chose that time to speak, with an obvious edge to her voice. "Ran-chan... You better not be flirting with them."

Ranma began to sweat a bit more than her exertions could account for, and she almost failed to get out of the way of a Dead Scream in time. "Um... I don't know if you've noticed, but they're trying to kill me!"

"When has that ever stopped you before?" Akane quipped, with an eyebrow raised. "Isn't that how Ukyo became your 'cute' fiancée?"

"Those... were... special... circumstances!" Ranma argued, with each word said as she backflipped around a string of attacks.

Ukyo smiled in remembrance. "Very special."

The memory of that day didn't inspire the same feelings in Akane, who crossed her arms beneath her bosom and stared at Ranma unhappily. "For all we know, these could be 'special circumstances,' too."

Ukyo frowned upon hearing that. "They better not be..."

"Maybe I should end this," Ranma thought to herself, after she felt — then saw — a pair of glares being directed at her person.

While she began to look for a good opportunity to turn the tables, and prepared to take action upon seeing one, it was about then that Ninomiya came upon the scene. At first, she had been mesmerized — with childish awe — by what she had been watching from the balcony of a classroom, but it had eventually occurred to her that she had her students to think about, when one stray attack detonated a relatively safe distance away from some of the students who were watching from behind the embankment.

When she finally reached the embankment, however, she realized that she didn't know exactly what to do. The sailor senshi were the good guys, of course, so she couldn't drain them to protect her students. They seemed to think that Ranma had done something to merit the hammer of love and justice, but — while her pet project could certainly be a delinquent — she didn't think her the type to do something that would attract this kind of attention from the sailor senshi.

Was it simply because Ranma didn't look human at the moment? If so, maybe she could talk the sailor senshi out of what they were doing. She'd had a lot of fun flying around earlier, and how could something evil provide that kind of experience? Besides which, she was still bound and determined to reform this particular student, and she wasn't yet convinced that such an undertaking was futile.

Since Sailor Moon was still keeping her distance while she waited for the coup de grâce, and was otherwise disengaged from the battle, she decided to cross some of the distance between them so she could be sure that she would both be seen and heard. It took a great deal of effort, but she was able to suppress her excitement over the fact that she would actually be talking to a sailor senshi.

"Excuse me! Sailor Moon!" She called out, when she was noticed by the person that she wished to address. "Why are you attacking one of my students?"

"You shouldn't be here," Moon said, with evident worry, as her attention flickered between the battle and the young girl. "It's too dan—" She suddenly turned her full attention to the young girl, feeling confused, when the words from said young girl finally caught up with her. "Wait... Student?"

"I'm her teacher," Ninomiya stated, her arms akimbo. "And I'd like to know what my student has done."

"Well..." Moon temporized, who was unsure of the young girl's claim and how she should answer.

At that moment, Ranma saw her opportunity coming, so she said, "Don't bother, teach. I've got this."

Before any of her opponents could tell her otherwise, she made her move. She leapt toward the sea-green sailor senshi, who hadn't expected a confrontation, and baited the yellow one over to protect her — just like she had hoped. Instead of following through with her leap, she brought out her wings and stopped herself short in midair; which not only caused the current long-ranged attackers to readjust their aim, but the yellow sailor senshi to overcommit to her action and needing to recover from the feint. She had just enough time to fire a mōko takabisha from each hand, which caught the purple and black sailor senshi by surprise, before she dashed toward the yellow one — with more speed than she had demonstrated thus far — and took advantage of her vulnerable position by punching her into her sea-green companion, which sent them both toward and through the school's perimeter wall a few dozen meters away.

She had a split second to worry about her mōko takabisha being much stronger than usual, because she wasn't sure how well the sailor senshi could guard against it, but she was pretty sure that the yellow and sea-green sailor senshi would be fine, since she'd had more than enough time to test how well they could withstand her physical attacks. Then, she stepped aside to avoid the orange sailor senshi's sword, and it was a simple matter of putting her down with a well-placed chop to the back of the head. With more than half of the active participants down for the count, she made quick work of the rest, save for the sailor senshi with the wings.

