Author's note: There is a point in time when chapters start to get too long. A lot can happen in a day, but when it's 'a day' for four different groups of people, it becomes quite a bit more... as I realized while writing this chapter.
Please let me know about any issues ASAP so I can fix them.
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-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Chapter 3
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Yusuke slowly blinked his eyes open. The first thing he saw was an eggshell white ceiling. Bumps and holes perforated the ceiling tiles, giving it a sense of randomized uniformity. He slowly came to be aware of the high pitched beeping of a machine nearby, but he paid it no heed. Instead, he stared up uncomprehendingly at the blotchy tiles, his mind free of any thought. A few moments passed like this and his eyes slowly turned to face the origin of the beeping sound of their own accord. He saw wires leading away from his body to several devices and monitors with readouts of numbers and his pulse. A pouch with clear liquid hung on a rack, and a clear tube lead from it to his arm, where it was connected by way of needle. There was a curtain serving as a wall to his right, and an actual wall with a large window to his left.
There, sitting in a chair by the darkened window was the familiar red haired form of Kurama's human aspect, Shuuichi. The boy looked up, seeming to notice his awareness, and smiled.
Yusuke's mind was sluggish, but he had a vague sense of where he was.
"Good morning."
There was a brief pause before Yusuke responded.
"K…Kurama?"
Yusuke frowned.
"What are you… doin… here?"
The red haired teen chuckled.
"I'm here to see you, of course."
Yusuke blinked.
"Oh."
The once spirit detective turned ramen chef sat up in his bed and started to twist his neck about, earning a few satisfying pops as everything shifted back into place.
"Hiei wasn't lying. You were beaten pretty badly," The red haired teen leaned back against a wall. "By a few common human thugs, no less."
Yusuke blinked his eyes a few times as he turned to face the other teen.
"What?"
Kurama chuckled.
"Haven't you wondered why you're sitting here in a hospital bed?"
The other teen blinked.
"Well I guess they don't just pick up drunks they find lying on the street," He said, rolling his shoulders and earning some more pops.
"Of course not. That's what jail cells are for." The other teen said. "You don't remember what happened?"
Yusuke paused in his movements and considered it.
"The last thing I remember… I was looking for a way back home…" He frowned. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know who I crashed with last night, would you?"
Kurama chuckled.
"It wouldn't be last night," He said. "You've been asleep for a day."
Yusuke frowned.
"An entire day?"
Kurama nodded.
"As for what happened two days ago, well…" Kurama said. "First off, how are you feeling?"
Yusuke blinked.
"Not too bad…" He said. "It doesn't feel like I got the shit kicked out of me, that's for sure. A little stiff and sore, maybe, but…"
Kurama nodded.
"I slipped a potent healing potion into your IV last night," He said. "You should be fully recovered in a matter of hours. I must say, humans may not be the most fearsome of creatures, but their development of technology certainly has its advantages."
Yusuke nodded.
"Speaking of which, you're fully human again."
Yusuke blinked.
"What?"
"We've got quite a lot to talk about," Kurama said with a sigh. "Think you could walk? I'd rather take our leave of this facility."
Yusuke nodded, then turned and hopped out of the bed, pulling himself free of the various machines monitoring him. Once he was standing free of the machines, he looked down at himself and realized that he wasn't wearing anything but a hospital gown.
"Shit, I don't have any clothes here, do I?"
Kurama shook his head.
"You've got bigger problems than that to worry about."
Yusuke sighed and started walking towards the other teen, but blinked on noticing the IV still in his arm. He pulled it out and let it drop as Kurama walked over to the window and opened it. Yusuke blinked in surprise on seeing the familiar short figure of Hiei standing outside the window on a very thin ledge. He wore the same all black ensemble as always, with the familiar white bandana around his head.
"Finally." The black haired demon said. Though his tone was one of impatience, his face showed only indifference. "You've cost us a lot of valuable time."
"Hiei?" Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "You're here too?"
The short demon simply turned and leapt away in a blur, leaving Yusuke to frown in confusion.
"What's he on about?"
"You'll find out in a moment," Kurama said as he took hold of the teen and leapt through the window.
Yusuke watched the world pass them by in a blur as they bounded across rooftops through the city, his hospital gown fluttering harshly. He tried in vain to keep it down. They stopped in the middle of a deserted park, and Kurama set the other teen down, then stepped away. Hiei stood beside them with both arms crossed.
"What the heck? I coulda followed on my own," Yusuke said with a frown.
Hiei snorted.
"The idiot hasn't even noticed how weak he is yet. I'd have thought a beating like that would be enough to show even him, but it seems I was wrong."
Yusuke frowned.
"Hey, I… well…" He blinked and looked down at himself. "Well what the hell's going on here anyway? You said I'm human… I hadn't noticed it until you said that, but you're right. And I'm not nearly as strong as I should be…"
Kurama chuckled.
"Your reiki was practically gone until yesterday," He said. "You almost died from that beating. So it wasn't a total loss."
Yusuke looked over at him.
"What are you talking about? How did that even happen?" He held up a hand and looked it over. "I should have been able to slap them silly with my little finger."
Kurama nodded.
"Indeed. But you've been severely weakened," He said. "And so have the two of us, but not nearly as much as you."
Seeing Yusuke's blank expression, he continued.
"A very powerful, unknown force is at work here, Yusuke. The entire world has been changed at some level, not just us."
Yusuke looked over at Hiei.
"You're weaker too?"
Hiei snorted.
"Not as strong as I used to be, but weak doesn't apply to me." He looked at Kurama with disdain. "Hurry up and explain this in terms that buffoon can understand."
Yusuke rolled his eyes.
"To be brief," Kurama began, "History has been altered. In this timeline, certain events that happened to us which in turn made us as powerful as we were, never came to pass. As a result, you were never powerful enough to be recognized by your latent mazoku genes, and are still human. In my case, my human aspect is actually gone," Kurama said. "What you see now is a simple transformation."
Yusuke blinked.
"Someone screwed with history?" He asked.
Kurama nodded.
"Like I said, the whole world has been changed. And unlike us, most people aren't even aware of the existence of a different history. It seems that only those who were S class demons recall the true nature of the world, but some of them are stuck in Makai."
Yusuke's jaw hung slightly as he processed that bit of information.
"Stuck in Makai?"
Kurama nodded.
"The gates to Makai were never unsealed in this timeline," He said. "The status quo is largely how you remember it to be before you became a spirit detective."
Yusuke blinked.
"What… but how? Who? Why?"
"He already said, an unknown force, you fool."
Yusuke turned to look at Hiei.
"Well, how do we fix it?"
Kurama shrugged.
"We have to investigate this phenomenon first," He said. "As it is, we know nothing other than its most obvious effects."
Yusuke nodded, but looked down at himself.
"What should I do then?"
"Train," Hiei said. "Train hard. You're useless right now."
Yusuke frowned.
Kurama sighed.
"Unfortunately, he's right," The kitsune said. "Despite everything, you still have a tiny bit of youki left in you, which I take to mean that your mazoku genes are still present. You need to work on reclaiming your strength first and foremost. I'll keep you informed of our discoveries, but you need to focus on that."
Yusuke clenched his fists with a frown.
"Training alone isn't going to help me. I need to fight. And I'd really like to kick the ass of whoever is behind all of this bullshit."
Kurama nodded.
"You may decide to hunt lesser demons, but I suppose the two of us will be able to spare some time to help you out."
Hiei snorted.
"He'll die if I fight him. You keep him to yourself for now."
And with that, he turned and leapt away, vanishing from sight immediately.
Yusuke rolled his eyes.
"Yeah yeah, I love you too, ass."
Kurama chuckled.
"Well, I suppose that's all for now then. Do you understand the situation?"
