Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma, though I'd figure that that's a given. I also don't own Sailor moon, though if you thought I did you have mental problems.
Author's Notes: I've always been one to respond to reviewer comments, so I'll take this time to do so. Skip ahead if you don't care.
Kuno-Baby: ….not quite. Read on in the chapter and you'll see why Konatsu's still a girl.
Guitar Wolf: Yes there will be a 4th chapter. In fact, you're reading it right now! Interesting, isn't it?
AshK: Konatsu will most likely stay a girl unless I change him back for some weird plot reasons later. Neither Ranma nor Ryoga will get stuck as girls though. Is Ukyo Tuxedo Mask? Well...that's my little secret. Konatsu didn't change back for reasons that will be stated at the beginning of this chapter. As for Konatsu's comment, let's just say he has a bad sense of humor.
Shinji the good sharer: Kodachi as Tuxedo Mask? I'm not that evil.
Lord Oberon: Evil clones? Where'd you get that idea? Hmm…come to think of it, that ain't half bad… Evil clones, eh?
And now, on with the fic.
The three untransformed Senshi sat in Ranma's room in general silence, now fully clothed and mostly male, with the exception of Konatsu. Konatsu, for her part, was lying on the ground while holding an icepack to her face, still suffering from when Ryoga slammed her head into the bottom of the furo and through the floor. Kasumi was absolutely furious when she found a giant hole in the middle of the furo that went all the way under the house. To be honest, no one present had ever seen her so angry.
"You should probably apologize, Ryoga." Ranma muttered, glaring at Ryoga out of the corner of his eye. The lost boy growled a bit and clenched his fist, still angry from earlier.
"You think I'm gonna apologize to Konatsu? Why should I!" He asked, angrily.
"Actually, I meant Kasumi. Konatsu had that coming." The only response gained from the victim in question was an annoyed groan. Chances were the Kunoichi had a concussion, and even if she didn't her head was aching so bad she didn't feel like talking. Some people just couldn't take a joke. It was at that point that Luna strolled into the room, happy to see the three gathered in what she thought was a meeting.
"Ah, there she is. The first female Senshi!" Luna muttered, spotting Konatsu and walking across the room to the downed girl. "What happened to you? Did a truck hit you?" Luna asked when she noticed the current state the girl was in. She had definitely been roughed up quite a bit.
"Oi, Luna. I've been meaning to ask you something." Ranma said, getting the cat's attention, "Why didn't Konatsu change back into a guy when in hot water?"
"Why would she? Konatsu's a girl." Luna responded, unsure of what Ranma was talking about. Hot water? Since when does hot water change a person's gender? Well, except for Ranma. But he's just weird like that.
"Luna, Konatsu used to be a guy before he transformed. But when we hit him with hot water, he didn't change back like me and Ryoga." Ranma explained. Luna looked confused. She had personally given Konatsu her transformation pen. She knew a girl when she saw one!
"Are you sure? I gave her the pen myself. She was a girl!" Luna exclaimed, turning around when Konatsu sat up.
"Actually, I was a boy. I just cross dressed." Konatsu explained through a wince, pressing the icepack against her head as she lay back down.
"She was a boy?" Luna asked, completely shocked. She felt like her jaw was going to fall through the floor.
"Yeah, so how do we change him back?" Ranma asked. Luna just growled at first, causing a shiver to run up the pigtailed boy's spine. For some reason, his squirrel was angry.
"How the hell should I know! I barely understand how moon magic works! When you disable the transformation you return to your natural form! Beyond that, I don't have a clue! The Senshi aren't supposed to be men, so I don't know how being men would affect the magic! You either change back or you don't! Frankly, I fail to see how water temperature is involved for you two!" Luna loudly explained, obviously angry for some reason. Ryoga and Ranma just sat where they were and blinked in general surprise, neither one having seen the cat so angry before.
"So in other words, you don't know how to change him back." Ranma said, feeling the need to summarize Luna's words. Of course, he should have kept his mouth shut, as this apparently only angered the squirrel more. Before he was entirely sure why, he was lying on the floor and Luna was mauling his face.
Bishonen Senshi Sailor Moon
Chapter 3
Jadeite's Last Stand
"You've failed me again, Jadeite." Beryl uttered, anger clear in her words as she glared angrily at the general in front of her. "Give me one reason why I should not kill you where you stand." A cold sweat ran down the general's back as he knew his queen was perfectly willing to end him. Beryl was a student of the self-destructive school of evil. She killed more of her own men than her enemies did.
"Please my queen, give me another chance. I have samples of the Senshi; with them I can begin the final step of my plan and compare the DNA of the samples with every resident of the city. I will discover who they are!" Jadeite said, watching as Beryl shut her eyes and continued her hand waving.
"There is now a third Senshi. Do you have a sample of her?" Beryl asked, opening her eyes again and staring at Jadeite.
"Well, no I..." Jadeite never had the opportunity to finish his sentence. Before he could even utter another syllable his body was racked with electric current, enough to power a small city for a few days.
"I'll kill them all, my queen!" Jadeite screamed through the agony, hoping that beryl would slacken her assault. Unfortunately for him, she did no such thing. Thus, Jadeite continued. "When I discover their identities I'll kill them! Them, their families, friends, loved ones. Everyone! Everyone they've ever met! I'm bound to kill all three Senshi in the process!" Finally the assault stopped and Jadeite found himself kneeling on the ground with smoke rising from his charred body. He struggled to gather his breath as his heart rate finally began to slow. He was alive.