That had been pretty easy, though she had been fairly confident in her ability to deal with her opposition once she'd had enough time to study them. The purple and black sailor senshi had been the only ones that she had seen using protective barriers, so she had made them her first priority. There was no point in having a good offense if they had a better defense, and she had been unable to get through their barriers with her strongest physical attack — which had really hurt! The yellow and sea-green sailor senshi worked really well together, and were the most skilled at harrassing her and making it difficult to pay attention to what the others were doing, so they had been her next priority. After that, well, there really wasn't much of a challenge left; that fog would have been a little inconvenient, at best.

When she turned to face the last sailor senshi, who she assumed to be the leader, she frowned and crossed her arms in an imperious manner. "So, are we done here? I don't know what you think I'm going to do, but — if you're not going to be helpful — I'd rather you go away and not bother me again."

Moon's shock over the sudden defeat of her friends, as if they'd been played with up until the final moment, was soon replaced by anger and determination. She wasn't going to allow this enemy to get away with their plan, whatever it happened to be; especially after it had the nerve to think that there was even the remotest chance of them helping it with whatever they intended to do.

Knowing that the fight wasn't — couldn't be — over, she set her jaw and summoned the Ginzuishou into her hands, which she raised above her head. When she focused her will and intent upon it, it began to shine brightly, which made it difficult for others to look at it directly as its light bathed the area. While that was happening, the terrain was being restored, as if a battle hadn't just occurred there, and maladies — however many were present — were cured. More importantly, the sailor senshi were healed of their injuries and roused to consciousness.

Ranma gawked at the sailor senshi as they assembled around their apparent leader, looking perfectly fine and ready for another go. However, it wasn't long before her displeasure manifested itself fully, whereupon she pointed at the winged sailor senshi both vigorously and accusingly as she shouted, "How is that fair!? What kind of good guys are you!?"

Moon stood proudly and smiled. "The kind that triumphs over evil, of course!"

Ninomiya's eyes narrowed at this development. Her student had shown mercy when she had defeated the sailor senshi, yet they had recovered and weren't willing to give her any quarter. Sailor senshi or not, that was bullying... Which made them delinquents! As Ranma's teacher, if she desired — and she did! — to nurture a student into a better person, not only did she have to punish them when they did wrong, but reward them for good behavior or give them support when mistreated.

Only one of the sailor senshi just happened to notice her when she raised her fifty-yen coin and aimed it at their group, much too late to do anything more than give a short warning before they all came under the enervating effects of her technique. Between being caught unprepared and stumbling into each other when their bodies didn't respond properly, they failed to escape the effective range of the technique and collapsed, too weak to move and getting weaker still.

Tuxedo Kamen had arrived on the scene just before his love had collapsed, because he had sensed that she was in danger. Unfortunately for him, he tended to act in haste when she was in immediate danger, so he had teleported to her side instead of at a distance that would have afforded him a better understanding of the situation. As a result, he was just as surprised as the others when they were drained, and it wasn't long before he joined them on the ground. When all was said and done, they were too weak to move, much less to wage another offensive.

"What the...?" Venus groaned weakly.

Mercury tried to see their attacker over another of her fallen allies, but could barely do more than grip the grass. "Was that... the real threat...?"

That made enough sense to Moon, since said threat had said that she was their target's teacher. It was too late to regret such an oversight, though it didn't really matter: she still had the Ginzuishou. All she had to do was—

Ranma plucked the Ginzuishou out of her hands as soon as she saw her pull it out, and ignored her weak protests to give it back. There was no way that she was going to let someone like them keep such a bothersome object, so long as it was going to be used to bother her. Idly, as she looked the object in question over, she amused herself a bit with the thought of it being the start of a treasure hoard.

Finally, she turned to thank the person who had helped her, as unexpected as it was. "Thanks, teach. I owe—"

She stopped abruptly and stared — along with everyone else — at the sight before her, only now noticing how quiet it had become after the sailor senshi had been put down, and why. Where her young teacher had once stood wasn't just the adult version of her, but one dressed in a sailor senshi uniform. The strappy, high-heel sandals that laced up the calves, skirt and collar were brown, while the ribbons were a dark green, and in her hand was a bow that seemed to be fashioned from a rose, with prickles along its length and a flower that was in full bloom set at the top.

"No way..." Moon gasped, her eyes wide in shock as she tried to comprehend what had happened.