Yusuke tilted his head.
"A little? This is all a bit sudden." He shook his head. "If I'm really as weak as I was before I was a spirit detective, it'll take months to get back to where I was, if not a year or two…"
Kurama nodded.
"No one saw this coming." He turned away as well. "Well, you're going to need to get some new clothes, and figure out a way to support yourself," He said. "That place you woke up in two days ago is your apartment in this timeline. I don't know anything else about you, but I'm assuming you don't own a ramen cart here."
The ex-mazoku teen's eyes bugged.
"What?!"
Kurama chuckled.
"Now do you understand the situation?" He asked. "I'll see you around, Yusuke."
And with that, he took off in the same manner as Hiei.
Yusuke jerked in surprise, then reached out after them.
"What? Wait, no! At least lend me some clothes you assholes!" He took a few steps after them, but a sudden stiff breeze kicked up and ripped his gown off and carried it away. He looked down at himself in shock, then turned and quickly ran after the gown. "Get back here!"
-x-Ranma-x-
Ranma opened her eyes and immediately scanned the area. Though she was expecting an attack of some sort, she was surprised - and momentarily confused - to see that she was not in the guest room at the Tendo Dojo and about to be 'rudely awoken'; instead, she was in a large, fancy bed with a canopy and drapes. She turned her head to the bedstand, and seeing that the clock read 5:00 AM, she looked out the window. It was still dark out.
She quickly became acutely aware of aching pains spreading out all across her body. She was still sore from the exercises the day before, but she ignored it and dragged herself out of the bed and stood up. She sighed and pulled her boxers up, then surveyed the room.
'I'm gonna need to get some new threads,' She thought with disdain. As much as she preferred wearing borrowed boxers to the alternative that was available to her in that room, it still wasn't ideal. She stretched her arms over her head and moaned as the kinks in her arms and back straightened out. 'You'd think a fancy bed like that would be perfect or something,' she thought, putting her hands on her waist and bending backwards until one final satisfying pop signaled the end of the tension in her back. She sighed in relief and looked around the room. 'Guess I'll go train some more,' She thought.
She walked over to the desk, where her training outfit from the previous day waited, freshly washed and neatly folded. Before she could start to get changed, though, her cellphone, also on the desk suddenly came to life, its LED backlight brightening the otherwise dark room.
"Huh?" She muttered before picking it up and looking at it. There was a text message from Michiru. "A representative of the Sailor Senshi agreed to meet with me?" She blinked. 'Huh. That's better than zilch, I guess,' She shrugged and resumed changing out of her improvised pajamas and into her improvised training outfit.
When she was done she picked her phone up again and started to reply to the text.
That's neat, I guess. When and where can I meet them?
After pressing the send button, she started to ponder how she was to carry it out with her when the phone lit up and it played a pop song she was unfamiliar with. She blinked, and looked down at it.
There's a park down the street from our school. Haruka and I will be there at 12PM. You can meet us there and we'll take you.
"Huh. That was fast…" She muttered. "Hmm…" She typed a quick response and sent it.
Sounds like a plan. But what are you doing up so early?
She tapped her thumbs on the screen as she waited.
Wishing I had turned my phone off.
Ranma chuckled, then realized she had woken the other girl up.
Oh, whoops. Eheh, see you later.
See you at 12!
With the conversation over, Ranma started idly cruising the phone's menus until she came to the built in web browser.
'Hmm, now that you mention it, I've seen signs and pictures and stuff around town, haven't I?' She thought with a pensive frown.
Ranma opened the browser and a search engine loaded up. Its logo was a large blue circle with two eyes and the word 'Biglobe' written on it. She entered Sailor Senshi and looked at the results that came back to her.
"Hmm…"
-x-Kenichi-x-
Kenichi's eyes opened suddenly, and he stared up at the ceiling of his room as his phone blared its ringtone. He sat up and looked around the room, before climbing out of his bed and shambling over to his desk to grab the errant device. After yawning and checking the blurry caller ID, he sighed and opened it and held it up to his ear.
"Hello?" He asked.
"Band-aid."
He blinked a few times.
"Chikage-chan?" He asked.
"Yes."
He frowned.
'What kind of answer is that..? Ah, well.' He rubbed his eyes and sat up, then looked around the room. "Um… did you need something?"
"We are meeting today, correct?"
"Um, yeah… but…" He frowned and looked outside. It was still dark out. "Do you know what time it is?"
"This is the time I usually wake up to begin training," She said. "I did not know when we would meet, or where, so I wanted to ask."
He sighed.
"Yeah, uh… I don't know, how's ten? That should give us enough time to look around," He said. "Um, do you know where the train station is?" He asked.
"Yes."
"We'll meet there, at the entrance," He said.
"Okay."
Then she hung up.
He blinked, then shook his head and closed the phone, setting it down on his desk. He reached up and rubbed his eyes, yawning once more.
"Yeah, I should be used to waking up early too," He muttered. He opened his eyes again, but found that the blurriness was still there. Sighing, he reached down to his desk and picked up the pair of glasses there, studied them for a moment, and slid them on.
Everything was clear.
He sighed again.
"I can't believe this," He said. "How am I supposed to wear these during training?" He muttered. "They'll fall right off… this is so stupid…" He took them off again, leaving them on the desk, then stretched his arms overhead, getting the creaks out. "Let's try this again," He said as he got down on the floor. "Remedial exercises, part two…"
-x-x-x-
As Kenichi walked out of the washroom later that morning, his hair still wet from his morning bath, he passed Honoka up in the hallway and blinked, noticing that she was sweating from a work out of her own.
"Hey," He started. "You were with Miu-san?"
"Hmm? Yeah," She said. "You're up early…"
He chuckled.
"Really? What time did you wake up?"
"Four," She said. "We always start training at that time, every day."
He nodded.
"Yeah, thought so," He muttered. "Well, go take a bath before you start to stink," He said as he continued on his way.
"What are you all dressed up for?" She asked with a curious frown. "Are you going somewhere, big brother?"
"Huh? Yeah, to Juuban," He said.
"Why?"
"I'm looking for a particular Karate master," He said.
"Ooh, really? You want to learn from them?"
"Maybe," He said.
"Why not just practice with me and Sensei?" The younger teen asked with a frown. "I'm sure she'd teach you!"
He sighed.
"It's not that I doubt her skills or anything… There was someone else she recommended to me," He said. "And if I jumped into that, I would just slow your own training down," He said. "Do you really want that?"
She made a confused face.
"Really?" She asked, then frowned. "Well, but… the reason I started practicing was because… I mean… it's just better if you learn how to fight, isn't it?" She asked.
He chuckled.
"If I can't find the people she recommended to me, then I'll go to her for sure," He said. "Okay?"
She nodded, and he could tell by her expression that she fully expected that to happen.
"Okay," She said. "I'll go take a quick bath, then we can go together!" She turned around and took off towards her room.
He blinked.
"Huh?" Kenichi stared after her for a moment, then shrugged and made his way to his room. Without stopping, he walked over to his desk and picked up the pair of glasses that was lying there and put them on. As his vision focused, he sighed both in relief and annoyance. 'Well, I guess this is going to have to do…' He turned his head to look at the clock hanging in his room. He still had an hour until he had to be at the train station. 'I guess I can start looking up some dojos or something…'
He pulled the chair in front of his computer and turned it on. After it booted up, the screen for the password came up, and he reflexively entered the password he'd used on his own computer. When it came back negative, he frowned.
"Huh? Oh… right. Crap." He frowned, and clicked the hint, and the words like I'd forget my own password appeared in the space provided for the hint, and he sighed. "Um… well, I did. Apparently…" He sat back in his chair and sighed. "What am I supposed to do now?"