"Make sure that you do. You don't have another chance." Beryl said simply, dismissing Jadeite.
Ranma, Ryoga and Konatsu were all on their way to Ukyo's restaurant to check on the chef. Well, this wasn't quite true. Konatsu was on her way to Ukyo's restaurant to check on her, Ranma and Ryoga were simply following the ninja out of a lack of anything better to do.
"Maybe it's because Konatsu wanted to be a girl? Is that why he didn't change back?" Ranma muttered, almost to himself rather than the other two. He was now sporting multiple band-aids on his face after the vicious assault the squirrel gave him and had spent the last couple of minutes hypothesizing about Konatsu's condition. Thus far, he hadn't come up with anything good.
"That sounds pretty stupid, Ranma. Why would the transformation turn Konatsu into whatever he wanted to be? That doesn't make sense." Ryoga replied, shooting down this one as he had done to the rest of Ranma's ideas. The Hibiki boy was currently engaged in a game of Tetris as the three walked, much to the irritation of the other two as he refused to turn the music off.
"I don't hear you coming up with any ideas, Ryoga. Why don't you put that game away and tell me why you think he didn't change." Ranma said angrily, watching as Ryoga completely ignored the suggestion to stop playing.
"Konatsu isn't cursed, stupid. Why should hot water do anything to him? He's never been to Jusenkyo." This was Ryoga's reply, and it was accompanied by the Tetris theme just as Ryoga cleared another 4 rows and reached the 69th level. Ranma, for his part, had two reactions to that sentence. One was the feeling of wanting to smack himself in the head for not thinking of that himself. The other was a cold sweat on his back as he realized exactly what that meant.
"Ryoga, do you have any idea what that means? Our curses are the only reason we change back." Ranma said while Ryoga seemed to ignore him. "Don't you get it? If we ever get cured then we'll be stuck as girls like Konatsu is." The game over tune suddenly played. Ranma wasn't entirely sure how Ryoga was reacting to this information, but from the look of it he wasn't taking it very well.
"Konatsu!" A female voice was heard saying, drawing Ranma's attention away from Ryoga as he noticed Ukyo advancing on their position. She seemed fairly banged up. Her arms were completely concealed by bandages, and her face was almost hidden beneath a series of band aids.
"Ukyo-sama, you're alright!" Konatsu said, relieved. Oh course, the relieved look on her face was short lived, since it was promptly removed when Ukyo smacked the girl in the face with her spatula.
"No thanks to you! I got hit by a bus! But when I come to, are you anywhere insight? No. You just left me there!" Ukyo shouted indignantly, highly annoyed.
"But Ukyo-sama, I moved the bus and didn't see you..." Konatsu tried to explain, only to get hit in the head again.
"What did you think I did? Teleport? I was inside the bus you idiot! Did you ever think to look inside the giant hole in the roof?" Ukyo asked while Konatsu just chuckled to herself.
"Didn't think so! Now come on, we're wasting time! We have customers to serve!" And with that, the two departed. Ryoga and Ranma just stood there for a few seconds watching the chef drag the newly female ninja away, unsure of what to say at that point.
"How long do you think it'll take for Ukyo to realize Konatsu's a woman now?" Ranma asked idly, feeling up to a little wager.
"She probably won't notice, unless those two have a tendency to get naked with each other that I wasn't told about." Ryoga responded. Ranma snickered a little at Ryoga's comment about getting naked before replying.
"What makes you say that?" Ranma asked, curious.
"Konatsu was a convincing girl even when she was a man. Even I was tricked into thinking he was a girl." Ryoga stated simply. The two of them turned and started heading back in the general direction of the dojo, having no reason to keep standing in the street.
"Ryoga, you fall for everything. You can't even recognize my girl form if I put glasses on." Ranma replied sarcastically.
"So? I can always tell your breasts are real." Ryoga shot back. Ranma tripped a little as Ryoga said this, totally not expecting such a response.
"...what?" Ranma deadpanned.
"What? Is it wrong to stare at a girl's breasts?" Ryoga smirked a bit. He briefly wondered how long it'd take for Ranma to realize he was messing with him.
"When they're mine, yes!" Ranma shot back. Apparently awhile, Ryoga decided.
"Hey, I never knew it was you at the time." Ryoga continued.
"Of course you didn't, you apparently never looked at my face!" Ranma shouted back.
"Huh...good point." Ryoga uttered simply.
"That's it, we're changing the subject." Ranma demanded.
"Konatsu's got a nice set herself. Kinda hard not to notice them when she's sitting naked across from me in a furo." Ryoga changed the subject alright, officially deciding he was on a roll.
"I'm not listening to this!" Ranma insisted, running off. Ryoga watched him go for a moment in silence before laughing to himself.
Jadeite sighed to himself a bit as he looked out on to the empty lot that would be the base of his operations. Night had long since fallen and the general wasted no time to set his plan into motion.
"You youma, work quickly now. There is no time to waste." He spoke, urgency in his words as the feminine underlings of beryl went about setting up. The plan was foolproof. As far as the humans knew it was just a carnival that was coming into town, but it was much more than that. The entrance as well as every booth of every ride was equipped with DNA scanners that would check every human that entered for a match to the Senshi. All Jadeite had to do was offer a one week only free admission and people would come flocking. He didn't care if it took all week, he'd get results. Then when he found the Senshi, he'd see to their deaths personally.
"They may be formidable, but I will not let them defeat me. Prepare yourself, Sailor Senshi. Your end is near." Jadeite began to laugh maniacally to himself as visions of victory filled his head. Of course, he wasn't foolish enough to underestimate them. He had a back-up plan, just incase they proved too powerful for him alone to fight. One way or the other, the three warriors were going to meet their ends soon.
Another school day had come and gone and Ranma once again found himself walking home with Akane. He was in a bit of a foul mood today, but that was understandable when one considered what had happened earlier.
"You didn't have to put Terada-sensei in the hospital you know. They might expel you for that." Akane stated, trying to be angry at her fiancé but knowing he was justified. It was the only reason she hadn't hit him yet, actually.
"Come on, Akane. He tried to grope my girl form again. He's been trying to get me to wear the girl's gym uniform since he came to Furinkan. He's just an old pervert with some weird fetish." Ranma stated simply, still feeling a bit annoyed. He felt much better than he did earlier though. It's amazing what breaking a guy's legs in multiple locations did for his mood.
"A fetish for what, boys that turn into girls? How common could that possibly be?" Akane remarked sarcastically. Unbeknownst to her, several hundred sneezes rang out throughout Japan, as that particular ailment was a hell of a lot more common than Akane seemed to realize.
Whatever happened to the old P.E. teacher anyway?" Ranma asked from his perch on the fence, still strolling across it with practiced ease towards the dojo.
"He quit a long time ago, Ranma. And now that you broke Terada-sensei's legs they'll have to find a new P.E. teacher again." Akane stated, chastising her fiancé again.
"Hey, it's not like I tried to break his legs. How was I supposed to know he'd be so fragile?" Ranma shot back.
"You threw him through a wall, Ranma! What did you think would happen? You're lucky only his legs broke. You could have killed him." Truth be told, she'd have done a lot worse if he had tried anything with her, but she wouldn't tell Ranma that.
"I throw Ryoga through lots of walls." Ranma shrugged.
"Ryoga's a lot stronger than a P.E. teacher." Akane sighed.
"Meh, we're better off without that old pervert. I'm sure they can find another P.E. teacher. There's gotta be someone they can hire. Anyone would be better than Terada."
"Ah-choo! I hope I'm not coming down with something." A man stated, wiping his nose with a handkerchief before continuing his walk. He was fairly tall, being at least 6 feet in height. He sported long blue hair that was tied back into a pony tail that draped down his back. He was dressed in a red shirt with green trim and a pair of brown slacks and had a bag hung over his shoulder. And from the look of him, he was pretty depressed.
"Ah…What am I supposed to do? I don't have any money and I've got no where to stay. Kurage has probably been turned into dog soup by now…" He mumbled, continuing his walk through the streets. If only that stupid vice-principal hadn't had it out for him. He might have been able to keep his job a little longer.
"I suppose it was for the best though. I wouldn't have been able to keep up that ruse for much longer, I don't think." He said with a sigh, continuing to walk and staring at his feet. He idly heard an odd jingle reach his ears and looked up. However, he wasn't able to stop in time and ran straight into someone.
"Ah damn it, I lost again! I was so close to beating the high score too!" Ryoga exclaimed in annoyance as he helped the guy he knocked over back to his feet. It was really annoying how often he was distracted before he could beat his score. He'd have to get lost one of these days and just sit around playing in a forest where no one would bother him. He'd be able to beat it then.
"Sorry for running into you, I wasn't looking where I was going." The six foot blue haired man said as he returned to his feet, finally looking at the teenaged boy he accidentally walked into.
"R...Ryoga?" He muttered, suddenly realizing the boy bore a striking resemblance to multiple photos his elder brother had shown him.
"Eh? Uncle Amawa? What're you doing in Hokkaido?"
"So what have you been up to lately, Ryoga? How's your father doing?" Amawa asked from his seat across from his nephew. The two of them happened across the Nekohaten and decided to get a bite to eat.
"I haven't been doing much more than training recently. I'm not sure about my father; I haven't seen him in a few years. He's just as lost as always." Ryoga said simply, taking a few bites of his Ramen. Shampoo was the only one around from the looks of it, not counting the guy with the goatee cooking in the back. The place was far from full because of this from the looks of it. Shampoo hadn't even bothered to set up a lot of the tables, so there were only about 6 open places. Only 3 of them were currently occupied. One by Ryoga and his uncle, and the other two were on the other side of the restaurant.
"That figures. He's had problems with directions ever since he met your mother. I haven't seen him in a few years either." Amawa stated, also beginning to eat his Ramen. The two were silent for a few moments when Ryoga saw Ranma entering the shop out of the corner of his eye. He decided he was better off ignoring him.
"So what have you been up to, Uncle? I haven't seen you since I was a little kid." Ryoga asked in-between bites.
"Well I graduated from the university recently and became a gym kyoshi, but I've had a bit of trouble getting a job. I just got fired a few days ago and now I've got nowhere to go. You wouldn't happen to know if there are any openings around here, would you?" Amawa asked. He idly noticed a near by pigtailed youth making a bit of a fuss with the waitress, but he didn't really pay much attention.