As he thought about the situation, his eyes fell on the cell phone sitting on his desk, and he blinked a few times. He picked it up and started to cycle through the different menu options, then stopped upon finding a web browser.
'This should do,' He thought. 'Even better, I don't have to print anything.'
Only ten minutes after he started searching the net, though, his chair suddenly turned around, away from the computer desk and he found himself facing Honoka, who was grinning at him. She was fully dressed, wearing the same purple leotard as before under a striped long-sleeved shirt and a miniskirt. She'd failed to dry herself off very well and was dripping all over him.
"I'm ready!"
"Did you rush or something?" He asked, trying in vain to dodge around the droplets of water. "You're still wet!" He frowned. "That washroom better not be messy…"
"I didn't want to hold you up!" She said, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him up and out of the chair. "C'mon, c'mon, let's go!"
"Huh? Wha..." Kenichi tried in vain to resist the smaller teen's grip, and was quickly pulled off balance as she started dragging him behind her. "W, wait a second! We don't have to be at the train station until ten!"
-x-x-x-
It wasn't until they were halfway to the train station that he finally managed to calm her down enough to let go of his hand due to the fact that he didn't have the money for the train ride on him. As they started walking back, Kenichi looked down at the ever clingy younger sister. She had the gait of a definitely skilled martial artist, and, as he mentally assessed her, he found that even at his best he would have been hard pressed to engage her.
Not that he'd ever hit a girl, of course. Jujutsu was his only serious option for dealing with one, but he couldn't find any openings for any of his other styles, either.
"How did you get so strong…?" Kenichi muttered.
"I've been training with Miu sensei for the past year," She surprised him by answering the mumbled question. "Of course I'm this strong!"
He frowned.
"But, well… I mean, training can't be all you do, right?"
She blinked and tilted her head and stopped walking.
"What are you getting at?"
Kenichi hmm'ed as he crossed his arms and tilted his own head while looking up.
"Good question… but basically… when I started… er… that is, something had to have prompted you to start training, right? Was someone picking on you at school or something?" She asked.
Honoka blinked.
"Well, not exactly…" She said.
"Then what made you want to get into martial arts?" He prodded. "How did you find out about Miu-san?"
"Well, one day I just happened to be walking by when I saw her get attacked by a group of ninjas," the girl said. "She beat up all of them in a few minutes and after that I begged her to teach me. She refused at first, even when I said it was to protect someone I liked, because she says her master never said she could teach yet, but when I said I'd pay her, she seemed to change her attitude right away,"
He nodded. That sounded about par for the course for Miu-
He froze and looked down at her.
"Ninjas?!" When she stopped walking and nodded up at him, he worked his jaw as he tried to process that concept. "You mean real ninjas? Like… assassin types?"
She nodded.
"They're pretty good too," She admitted. "Almost got us a few times."
He frowned as he processed that information. Something… something was not quite right with what she'd just said.
"Us?" He asked.
She nodded.
"It's not just ninjas, there's also vengeful martial artists and yakuza coming after us too."
"You're involved in that mess?!"
She looked up at him and blinked.
"Of course I am! You and mom and dad have been kidnapped a few times before!"
He stared at her in shocked silence for a few moments.
"But… but… wha… huh? How… why…"
She shrugged.
"Well, I guess since I started learning from Miu-sensei, they decided they didn't like me, too," She said with a shrug. "I mean, I guess since the two of us have been able to rescue you every single time, it works out, but even though sensei says it's good training, it's starting to get annoying," She said with a sigh.
His eyes began to burn and he blinked a few times.
"Oh…" Kenichi looked away and frowned, knitting his brow. 'I get saved by my little sister? Just what kind of guy would be okay with that!?'
"Onii-chan?" He blinked and looked down at her, noticing she looked a bit apologetic. "I, it's not like I mind or anything-"
"It's okay," He said, shaking his head. "I can understand… what kind of burden it must be." He looked down at her with a grin. "But you don't have to protect me anymore, okay? From now on, I'll protect you instead." He winked and she looked up at him in surprise, then smirked back.
"Not if I protect you first!"
He blinked.
"Huh?"
"C'mon! I'll race you!" She said before suddenly taking off.
Kenichi looked surprised for a moment, but then chuckled and quickly followed after her, as nervous sweat began to make its way down his entire body.
"Heh heh, uhh… Say, Honoka? Should we… be on the lookout for ninjas right now?" He called out to her.
She looked back at him with a grin.
"Silly! You're not gonna see them! They're ninjas!"
He chuckled again as his nervous sweat intensified by several orders of a magnitude.
"Hahaha, yeah… that's what I thought…"
-x-x-x-
When they got to the train station, Kenichi was pleasantly surprised to see Chikage already there and waiting for him. The younger girl, who was wearing her school uniform, was already staring right at him by the time he spotted her, and he smiled and waved over at her. When she failed to react, he waved it off and started walking over to her, ducking around a few other people along the way.
"Hello," He said pleasantly.
She stared at his face.
"Glasses?" She asked.
He sighed and nodded, and she simply turned to look at Honoka.
"Big brother?" The younger girl asked, frowning. "Who is this?"
He cleared his throat.
"Honoka, this is my friend from school, Kushinada Chikage-chan," He said, gesturing her. "Chikage-chan, this is my younger sister, Honoka… eh?"
As Kenichi introduced the girls to one another, he noticed that they had locked eyes in what seemed to him like a battle of wills. Neither one blinked as Chikage's emotionless orbs bored clean holes through Honoka's narrowed ones and vice versa.
"Um… um… girls?"
When Chikage suddenly bowed to the other girl, he blinked in surprise and confusion.
"Nice to meet you." The jujutsu disciple said, and Honoka did the same with an energetic smile on her face.
"Nice to meet you too!"
He stared at them.
'Well… that was odd,' He thought for a moment. He blinked and looked down at his arm and noticed that his sister had wrapped her own around it for some reason.
"Err, well, anyway," He said. "Chikage-chan is coming with us to search for the Karate master," He said.
Honoka blinked.
"You want to switch styles?"
"It's not for me." Chikage said.
"Oh." Honoka looked up at Kenichi. "So it's just for you?"
He blinked and nodded.
"Err… yeah… but, why do you ask?" He said.
"She's a jujutsu user, isn't she?" Honoka said, tilting her head.
Kenichi blinked.
"Yeah, how did you know?"
"When one reaches a certain skill level, such things become obvious," Chikage said.
Kenichi blinked.
'Well yeah, but… you haven't done anything to indicate that you use Jujutsu yet…' He thought, frowning. 'Or did I just miss it?'
Both girls nodded and Chikage walked over to his free arm and, mimicking Honoka, wrapped her own around it.
He blinked.
"Chikage-chan?"
"We have much to discuss." She said, tugging on him. "Come, let us get on the train. We will talk when we reach Juuban, and are in a less populated area."
He blinked and nodded.
-x-x-x-
As the three of them walked away from the Azabu Juuban subway station, Kenichi felt a familiar vibrating sensation in his pocket and pulled his arm away from Honoka (who visibly pouted), then reached into his pocket and retrieved his cell phone. There was a message from someone named 'konakona' demanding to know where he was.
'Must be from that silly game,' He thought with a sigh as he simply re-pocketed his phone. He blinked when Honoka quickly retook his arm, but thought nothing of it.
"Band-aid."
When Chikage spoke up, he looked down at her and blinked.
"Yeah?"
"Where are we going?" She asked.
"Oh right," He muttered, taking his hand from Honoka again, who pouted once more as he retrieved his phone. "Let's see, I bookmarked the directions that my search engine generated," He said, opening the browser and retrieving those pages. "There we go. The nearest karate dojo is about three kilometers northeast of here…" He said. "Hmm… okay, we want to go that way two blocks until we're under the metropolitan expressway, and then we want to turn right at the corner…"
As they set about following the directions, Chikage relinquished his arm and looked around at the crowd of people walking about, while she and Honoka followed his lead.