"Well there is Furinkan High a few blocks from here." Ryoga began, before turning towards the pigtailed boy. "Oi, Ranma. Are there any openings at Furinkan for gym teachers?" Ryoga asked, suddenly seeing that Ranma was fighting with Shampoo over something. The pigtailed boy let go suddenly upon hearing Ryoga's voice, causing Shampoo to stumble backward and accidentally toss the object they were fighting over in Ryoga's direction. From the looks of it, it was a jar of water. Knowing better than to get splashed, Ryoga vacated his seat in a hurry. Unfortunately for Amawa, he wasn't quite sure what was going on and got nailed head on with a bucket worth of water.
"Gah! What the hell is...?" Amawa began, but stopped when he noticed an odd change in his voice. In fact, his whole body felt a bit off. He may have been imaging it, but he could have sworn he was a little bit shorter. Also, his wet clothing was sticking to him in ways it shouldn't have been doing. He also noticed that the blue ponytail that should have been hanging over his shoulder was brown.
"This...this can't be happening." Amawa uttered, but he couldn't deny the facts. He was now a she. The familiar weight on her chest and the sound of her voice were more than enough to convince her, especially since she knew for a fact she hadn't taken the voice changer of the falsies with her when she left.
"Eh? Why'd he turn into a girl?" Ranma asked, before turning to shampoo. "I thought you said that was a cure." Shampoo was clearly angry at Ranma at the moment. In fact, she was resisting the urge to hit him.
"I said it was cure for Shampoo's curse, not Ranma's!" She shouted irritably, highly annoyed. It had been so hard to convince the Jusenkyo guide to have some Nyannichuan shipped all the way to Japan. He was always so uptight about mailing the cursed waters because of how dangerous it would be for it to spill midway. If it wasn't for that favor he owed her, Shampoo probably would have never pulled it off. For his part, Ranma suddenly realized his mistake. He had just cost Shampoo her chance at a cure, and from the look of it she wasn't too happy about it. Oh yeah, he also caused some random person to get cursed. There was that, too.
"I'm sorry Shampoo, I didn't mean for that to happen. I just got over excited, that's all." Ranma said, hoping Shampoo would forgive him as he completely failed to notice the brown haired woman crying about her predicament or the way Ryoga was glaring at him.
"I won't forgive you that easy!" Shampoo huffed, turning her back on her Airen. Amawa was still overreacting and Ryoga was making an impressive impression of a bonfire, but Ranma wasn't paying attention.
"I'll make it up to you! I'll do one thing for you, anything you want. Okay?" Shampoo's ear's perked up.
"Anything?" She asked, a mischievous grin slowly working its way up her face. Ranma just gulped, realizing what he had gotten himself into. It was too late now though, so he just nodded his head.
"Take Shampoo on date tonight!" She exclaimed, her good mood returning. "Carnival just came into town. We go, yes?" She was overly exited and her grammar was suffering from it, but Ranma resigned himself to his fate and merely nodded.
'Great, now I have to take shampoo out on a date. Akane's going to kill me.' Ranma thought with a sigh. It was at that moment that he remembered the conversation he had with Ryoga the previous day. 'Ah, damn it! And it was for nothing too! I totally forgot I can't get the cursed cured!'
"RANMA!" Ryoga finally growled out, reaching the end of his rope. Amawa stopped complaining to herself and looked on in awe as her nephew shoved the head of the pigtailed boy straight through the solid wood floor, quite surprised by this turn of events.
Ranma was once again walking down the road with bandages covering his face, only this time he was accompanied by a tall brown haired woman and her still highly annoyed nephew.
"How many times do I have to say 'I'm sorry'?" Ranma muttered, still feeling the headache from when Ryoga decided to put his head through the foundations of the Nekohaten. Ryoga merely grumbled in response.
'Of all the irony...' Amawa thought to herself, still unable to properly cope with the situation. What were the chances that he'd get turned into a woman and look almost identical to the way he looked when he cross dressed?
"I'll make it up to you, alright? Didn't you say you were looking for a job earlier as a gym teacher?" Ranma asked, directing his question at Amawa.
"Eh? Yeah. I am." She responded, still a little too much in shock to coherently speak.
"Well you're in luck! I broke the Furinkan P.E. teacher's legs when I threw him through a wall today, so they'll be looking for someone to fill the spot." Ranma stated simply while he continued to walk, causing Amawa to pause for a few seconds.
"W...what?"
Ranma sighed as he got home, dreading what was coming next. Ryoga had taken his uncle to his house a few hours ago and the pigtailed boy had spent that time wandering around Nerima trying to think of an excuse to give Akane. He had to take Shampoo on a date tonight, and if Akane caught wind of it he'd be dead.
"Ok, here we go. I've got the perfect plan." Ranma said to himself, approaching the door to the Tendo home. "I'll just completely avoid the subject. I'll just go to sleep early and sneak out. She'll never be the wiser." With this in mind, he took a quick breath and walked into the house.
"Tadaima!" Ranma announced, taking his shoes off at the door and walked into the house.
"Ranma! Where have you been?" Akane asked, looking around the wall as Ranma walked in. "What happened to your face?" She was fairly dressed up, as if she were preparing to go somewhere. This, of course, immediately set off warning lights in Ranma's head.
"Ryoga shoved my head through a floor." Ranma explained, hoping that would be enough explanation for both questions. "Are you going somewhere or something?" Ranma asked, indicating the way Akane was currently dressed.
"Oh. Kasumi, Nabiki and I were going to head down to the carnival that just came into town. Do you want to come?" Akane responded, causing all the color to drain from Ranma's face.
'Oh shit oh shit oh shit.' He thought to himself. "No, I think I'll just go to sleep early." Ranma muttered, walking up the stairs. 'I'm so screwed.' Ranma thought as he wandered into his room and went immediately out the window. Ranma was formulating his plan as he jumped roof to roof on his way to the Nekohaten to pick up Shampoo. He only had one shot at this, and he had to do it right.
'Alright, I've got to do this fast. I'll get shampoo, and we'll head to the carnival. I'll get in and out as fast as possible.' Ranma reached the Nekohaten and quickly went inside, spotting Shampoo in the kitchen.
"Nihao Airen!" Shampoo called, leaving the kitchen in a hurry in order to pounce Ranma. Ranma took this opportunity to grab the girl around the waist and hightail it out of the building, much to the confusion of the girl in question.
Jadeite growled in annoyance as yet another hour passed and he still lacked results. Maybe he should have just gone with the mass hallucination plan? That was sure to have succeeded. Just cast a very large illusionary spell to project his face into the night sky over Tokyo. Include a threat to burn the city to the ground and the Sailor Senshi were sure to show.
'Too late for that now.' Jadeite thought, turning his head to the side as he watched a few more humans enter the carnival grounds.
"Come on, Ukyo-sama! You're too uptight; a little fun would do you some good." Konatsu said, dragging her boss onto the carnival grounds as the two headed in the general direction of one of the rides. Jadeite took out a small, cell phone shaped object and looked at the screen, seeing the words 'No Match' clearly written on it.
"You weren't kidding, Yuka. This place is pretty cool." Another pair of humans walked through the gates, two teenaged girls that didn't seem too important to the plot. Jadeite merely looked down at his device again, as he had been doing all night thus far, and once again saw the words 'No Match.'
"Free admission? That's a little suspicious…" A short haired woman said, walking through the gates. No match.
"Come on Nabiki, quick being so paranoid." Another woman passed through the gates archways, and once again there was no match.
"This place does look fun. Maybe we should have brought father along." A long haired woman this time, but this made no difference to Jadeite as she didn't match either.
'This is beginning to annoy me.' The general thought to himself, clenching his fist in pent up frustration. He was starting to doubt the validity of his samples. If Ramua wasn't already dead Jadeite would have killed her for this.
"MATCH. MATCH. MATCH. MATCH." Jadeite nearly had a heart attack as the robotic voice of the device reached his ears, accompanied by an annoying beeping.
'It's a match, one of them is here.' Jadeite thought, an evil grin coming onto his face as he hit a button on the device. A camera image suddenly appeared of a boy with a bandana walking through the carnival with a weird device in his hands. According to the readout, he was sailor mercury.
'What? But he's a man.' Jadeite thought before putting the device into a pocket and walking towards the boy in question. He could see him in the distance now.
'So this is why Queen Beryl told me to scan the men. She knew they were boys disguised as female warriors.' Jadeite thought to himself as he calmly continued his stroll. His body began to slowly build up a corona of light, drawing the attention of nearby people. Wisps of power seemed to slowly flow off his body like smoke, progressively getting larger as more power began to radiate from his being.
"Sailor Mercury!" He bellowed, his voice carrying unnaturally across the entire area. Ryoga's hairs stood up on the back of his neck as his eyes left the screen of the Mercury Computer and met with Jadeite's. The blonde man's cold eyes seemed to stare straight through the lost boy, causing a chill to run down his spine as he suddenly got a game over in Tetris. For once, he didn't notice.
'Who is this guy? How'd he recognize me?' Ryoga thought, suddenly feeling very exposed. Luckily, everyone around was too busy looking at Jadeite to notice where Jadeite was looking, thus no one seemed to realize that he was the target of the man's attention.
"MATCH. MATCH. MATCH. MATCH." Jadeite turned to look at his device, seeing a pigtailed boy walking into the carnival accompanied by a woman. The device was centered on the boy and was giving a match for Sailor Moon, causing Jadeite's attention to be turned towards the entrance. With his attention elsewhere, Ryoga made a break for it. If this guy was going to insist on calling him Sailor Mercury, he might as well look the part. No need for the audience to learn his embarrassing little secret.
"Sailor Moon!" Jadeite shouted, causing Ranma to practically leap out of his skin as Jadeite stared through him.
"Who is crazy man talking to?" Shampoo asked, looking at the Dark general in confusion. By now all activity seemed to end as everyone drew their attention to Jadeite.
"Mercury power, make up." Ryoga muttered from behind a wall as his transformation took place. Shortly afterward Ryoga was a woman and dressed in her Senshi uniform, which she still didn't much care for.
"What the hell do you want?" Mercury shouted, catching the attention of the entire gathering as she stood atop a brick wall that was bordering the carnival. Jadeite smirked at her for a brief moment before exploding into maniacal laughter. Shortly after this, his body slowly lifted off the ground.
'What the...he can fly!' Mercury thought as she stared at Jadeite fiercely. She unconsciously began shifting into a fighting stance while still positioned on the wall, spotting Ranma ducking behind a wall out of the corner of her eye.
'Great, Ranma's transforming. I've got to keep this guy busy for a few minutes.' Mercury thought, not liking the look of the smoke-like aura the man was producing.
"Prepare yourself, Sailor Senshi!" Jadeite's aura exploded into dark flames as he held his hand out towards Ryoga, a ball of evil energy gathering in his hand.