"Now is as good a time as any, I guess," Kenichi said as he looked down at Chikage. "You had something to talk to me about?"
She nodded.
"I did some research on the internet last night," She said, glancing at Honoka. "Is it alright…?"
He blinked, then looked down at Honoka, who was looking at the two of them.
"Hmm?" The younger Shirahama asked, tilting her head.
"Err, sure," Kenichi said. "What did you find out?
Chikage nodded.
"The changes to this world far exceeded my expectations," She said. "Most significant is the confirmation of the existence of demons in this world."
He blinked.
"Demons?"
She nodded.
"Monsters, Mazoku, Oni, Youkai, whatever you'd like to call them, they're very real in this world." She said. "And there is a magical girl team that hunts them down. More than one actually, but I found one in particular to be noteworthy."
He stared at her.
"This is a joke, right?" He asked with a furrowed brow.
She shook her head.
"What are you talking about?" Honoka asked. "The Sailor Senshi?"
"Oh, we're, uh, writing a science fiction story for a class of hers," Kenichi said.
"Really?" She frowned. "I don't get it."
"That's okay," He said, patting her head. "Chikage-chan is a genius. Most of what she says goes over my head too," He said with a chuckle. "I'm sure it'll make for an interesting story."
"You should not look so pleased when you say that, being several years older than me," Chikage pointed out.
"Hahaha," Kenichi chuckled again, rather forcefully that time. "More importantly, we're almost to the corner," He said as they walked under the expressway bridge. The sound of cars driving by overhead echoed around them.
"To continue," Chikage began, "The Yami of this world has incorporated several such creatures into their ranks. Naturally, they accept only the strongest members of either human or mazoku races. They are capable of wielding supernatural abilities beyond anything I've ever encountered before."
Honoka looked up at the mention of Yami, but said nothing, while Kenichi grimaced.
"Seriously?"
Chikage nodded.
"This is not a joke," She said.
Kenichi just shook his head.
"Wait, wait a second," he said. "Where exactly did you find all this out? An anime?"
She shook her head.
"The Internet."
Kenichi stopped walking to stare at her, and she returned the gesture while Honoka merely kept walking.
"Is it so hard to believe that such creatures and other supernatural phenomena exist in this world that has changed its shape down to the core?" She asked, looking at him. "And that said changes themselves were of supernatural origin?"
Kenichi sighed.
"Sorry if I say I'll have to see one for myself…" He said with a shake of his head. "Before I'm convinced there's demons and magical girls…"
She turned and continued walking, and he shrugged and followed after her.
-x-Usagi-x-
Chibi-Usa sat cross-legged beside her mother on the couch before the Tsukino residence's television, TV remote in one hand and a bag of chips in the other.
"Mehhh," She changed the current channel a few times and Shingo sighed from his position on the floor.
"Can we just play a game?" The youngest Tsukino in the room demanded.
"No way, there's gotta be something good on," Chibi-Usa said.
"Whatever," Shingo said with a sigh as he stood up and started walking away. "I'm gonna go play my DS. Come get me when you stop being stupid."
"That's nice," Chibi-Usa said without the least bit of interest as she flipped through channel after channel. "Is there really nothing?" She asked with a drawn out sigh.
"You know, if you keep snacking like that, you're gonna gain weight," Usagi said as she strained to look at her daughter from where she was lounging, with Luna lying on top of her. "Didn't we just eat breakfast?"
"Says the expert on gaining weight," Chibi-Usa said as she put a chip in her mouth.
"What was that?" Usagi demanded as she struggled to sit up, inadvertently dropping her poor cat onto the floor with a thud.
"You heard me," Chibi-Usa said, narrowing her eyes at the other girl.
"Grr…" Usagi growled and considered retribution, but decided it would be too much effort and settled for glaring at her. "Fine then, I won't take you with me to the park when we go watch the eclipse."
"You can't stop me from going," Chibi-Usa pointed out.
"If I just give you more snacks, you'll be too busy pigging out to notice me leave," Usagi said as she went back to lounging.
Chibi-Usa narrowed her eyes even further at the other girl and stopped changing the channel.
"Oh really?"
"Yeah re-Ow!" She blinked and looked down at her foot at the sudden stinging pain to see Luna biting her big toe. "What was that for!?"
Luna simply snorted and walked towards a spot of sunlight beneath the window.
"You're both being petty," She said.
"So bite her too!" Usagi growled out.
Luna looked at her, then harrumphed and turned her nose up at the teen before lying down. Chibi-Usa chuckled as her mother continued to growl at the cat, but did nothing else.
"…bothersome thing is, real or not, as it is impossible to contact them, the Sailor Senshi may as well be an urban legend, even if most of the residents of Juuban and nearby districts and wards know otherwise."
The two senshi blinked as they turned to look at the television. There was a scene with amateur footage taken of the Sailor Senshi fighting a daemon or youma some time ago, with the captions "Paranormal Investigation: Urban legends in Tokyo" On the bottom.
"Ooh, ooh, I love when they do these exposés," Usagi said, clapping her hands. "Leave it on, leave it on!"
Chibi-Usa shrugged and continued eating chips as the voice over continued.
"Even though the Senshi are incredibly popular and have garnered much fandom, with published amateur doujinshi and even video games dedicated in their honor, very few people have actually seen them up close, and so a question remains. Just who are these women, prancing around in racy school-girl clothing and throwing around these dangerously powerful magic spells?"
The footage changed to Sailor Mars attacking a strange, dog-like creature that neither of them recognized. Both did a fair amount of property damage in the footage, which looked like it'd been captured on a camera phone.
"When did that happen?" Usagi muttered, frowning. "I've never seen anything like that…"
"Some believe they are secret government agents, and others, part of an entire underground magic society. Yet others believe, based on their names, that they are aliens; proof that life exists on other planets, and the sailor senshi are their representatives."
Both teens sniggered at the suggestion as outer space imagery started to scroll across the screen.
"They're technically right…" Luna pointed out without raising her head. "…ish."
"Bah, that doesn't apply to us now," Usagi responded. "You, on the other hand…"
"…And their enemies as well remain a mystery. The source and nature of the creatures they are known to fight is entirely unknown, and a cause for worry for all true believers. That is just one of many reasons why people wish for the Senshi to be more public with their methods and intentions. On the other hand, as they themselves are also guilty of large amounts of property destruction, there are some who want them to be directly responsible."
Usagi gulped.
"There's no way we could pay for any of that…" She muttered.
"And there are those with other concerns."
The image changed to a balding man sitting in an office. A subtitle identified him by name.
"How can we be sure they're taking care of every single bizarre creature that appears in this city? Certainly not all of them are as flashy and destructive as the ones that attack people in broad daylight for whatever reason they do. It is a very real possibility that there are some more discreet than others, who go about their business where the Senshi cannot reach them. They are not omnipotent, and they could only benefit from being part of a fully funded government program, which would be able to call them whenever they were necessary – not whenever they were lucky enough to be around."
Usagi tilted her head as she considered that.
'Hmm… funded by the government? That'd mean we get paid, right?' A small smile grew on her face.
"Hah, if that was the case then they would have some way of dealing with it already," Chibi-Usa snorted. "We're not the only people who can use magic in the world."
Usagi blinked.
"We're not?" She asked, looking at her daughter.
Chibi-Usa only frowned.
"What? No, of course not! We're just the most powerful mages around," she said. "There are tons of other magic users. Of course they tend to keep to themselves for the same reasons as us, but they're there."
Usagi tilted her head and narrowed her eyes in confusion.
"Huh. Really?" She frowned. "Why wasn't I ever told this?" She mumbled, glancing at her cat.