"Die!" the ball became a beam in a few fractions of a second, barely giving Mercury's legs enough time to tense before it struck the wall beneath her feet and eradicated it. The Senshi was hurled from her perch by the force of the explosion and most of the people watching the show got the clue that now was the time to run. Ryoga skid to a stop and immediately burst into a run, aiming straight for Jadeite. With an impressive leap the blue haired girl was at the general's level with her fist cocked back and ready to fire. With a bit of a grunt, Ryoga struck with all her might, aiming for the cocky smirk on Jadeite's face. Judging from the smirk, Jadeite was not expecting a teenaged girl to be very strong. Thus, he did not even bother to dodge. Much to Jadeite's surprise, Mercury packed a significantly stronger punch than he anticipated, thus the minor shield he had around his body was shattered in an instant and he was hurled at great speeds into a nearby Ferris wheel, which got rather badly bent and dented and promptly fell over.
"Well that was easier than I expected." Mercury said to herself, hearing cheers rising from the crowd that hadn't yet fled the area. Ryoga spotted a few familiar faces in the crowd of people watching the fight, including Akane, her sisters, Ukyo and Shampoo. She also spotted Konatsu, much to her annoyance.
'What the hell is Konatsu doing just standing there?' Ryoga thought to herself, a bit annoyed that the other Senshi seemed to be content sitting back and watching. It was at that moment that a roar of anger rose from where Jadeite fell, causing Ryoga's attention to turn back to the person she was fighting.
"You wench! Do you think your pathetic strikes can take me down? I am Jadeite! It'll take more than that!" As he spoke these words Jadeite strolled out of the wreckage of the Ferris wheel, glaring at his target as he went. With a sudden grunt of effort the metallic structure shifted and floated slowly into the air, held aloft by an unknown force Jadeite was clearly creating.
"Die!" He screamed, hurling the giant wheel of warped metal at the Senshi of mercury. The crowd that had foolishly gathered was now panicky dispersing, and Ryoga wasn't entirely sure how she would go about stopping the approaching projectile.
"Moon Tiara Action!" Mercury barely registered the words but certainly noticed the attack they proclaimed. A streak of light flashed across the sky and impacted heavily against the flying wheel, knocking it off its intended course and causing it to fall heavily onto another attraction.
"You looked like you could use some help." Moon stated with a smirk, landing near the blue haired Senshi as more cheers arose from the far thinner crowd. Ryoga hadn't noticed before, but a few suspicious vans with satellites sticking out of the tops were parked nearby. At some point or another, a news team had shown up.
"About time you showed up," Mercury paused for the briefest of moments, remembering they had observers. "Sailor Moon." Ranma noticed the change in tone and silently reminded herself not to refer to Ryoga by his name before turning her attention to the problem at hand.
"Who the hell are you, anyway?" Moon asked, glaring angrily at Jadeite. The blonde man merely chuckled and floated off the ground once more, surrounded by a corona of power.
"I am Jadeite. You Sailor Senshi have been a thorn in my side for too long! And now that I know your identities, you and all your loved ones will die!" Jadeite shouted, powering up a ball of energy in his hand and hurling it at the two warriors. In an instant both leapt away, causing the ground they had been standing in before to explode as Moon and Mercury landed on either side of the angry general.
'He knows who we are!' Ranma thought, wondering how to deal with that slight problem.
"What's this? Broadcasting equipment?" Jadeite announced, gesturing to the reporters with cameras. "Maybe I should just announce your identities to the world. Let everyone you know realize it is your fault that they will soon die by my hand!" Jadeite shouted, causing both Ryoga and Ranma to tense their bodies.
"Screw that!" They screamed in unison, each leaping with the intent to nail Jadeite with a blow containing all their strength. Jadeite, knowing better than to get hit again, floated higher in the air to avoid the blows as the two girls were suddenly on a crash course with each other. However, the two were far more coordinated and graceful than Jadeite had anticipated. Thus, instead of plowing into each other in a humiliating display of clumsiness, Mercury caught Moon with a deft movement and promptly sent the other girl flying up towards their mutual target. Mercury touched down on the ground and Moon let loose with a roundhouse kick that struck Jadeite in the temple with all the force of a sack of bricks. Jadeite went down, and Mercury had every intention of intercepting him. With a jumping punch the blonde's momentum was redirected back into the air towards the descending Moon, who struck him in the back of the head with a hammer fist. This once again got Jadeite on ground level, but before he touched earth he was nailed in the gut with a side kick and was hurled through a wall. This all took place in mere moments and looked fairly impressive, causing another cheer to rise from the crowd.
"Think he's dead yet?" Moon asked, standing next to Mercury as the two looked into the small building they had knocked Jadeite into. With a sudden burst the building exploded, sending wood chunks into the crowd and blowing both Senshi back a few feet. Shrapnel from the blown up building tore a few holes into Mercury's fuku and gave the girl several scratches, but she was mostly unharmed. Moon had the good sense to catch every piece that came at her, so she came out virtually unscathed. The crowd didn't fare nearly as well. People were injured and bleeding throughout the near by area, and a few had rather large shards of wood and glass impaled in their limbs and bodies. One particularly unlucky man had a chunk of glass sticking out of his lower abdomen. After all the destruction, it seemed the crowd had finally got the hint and started to clear the area. Unfortunately, a lot of them were too wounded to get far.
"You son of a bitch!" Moon cried out, leaping at Jadeite in a jump kick once the blonde man came into view. The general had reached his wits end. He was absolutely furious by this point. He was not about to let a couple of uppity bitches defeat him and make a mockery of his power. Seeing the attack coming a mile a way, Jadeite lashed out with a hand and caught Moon around the calf, digging his fingers into her leg and then slamming her into the rubble behind him. Ranma struck the pile of wood and dirt with a grunt, breaking her fall with her arms a little but being mostly unable to fix her situation as Jadeite swung her around again and slammed her back against a still standing iron pole. Mercury, noticing Ranma was having a bit of a problem, ran forward with the intention of burying her fist into Jadeite's stomach. Instead Jadeite turned Moon into a projectile and nailed Mercury head on with the red head. As the two stumbled back, Jadeite gathered his power and forced a ball of energy forward at the two, hitting them dead on this time as a mighty explosion sent the two girls flying.
"Fire Soul!" Apparently, Konatsu escaped the crowd at some point and managed to transform. Jadeite never saw the attack coming. One moment he was smirking after showing the Senshi their place, the next he was engulfed in flames and introduced to extreme levels of pain.
"Are you two okay?" Mars asked, running to the side of her comrades as the two other Senshi returned to their feet after being blown up by Jadeite's attack. They were injured, yes. But neither one was showing it.
"I could have done that if I had a decent attack." Mercury muttered, staring at the human bonfire rolling around on the ground. It seemed the Jadeite was mostly incapacitated at the moment, which meant the fight could be ended right then and there. All Moon had to do is hit him with a Moon Tiara Action and they'd be rid of the general for good. Unfortunately, before Ranma could use her attack, Jadeite managed to ignite some nearby carnival booths with his wild flailing. And since Jadeite had built the carnival out of highly flammable materials, said fire was soon spreading across the entire area.
"Ah crap." Ranma muttered, quite elegantly expressing the feeling of this new turn of events. The entire carnival was in chaos now as people ran screaming in every given direction to evacuate. People were already injured before from the explosion of shrapnel. Now with the added problem of fire, a lot more civilians were getting hurt. Everything was plunged into mayhem as things got completely out of hand. Moon, Mercury and Mars were trapped in a ring of fire towards the middle of the carnival and couldn't do much but avoid the flames. They could clearly hear the sound of screaming coming from various directions and Jadeite was no where to be seen.
"Shit! What are we supposed to do now!" Ranma cursed, looking around at the fire in extreme annoyance. Their enemy wasn't in sight and there were people that needed help. Moon was fairly certain she heard sirens approaching the area, but whether these were from fire trucks or ambulances was unknown to her.
"Way to go, Mars! Set the whole god damn place on fire, why don't you?" Ryoga shouted, equally angry at this turn of events. Seeing nothing but flames around her, Mercury decided to do something about it. Last time she checked, Mist required a lot of water to form.
"Bubble…" The Senshi began, feeling the temperature drop around her as the vapors formed around her arms. "…Spray!" a blast of water vapor shot off in every direction, quenching flames as it past but being unable to form a mist due to the heat. In a few short moments the torrential flames that once burned violently all around was now reduced to embers slowly burning at ashes. Half the carnival was out in that instant and what remained that was still burning was being put out by the firemen that had at some point arrived.
"What do you know; it's actually useful for something." Mercury stated, a smirk on her face at this result. The sound of something cracking caused all three of them to jump a bit. This noise was followed by the groaning noise of bending wood, as if a great tree was protesting its sudden and unexpected descent towards the earth. This was actually fairly accurate, as a half burnt support beam that was about the thickness of a telephone pole was rapidly descending in their direction. Most specifically, Moon's direction, as she was directly in its way.
"Look out!" It was a masculine voice that said it, a masculine voice Ranma couldn't place, though it sounded fairly familiar. Moon had already tensed her legs in preparation to evacuate ground zero, easily fast enough to avoid the falling pole. However, before she had the chance, her legs left the ground against her will as a pair of strong arms scooped her up and carried her out of danger. The pole struck the ground with a powerful thump and Ranma once again found her feet on the ground, though the presence of the man in the suit and mask wasn't exactly appreciated.
"Are you ok?" He asked, his entire face hidden behind the mask but the concern fairly clear in his voice. Moon glared at him and pushed him back a bit, unhappy that he felt the need to save her.
"I can handle myself you know. I don't need your help." Ranma growled, still glaring at the masked man.
"What kind of man would I be if I didn't offer my assistance to a lady?" The mirth Ranma was familiar with returned the masked man's voice, making him annoying again. He added an odd emphasis to the word 'man' for some reason, as if he felt a profound irony in it. Ranma didn't pay nearly enough attention to nuances to notice this, though. Instead she just continued to get annoyed by the smirk she could hear in his voice.
"Who the hell are you?" She demanded.
"No one of consequence." He responded, the smirk still audible in his speech. Both Mars and Mercury had by now began to approach the two, a little curious about the newcomer.
"Don't give me that bullshit again. If you don't tell me who you are I'll kick your ass." Before the masked man could respond to this threat, his shoulder exploded in red as blood poured freely from a fresh wound. A large metal bar was partially impaled in his right shoulder and Jadeite was on the other end of it, pushing the masked man to the ground and forcing the bar deeper, effectively impaling him to the ground. His hat fell off and bounced away, revealing his long black hair that draped across the ground. The masked man grunted in pain at his sudden predicament, hardly appreciating being nailed down.
"Bastard!" Ranma screamed kicking Jadeite in the face and knocking him off the Tuxedoed man. The fuku clad girl quickly yanked the bloody spear out of both the ground and the boy's shoulder and tossed it aside.