"It was never deemed necessary," Luna said without opening her eyes.
"Why not?" Usagi demanded.
"No particular reason," The cat responded. "You're already busy enough as it is. There's no need to bog you down with the details of magic society on Earth," She said.
Usagi blinked.
"Well, that's true…" She muttered. "Still, if there are other people who can use magic… what kind of magic can they use?" She asked, looking at Chibi-Usa. "Are they wizards and witches? Could we meet some?"
"All kinds," The pinkette said. "Yes, and I don't care, but don't ask me to introduce any. I wouldn't know where to find them."
Usagi frowned.
"Well that's helpful," she muttered.
There was a beeping noise, and she looked down at a cellphone lying on the floor.
"Who is it?" Chibi-Usa asked, turning to look at her mother's phone.
"It's a text from Ami-chan," The blonde said, picking up her phone. She frowned. "She's calling for a meeting."
Chibi-Usa raised an eyebrow.
"A meeting? Senshi business?"
The blonde nodded.
"Weren't we going to meet up anyway?" The pink haired girl asked.
Usagi nodded again.
"We were going to go watch the eclipse at a park," she said. "But I guess we'll be doing more than that."
-x-Yusuke-x-
Yusuke walked along the sidewalk of a mostly empty street with a frown. Everyone he passed by openly stared at him as he did, and the reason was obvious; The only thing he was wearing - a thin hospital gown - was tied shut with only two flimsy strings in the back.
'You know, I'm beginning to think they did this on purpose. They're probably sitting somewhere laughing rightnow. Yuk it up while you can, bastards. I'm going to kick your faces in the next time I see you.'
He looked around as he walked, growing more and more confused. The area wasn't at all familiar to him; all he knew was that he was in a business district in Azabu Juuban of the Minato ward.
"So this is a world where I never became a spirit detective, hmm?" He muttered. 'Hmm… I wonder what else has been changed… I live in Juuban in this world. I've got to find someone I know and figure out what it's like here for me… or even what my situation is.' He shook his head and sighed. 'I wonder how Keiko's doing… What the hell kind of bullshit brought this on, anyway? And what demon even has the power to do something like this? Or was it Reikai?'
He frowned.
'Hmm… this area looks a little familiar…' He stopped walking before an alleyway between two buildings to look around.
"You gotta be kiddin' me…"
On hearing a voice, he turned to look into the alleyway and immediately recognized two of the gangsters he'd fought the previous day standing there and looking at him. One of them was wearing a leather jacket over a white t-shirt and jeans, and the other one wore a school uniform similar to the one he'd worn the previous day.
"They just let you out the hospital?" The thug wearing the leather jacket asked with a look of amusement on his face.
The other thug sniggered.
"H, he just couldn't wait to come back for another beating,"
Yusuke looked around, then smiled.
"Yup!" He said with a grin. "That's right. I'm all healed up, and I'm back for more!"
He stepped into the alleyway.
"Back for more?"
The two thugs laughed.
Yusuke nodded.
"Yeah, see," He began. "Before I was a great and powerful demon and one of the kings of the underworld, or even a spirit detective, I was just a delinquent with a reputation for kicking too much ass. Since it looks like I'm not a powerful demon anymore I guess I'll just have to go back to that."
The two thugs stared at him, then burst out laughing.
"I think we hit him too hard. This kid's gone nuts!" The uniformed teen blurted.
"P-powerful demon!" The other added.
"King of the underworld!" Yusuke added, joining in with the laughing and walking towards them.
The moment he was in range, he slammed his fist into the uniformed teen's face, eliciting a painful sounding crunch. The other thug noticed this and his laughing quickly slowed down to a stop as Yusuke savagely punched the uniformed thug in the nose two more times, then uppercut him in the chin. The uniformed teen screamed as he fell backwards, clutching his bleeding face.
"You little shit!"
Yusuke turned to face the other teen and noticed that the he'd pulled a chain and was preparing to swing it at him. He ducked under the swing and grabbed the man's extended arm with both hands and viciously pulled him closer before slamming his opponent's elbow over his knee. The man cried out in pain, and when Yusuke repeated his attack, the young man shrieked in horror as his arm snapped at the joint.
"Fuck! Fuck!"
Yusuke dropped the man to the ground and watched him cradle his arm while screaming obscenities. A glance at the uniformed teen showed that he was still crying and clutching his face.
"Listen up you little shits," Yusuke said. "You tell your boss that this is Urameshi Yusuke's town now."
"You fucker!" The teen in the jacket yelled. "Fuck you!"
Yusuke slammed his foot into the boy's face, sending his head crashing into a wall.
"No, fuck you."
The other teen only slumped down on the ground in response, unmoving.
"Well look at that. Glass jaw." Yusuke turned to look at the other teen, who was staring at him in horror while still clutching his face. Yusuke smiled at him as he began to disrobe the unconscious teen. "Remember what I said!"
A minute later, he walked out of the alleyway with a new outfit and two wallets in hand.
"Smells like shit, but it beats wearing a sheet." He muttered. "Hmm…" He opened one of the wallets and took all of the cash out of it, then dropped it on the sidewalk and stuffed it in the other wallet, which he pocketed. He blinked and looked down at his pocket, then pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "Now I've got to find my house and figure out a way to keep cash coming in…" He muttered.
-x-Haruka-x-
On a crowded street, Tenou Haruka stood leaning on her parked car and staring down at her cell phone. She was wearing a lavender blazer over a slightly darker dress shirt and matching slacks and dress shoes. Michiru sat inside the convertible, in the passenger's seat, humming a tune to herself and watching people walk by. She wore a faded blue sundress and designer sandals. Both teens were wearing sunglasses.
"It's twelve," The blonde said.
"Mm. She should be here soon then," Michiru said. After a car drove by, she opened the door and got out of her seat, then closed the door behind her and began walking around to the sidewalk. "I talked to Mizuno earlier."
Haruka raised an eyebrow.
"Did they find out anything?"
"Mm. Yes and no," the teal haired teen said as she stopped beside her girlfriend. "She said she would explain it to us in detail at the park."
Haruka slipped her phone into a pocket and crossed her arms.
"I see." She looked up and down the street. "Say… what do you think about Setsuna?"
Michiru looked over at her.
"She's certainly tenacious." The Senshi of Neptune said. "Though I suppose, given her domain, it's to be expected. She got us out of there, there's no reason to assume she couldn't have escaped that explosion as well."
Haruka nodded.
"I'd assumed there would be some repercussion for using a forbidden ability, but I guess it's not something we should be concerned with." She said. "We're only soldiers, after all."
"That princess is a bit too kind for her own good, perhaps." She said. "Given there is no queen at the moment, I'm assuming any punishment would fall onto her to mete out. I doubt anything happened, really."
Haruka nodded again.
"A bit naïve as well," She said. "Still, based on our earlier assessment, I'd say she's growing up. I just hope it doesn't take world class disasters for her to mature more."
Michiru giggled.
"That would be rather inconvenient."
"Yo!"
They both turned to see Ranma walking towards them and waving. They blinked on noticing the other girl was wearing only yoga pants and a sports bra; she didn't even have shoes on. She was dripping with sweat and had a slight limp in her step.
"Hey you," Haruka said, standing up. "You alright?"
"Yeah," Ranma said, panting lightly. "I'll be fine."
Michiru looked at her with concern.
"Are you sure?"
Ranma waved it off.
"Oh yeah, yeah. Just need to catch my breath. So uh, where do we go from here? You said there's a park around here?" The redhead asked.
Michiru nodded.
"The Senshi's representative was going to meet us there." She said.
Ranma frowned.
"We're not going to actually meet the Senshi?"
Michiru smiled.
"Sorry. Did you think we were?"
Ranma shrugged.
"Well I thought we would," She said. "Does it matter though?"
Haruka shook her head.
"The people we're going to see have direct access to the Senshi's information network," She said. "Some of their most trusted associates. It wouldn't be any different from meeting the Senshi themselves."
Ranma nodded.
"Then I guess it works out," She said with a shrug. "So which way?"
-x-Usagi-x-
Two Usagis walked side by side along a crowded side walk, with a small black cat trotting alongside them. One blonde, one pinkette.
"Lots of people are turning up to watch the eclipse," Luna said.
"Mmhmm," Usagi said in agreement. "The park is supposed to be one of the better vantage points in the city. It's on a hill and the taller buildings aren't close enough to get in the way. Do either of you have an idea what it was Ami-chan wanted to talk about?"
"Don't look at me, I just got here." Chibi-Usa said.
"Hmm… I'm sure it's related to that classmate you all investigated yesterday," Luna said. "Ami-chan said there were time-rifts forming all over, right?"
Usagi nodded.
"Then it's probably that."
Chibi-Usa blinked.
"Time rifts?"
"She called them… space-time schisms I think?" Usagi said. "I donno."
"Huh." The pink haired Usagi frowned. "Why haven't I heard anything about that?"
Luna looked up.
"Didn't you say that some of your memories had been sealed?" She asked. "Regarding what it was you were to undertake, so that you wouldn't be influenced by your knowledge of the outcome?"
The time traveler nodded.
"Yes, but… rifts in time could impact my… place here," She said. "So I should be the first to know if anything is wrong."
Usagi shrugged.
"It must not be important," She said with a shrug.
The three of them crossed a street and arrived at their destination. The park was on a grassy knoll with a variety of trees scattered about. Enclosed by a brick fence, there were several entrances with dirt paths that lead inside. Wooden benches dotted the dirt paths, and they could see a large pond with a willow tree standing on an island in the center. Groups of people sat on picnic cloths around the park, talking amongst themselves. Most of them had sunglasses or something similar to block the effects of the coming total eclipse.
"You should see it during cherry blossom season." Usagi said, looking at her daughter.
"I have," The pinkette reminded her.
Usagi blinked.
"Oh. Well come on, let's look for the others."
They made their way into the park and walked along one of the paths, both looking around for familiar faces.
"There," Usagi said, pointing towards a tall tree. Several groups were spread out beneath it, and a group of familiar faces sat on a blanket.
The group noticed them at the same time.
"Hey! Usagi!"
Both Usagis waved in response and walked over to join them. All of the inner Senshi were present, wearing various casual outfits, and each with a pair of sunglasses on their heads. Artemis was sitting on the blanket next to Minako.
"About time," Rei said, looking up at the two of them with slight annoyance. "What took you guys so long?"
Usagi frowned.
"Hey, we didn't take that long,"
"Well, you weren't quick enough for my tastes," The senshi of mars said.
Usagi rolled her eyes.
"You're just complaining," She said as she and her daughter sat down with them. Luna walked over to sit next to the other moon cat. "So, Ami-chan. You said we were going to talk Senshi business?"
The bluenette nodded.
"I'd rather wait until everyone was here, though, so that I don't have to repeat myself." She sighed. "We have… a lot to discuss."
The Usagis shared a look.
"That doesn't sound good," The blonde Usagi said with a frown. "Is it related to what we did yesterday?"
Ami nodded.
"Remember that classmate Kaiou-san told me about before?" She asked.
Four of the Senshi nodded.
"You said she claimed to have been kidnapped or something, and that buildings weren't where she'd said they'd been, or something." Makoto said.
Chibi-Usa blinked.
"This is the first I've heard about this," She said. "What are you all talking about?"
Ami looked up at her.
"Two nights ago, Sailor Neptune sent me a text message about a new classmate of hers," She said. "A girl named Fujibayashi Teriha, calling herself Saotome Ranma. She claimed to have woken up one day and all of the details of the world had been shifted around her. People and buildings weren't where she remembered them to be, and those that were, were different. No one in the neighborhood she claimed to live in recognized her. Her own body and personal history was also altered."
Chibi-Usa blinked.
"Sounds pretty bad." She said.
"Mm. In any event, I've gathered evidence that suggests she is telling the truth." She said.
Minako raised an eyebrow.
"About remembering things differently?"
Ami shook her head.
"No, about things having been changed."
The five girls all stared at her.
"What do you mean?" Artemis asked.
Ami sighed.
"There is no easy way to say this," she said. "But that girl, Ranma, is right. I'll explain everything when she, Neptune and Uranus arrive."
"Yo!"
They and several people around them all turned at the shout to see the handsome Haruka and the elegant Michiru walking with a sweaty pig-tailed girl wearing a sporty jogging outfit.
"Speak of the devil," Ami said.
"And the devil shall leave," Minako said with a sagely nod.
Ami sighed, while the other girls all waved at the approaching trio.
"Hello ladies." Haruka said when the three of them stopped beside them.
"Hello to you as well," Usagi said with a smile. "I'd thought we wouldn't be seeing you two again so soon."
Haruka chuckled.
"The truth is, we decided to stay here, after all." She said.
"Oh my," Michiru said, looking down at Chibi-Usa. "Seeing you here with the rest of them, I recognize you now. You're Chibi-Usa, aren't you?"
Chibi-Usa chuckled.
"Yup."
Haruka blinked.
"Chibi-chan?" The blonde did a double take. "That's one hell of a growth spurt, kid."
Chibi-Usa giggled.
"It should have been obvious," the pinkette said.
Haruka shrugged.
"I figured you were an imposter," She said.
"Ahem…"
Everyone turned to look at the pig-tailed girl.
"Oh. Where are my manners," Michiru said. "Everyone, this is Ranma."
Ranma waved.
"Hey," She said. "So you girls… work with the Sailor Senshi?"
Ami nodded.
"That's correct," She said. "I'm Mizuno Ami, I manage their information network."
Ranma nodded.
"Neat. What about the rest of you?"
"Hino Rei," Rei said. "I'm a Miko… I… provide them with spiritual guidance!" She said with a grin.
"Kino Makoto," the Senshi of Jupiter said. "I keep them well fed."
"Aino Minako, at your service!" The Senshi of Venus said. "I'm, ah… their image consultant!"
Ranma blinked.
"So you're the one who told them to dress up in sailor fuku?"
It was Minako's turn to blink.
"Errr… well, it works, doesn't it?"
Ranma shook her head.
"Well, it's definitely… I donno, it just seems like professional demon hunters should wear something more functional, ya know?"
Minako frowned.
"You don't like the fuku?"
Ranma shrugged.
"Ehhh… mehhh…"
She shrugged wider, and Minako's frown deepened.
"I can see where you're coming from, but in relation to combat, the senshi's uniform designs are irrelevant," Ami said. "They are protected by magic; the material and design of what they wear and what is covered up doesn't matter."
Ranma blinked.
"Really? Nifty. So they could pretty much wear whatever they want?"
Ami nodded.
"Which is where Minako-chan comes in," She said. "The fuku are rather eye-catching and I'd be lying if I said that the Senshi would have the same amount of publicity if they wore something more like… say, a suit of armor."
Ranma nodded as well.
"Good point…" She looked down at the Usagis. "What do you two do?"
"Eat up all the food and read up all the manga," Rei said with a snort.
"Hey!" Usagi snapped. "I share manga with you too!"
"Now now," Ami said. "This isn't the time for this, girls." She looked back up at Ranma and the two outer Senshi.
"Ami-chan's right," Minako said. "Anyway. Last, but not least, these two furballs are Artemis and Luna," She said, gesturing the two cats sitting beside her. "Say hi, Artemis!"