"I can handle myself, you know." He stated, getting to his knees and holding his shoulder as Mercury and Mars got closer and readied themselves.
"He isn't dead yet?" Mercury asked, surprised that Jadeite was still standing after being barbequed. Mars was helping the tuxedoed man to his feet while the other two stared Jadeite down, more than willing to lay a beat down on the man.
"All four of you will die here." Jadeite stated smugly, once again using his hovering technique as he lifted off the ground. Wisps of energy began to fall off jadeite's body like smoke as he gathered his power for another attack.
"That's it. I'm getting sick of you." Ryoga muttered, her eyes closing as her body began to glow. A deep red corona surrounded mercury's body as the wisps of energy fell freely from her form. Jadeite frowned a bit at this display, noticing that the Senshi was obviously powering up a similar attack to his own. An Orb appeared in jadeite's palm and hovered there, the energy around his body flowing into it.
"Shishi..." Ryoga whispered, a tear falling down her cheek as the thoughts she forced through her mind took their toll.
"Die!" Jadeite growled, firing his blast towards the Senshi. Mercury simply opened her eyes, displaying the menacing solid red glow that had practically replaced her eyes. Jadeite couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine as the corona vanished and condensed into a beech ball sized orb in the hands of the girl.
"HOKODAN!" Jadeite's blast didn't stand a chance as the solid red beam of the Shishi Hokodan tore through it with wild abandon and struck the general full in the chest, hitting with the force of a bullet train and exploded against his chest. The general was hurled backwards, howling in agony as he fell towards the ground.
"My turn." The tuxedoed man stated, vanishing from Mars' grip as he seemed to materialize a cane in his hand and dash towards the falling Jadeite. The masked man held the cane at his side like a scabbard, putting his left hand over the top of it as he reached his target. There was a sudden flurry of motion and the flash of metal in the air, accompanied by the sound of the wind being violently torn by a fast moving object. Jadeite hit the ground with a thump and the Tuxedoed man was standing behind him, holding the cane in his right hand still, with another object in his left. From the way the light glinted from its surface, it was clearly made of metal. The red tint to it suggested that it was soaked in blood. With a flick of his wrist, most of the blood was thrown from the blade. Then with a few fast spins in the air the rest was removed and the blade was quickly sheathed into the cane. It seemed it was one of those trick canes that contained a sword within. Jadeite was on the ground, bleeding rather profusely with most of his shirt in tatters. It seemed the tuxedoed man wasn't very happy with getting stabbed. He returned the favor ten fold.
"I…refuse to…accept this." Jadeite got out, gurgling a bit of blood as he did so. Ranma simply approached the downed general and removed her tiara as she did so, letting it transform into a disc in her hands.
"Refuse it all you want. It won't matter when you're powder in a few seconds anyway. Moon Tiara..." Jadeite could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins as his hairs stood on end and his pupils dilated. He knew what this sensation meant. It was the fight or flight response. His body was readying itself for a final move. This was it. His instincts knew that death was the only thing awaiting him.
"…Action!" Almost without realizing it, Jadeite triggered a teleportation spell with the last of his strength. The tiara dug a trench into dirt, hitting nothing else.
"What happened? Isn't he supposed to disappear after you hit him?" Mercury asked, looking at the spot Jadeite had once been.
"He got away." Moon stated, turning her head towards the Tuxedoed man only to notice a complete absence of him. "So did tux boy." She clenched her fist, still annoyed about his continued anonymity. It was around that point that Ranma remembered he had come to the carnival with Shampoo, and that Akane and her sisters were also attending. And considering its current shape...
"Oh shit!" Moon exclaimed, looking around and seeing no one around and quickly de-transformed. Both Mercury and Mars followed shortly afterward.
"What's the big deal?" Ryoga asked, a bit annoyed that she was still a girl. Her clothing didn't fit very well on a girl's body, for one thing. She had to tighten her belt a lot further or else her pants would have fallen off.
"Akane and the others were here! Remember when all that wood and stuff got launched into the crowd? And the fire?" Ryoga simply blinked at Ranma's words, not entirely able to respond to it at first.
"Akane could be hurt! AKANE!" She shouted, and then promptly ran off.
"You think he'll remember to use hot water first?" Konatsu asked, looking at Ranma.
"He'll probably get lost before he even gets the chance." Ranma responded. With that, the two quickly left the ruins of the park, both wanting to ensure no one was seriously hurt.
Jadeite materialized at the foot of Beryl's throne, coughing up a puddle of blood onto the floor before looking up. His eyes met with those of his queen and he immediately knew what a mistake teleporting had been.
"Queen Beryl, I..."
"SILENCE!" She shouted, sending electricity through the general's body. "You've failed me for the last time, Jadeite. I do not tolerate useless underlings." Before the general could protest, his life was snuffed out, a blast of power having struck his head with more than enough force to kill him. Jadeite's broken form merely laid on the grounds, bleeding freely from both his torso and now his head before Beryl used her powers to banish his corpse.
"I trust you will succeed where he failed." Beryl stated, turning to a silhouette on the other side of the room.
"Jadeite was a fool. Leave matters to me." He stated, before bowing and leaving the room.
To Be Continued
(Author's Notes)
Ha! I continued it! Bet you weren't expecting that! You may have also noticed that I randomly crossed it with two more things in this chapter. I have the feeling this fic will turn out to be a massive crossover, since the potential for it is quite obvious.
Ryo-Wolf