Artemis ran a paw over his face.
"Nya~n."
Ranma stared at the two cats in stark horror.
"C-c…"
Luna stood up and walked over to the redhead, and looked up at her.
"Nyaa~aan."
Ranma stumbled backwards, sheer terror overwhelming her facial features.
"C-c-cat! It's a cat!"
She turned and scrambled to sprint away at top speed.
Everyone stared after her.
"Oh dear," Michiru began. "Perhaps she is afraid of cats?"
"I'd say that sounds about right," Haruka said. "I'll be right back. Sorry."
Everyone watched as the blonde took off after the redhead.
"I'm sorry everyone, if I'd known, I'd have said something." Michiru said, sitting down with them.
Both Luna and Artemis looked confused.
"What did we do?" Artemis asked, his ears sagging. "I thought I was putting out my best appeal!"
"Nothing," Ami said. "She's probably just afraid of cats in general."
Usagi frowned.
"How can you be scared of cats?" She picked up Luna and began scratching behind her ear. "They're so cute!"
"It's just something…" Luna's talking was interrupted by a deep, throaty purr, but she managed to continue after a few seconds. "…that we'll have to deal with for now. Artemis and I can sit at a distance and listen to the conversation from afar. We have good ears."
Usagi frowned.
"But you shouldn't have to…"
"Unfortunately, we do," The moon cat said with a sigh. "It's not a big deal. Right Artemis?"
The white cat shook his head.
"I think we'll manage. Don't worry about us," He stood up. "Come on, let's go."
Luna hopped out of Usagi's arms and followed him away.
"So," Makoto began, looking over at Michiru. "Since you two are staying here in Juuban, maybe we could… get together sometime?"
Michiru smiled at her.
"Perhaps, if our schedules allow for it." She said.
The inner Senshi all smiled at that.
"After all, I'd feel more comfortable knowing the princess had positive influences in her life." The teal trussed teen said.
Ami chuckled, while Minako and Makoto both frowned.
"What's that supposed to mean?" The blonde demanded.
Michiru let out a soft titter.
"Oh, nothing. Please, don't take this the wrong way, but, Haruka and I aren't exactly planning to work with you all on a permanent basis. Understand, that isn't our job," She said. "We have duties of our own to attend to."
Usagi nodded with a serious expression.
"I understand," She said. "And if they weren't important, you wouldn't have been given them. Still, I do hope you'll continue to indulge us with your presences from time to time?"
Michiru smiled again.
"Of course, princess."
"They're back," Rei announced.
Everyone looked up to see Haruka leading Ranma back towards the group by the hand. Ranma was still visibly shaking, even from a distance, and warily looking around.
"S-sorry about that," The red-head said. "I… I don't like c-c-c… c-c… those furry creatures very much. Th, they're not still here, are they?"
Ami shook her head.
"They're gone," She said. "Far away from here."
Ranma sighed with visible relief.
"Oh man," she said. "that's just what I needed to hear."
Ami nodded.
"Please, sit down. We have much to discuss."
"I'm really, really sorry about that," Ranma said, sitting down next to Usagi. Haruka walked over to sit down next to Michiru. "I didn't even let you guys finish your introductions…"
Ami shook her head.
"Don't worry about it," she said. "Usagi and… Usagi are the only ones left, if I recall."
Ranma blinked.
"Usagi and Usagi?" She looked over at both of them and raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Are you two twins?"
Usagi snorted.
"No way, we're… uh, cousins."
Ranma nodded.
"The resemblance is really strong," She said.
Both girls blushed.
"Err… thank you…" They both trailed off and stared at each other.
Suddenly, Chibi-Usa frowned.
"Wait, wait. We just met and already you're insulting me? Do I really look as fat as this girl?"
Usagi's jaw dropped and Rei snickered at the comment, but Ranma blinked.
"Fat?" She asked, confused. "She's not fat. She's not even chubby!"
Usagi smirked.
"Thank you!"
"Girls, please," Ami said. "You can play-fight later. For now…"
"Oh, right," Ranma asked. "Why are you both named Usagi and what do you do for the Senshi? You're all their associates, right?" She said, looking slightly confused.
"Family tradition," Chibi-Usa said. "As for what we do… err…" She looked over at her mother for help.
Usagi only blinked.
"Err…"
"They're the mascots." Haruka said.
"Yeah!" Usagi said. "Yup. That's me! I'm the cute mascot!"
"I am the cutest mascot," Chibi-Usa said.
"Ladies, please." Haruka said. "Anyway, If you must know, Michiru and I supply them with funding. Can we get started now?"
"Indeed," Michiru said. "What exactly are we here to discuss?"
Ami sighed and took a deep breath.
"Alright. As we all know, Saotome-san here woke up on Friday and noticed that the world around her had changed substantially. Nothing was where or how it should have been. It was as if she'd woken up in an alternate reality."
Ranma blinked.
"Hey, that's a pretty good summary."
"Indeed. That's because that's exactly what happened," Ami said.
Everyone stared at her.
"Come again?" Usagi said.
"Saotome Ranma-san is not from this reality," Ami said. "And neither are we."
They continued to stare at her in a stunned silence, so she continued.
"Two days ago, my computer began detecting schisms in the fabric of space-time. These schisms have since rippled out from their origin point near Kyoto to the rest of the country. They have rapidly accelerated since my first detection, spreading out across the planet and out into space. What I didn't realize at the time was that these ruptures were the result of someone altering history."
Haruka narrowed her eyes.
"Altering history?" She said. "But that should be impossible. Sailor Pluto is supposed to ensure that such things don't happen."
Ami nodded.
"I had wondered about that as well," She said. "But for whatever reason, it did happen. I'm not sure who caused it or why, but as a result, the world we're in now is not our home reality."
Ranma frowned.
"Well that'd explain things…" She muttered.
"Hmm…"
Everyone turned to look at Michiru.
"To what extent has history been altered?" She asked, looking at the other blue-haired teen. "And why weren't we affected like Ranma?"
"Better yet," Haruka began, "Why wasn't Ranma affected like everyone else?"
Ami shook her head.
"On an individual level, we were protected. As for why our situations haven't changed as drastically as Saotome-san's, that's only true on the surface." Ami said. "As for Saotome-san-"
"Just Ranma is alright," The redhead said, holding up a hand.
Ami nodded.
"Ranma, then," She said. "I'm not sure." She reached down into a small cloth bag lying on the ground and pulled out the Mercury Computer, which she then flipped open. "I haven't had the opportunity to get a good scan." She tapped a few keys and set it down. "It's scanning right now, so perhaps we'll have some answers in a moment."
She blinked when her computer began beeping. She looked down at it and picked it up.
"Is it done already?" Usagi asked.
"No. The total eclipse will be happening in a minute," She said. "I suppose we should watch for it?"
They all put their sunglasses on, while Ranma looked down at the ground in silent contemplation, and Usagi noticed her lack of sunglasses.
"You don't have sunglasses?"
Ranma shook her head, but waved a hand.
"It's no big deal," she said. "I didn't come here to see it anyway."
Usagi shrugged, and the Senshi all looked up.
"Where was I?" Ami asked.
"You were telling us about the extent of the alterations to history," Haruka said.
"Hm? Ah, yes…" She frowned. "It wasn't very easy to notice at first. Most of what we know is the same as it's always been," She said. "Milestones in history are the same; however, our own personal histories are what're different. It's just not as obvious as with Saoto- err, Ranma."
Haruka blinked.
"Our own personal histories?"
Ami nodded.
"I noticed logs of battles and enemies in my computer that I could not recall having taken." she said. "It was all very detailed information, too, written exactly the way that I'd have done it. Apparently, youkai have been indiscriminately attacking people since before the Sailor Senshi appeared."
Everyone looked down at her.
"Unlike any of… their other foes, these youkai don't seem to have any real unified, overarching purpose or organization. Some of them just attack at random, while others have small, crime-centered organizations and petty schemes that allow them to consume humans and/or souls," She said. "This race of creatures living in the shadows of our society has been injected into our world overnight."
Ranma frowned.
"An entire race?"
Ami considered her statement.
"I wouldn't consider them a single race," She said. "There are many variations, many of them more similar to animals than humans, while others are similar to creatures of legend. Also, my computer detected the existence of a gate to an alternate dimension, where these creatures seem to be coming from. There are several of them all over the world, and for some reason, even a few inactive on Mars and the Moon, but most importantly, one is right here in Juuban." she said.
Ranma's frown only deepened.
"The Moon? Mars?" She frowned. "Why Mars? And how did your computer detect something like that?"
Ami blinked.
"Well… It's… very powerful."
Ranma blinked, but accepted that.
"Oh."
The inner Senshi all sighed in relief.
"As for why they're on Mars, I can't be sure. The gates are all sealed, but the seal has weakened to the point that weak demonic entities have been able to slip through. The computer is only able to detect them for that instant; once they're here, they disappear from the scans. There it goes," She said, pointing up.
Everyone but Ranma looked up, though Usagi did so with a frown. Light dimmed all around them as the sun was blocked out by the moon.
"That's no good," the blonde said. "That whole youkai thing, I mean."
Haruka sighed.
"Sounds like we've got our work cut out for us."
Ami nodded.
"There haven't been any reports of major demon attacks, comparable to Metalia or Pharaoh Ninety or anything of the sort, but I have a feeling that it's only a matter of time," she said. "The cracks in the seals are widening, slowly but surely."
"Then we need to figure out how to fix them," Haruka said.
"There's also the fact that these new demons are apparently not as flamboyant as the enemies the Senshi have encountered before." Michiru pointed out.
"Indeed," Haruka said. "Can you get any information on the seal? Is it possible that… the Senshi can use their magic to improve it?"
Ami nodded.
"I left the computer on to scan it last night, but I've yet to look over the data. I'll begin doing so when we're done here."
Haruka nodded.
"That sounds good to me. Keep us informed."
Ami nodded.
"What about your scans on, uh, me?" Ranma asked. "And have you been able to find other people like us? Who… aren't from this universe?"
Ami shook her head.
"So far, I've not noticed anything to indicate when someone is from our world," She said with a shake of her head. "I'll check the data from your scans when we're done here as well. I'm hoping there will be something that will help us identify others like us."
"Ah… alright," Ranma said.
"Do you have any ideas how we can correct this?" Haruka asked. "If it's a matter of history being altered, then Sailor Pluto should be able to fix it. Or rather, it should already be fixed."
Ami nodded.
"Aside from that, we have no way to contact Sailor Pluto." She said.
"Puu? I can talk to her," Chibi-Usa said.
"Hmm… I believe we can get a hold of her as well," Haruka said.
"Then perhaps you can call her to the next Senshi meeting?" Ami said. "Hopefully she'll have some answers on the matter."
"We'll make sure she's there," Michiru said.
Ranma whistled.
"These Senshi girls must trust you guys a lot," she said. "Is that why you were all protected? Did they use some kind of magic on you?"
Ami blinked, but nodded.
"Precisely," she said. "Though the Senshi weren't aware of the alterations as they happened, either. It's passive magic."
"Huh." Ranma frowned. "Well… what can I do?"
Ami shook her head.
"Unfortunately, it seems there isn't anything you can do," Ami said. "Unless you have the ability to correct these alterations to history, you'd probably be safest just trying to adjust to the changes until things are fixed."
Ranma's frown deepened.
"What? Are you kidding?" She demanded. "Do you expect me to just sit around and twiddle my thumbs or something?"
Ami sighed.
"Do you have the ability to travel through time and fix this problem at the root?" She asked.
Ranma paused.
"Well… no, but…"
"Then like I said, your only real option is to wait. I'm sorry, but…" she shrugged. "That's how it is."
Ranma frowned.
"No way," she said. "There's… there's got to be some way I can help. I can do something, like all of you are," she insisted. "I have money in this new world… I can investigate stuff," She said. "And if this Pluto person can't help us, then I can look into rumors or legends about time traveling magic," She said. "Yeah… I know some people-" She paused. "Well, I might know some people who have extensive knowledge regarding magic, and that might include time travel."
Ami looked down at her.
"You've dealt with magic before?" She asked.
Ranma nodded.
"Oh yeah… lots of magic, almost all of it bad," she said with a long-suffering sigh. "And well, once I get back into shape, I can help fight the demons," She said.
Haruka laughed.
"Fight demons?" She repeated. "You really think you can fight demons?"
Ranma frowned.
"I've done it before," she said. "Demons, dragons, phoenixes… a few ghosts… I guess you could call Taro a Gyuuki…" She muttered. "Anyway I've fought my fair share of demons and such, and came out on top! I'm sure once the Senshi see what I can do, they'll beg me to help them fight," She said with a snort.
Everyone stared at her.
"Beg? Get real," Rei snorted.
"Yeah," Minako said a frown. "The senshi don't need help. W… they get along just fine! They've saved Earthat leastthree times!"
Ranma blinked.
"Earth?"
Ami nodded.
"At the end of the day, the enemies of the Senshi are generally genocidal otherworldly creatures whose power is on a scale unlike anything you just mentioned," She said. "They're more comparable to gods. Not to disparage your achievements, but the Senshi have defeated far worse."
Ranma stared at her.
"H…huh… you don't say…" She muttered. "Gods… huh…"
Ami nodded.
"Your sentiment is appreciated, but I'm sure the Senshi will be able to handle this situation," she said. "We'll let you know how things develop. In the meantime…" She trailed off when the world suddenly brightened up. Those who were not looking up quickly did. "Looks like the eclipse is over."
Ranma frowned, but said nothing.
Ami's computer started beeping and they all looked down at it.
"What is it, Ami-chan?" Usagi asked.
The bluenette picked her computer up and looked it over. She absently pushed her sunglasses up off of her head and her eyes widened as she scanned the readouts on her screen.
"I… I'm detecting a huge build-up of youki," she said. "This isn't just some demon. It's… it's very large, and very powerful," She said.
Everyone looked at her with sudden alarm.
"Is it coming through that gate you mentioned?" Haruka demanded.
"Yes and no," Ami said. "Part of it is coming through the gate, but other parts of it are coming in from all over the city." She quickly tapped several keys on her computer. "All of these other parts have energy signatures that match what my scans picked up earlier. They're all fusing into one entity now, though. I see… it sent out bits and pieces of itself through the gaps in the seal, and now they're reforming into the original."
Haruka and Michiru stood up immediately, and the other Senshi all caught on and stood up as well. Ranma looked up at them all in surprise.
"Where is it?" Usagi demanded.
"Right there," Ami said, pointing towards some skyscrapers in the distance.
-x-Kenichi-x-
"That's the fourth one," Kenichi said with a sigh as he, Chikage, and Honoka sat down on a bench along the side of a busy street. Tall glass monoliths reached up into the sky all around them and the sun, still mostly obscured by the moon, shone down on them.
Honoka patted her brother on the back.
"Don't worry," She said. "I'm sure we'll find your sensei before the day is over."
Chikage noticed her actions and mimicked them, awkwardly clapping him on the shoulder. She remained patting his shoulder long after Honoka stopped, eventually earning a confused look from the two siblings. She only offered them her usual indifferent stare.
"…Is this not the correct response?" She asked after a moment.
"You don't have to do it so long," Kenichi said with a sigh.
She stopped.
"Anyway," Kenichi said. "At least we got to see the eclipse." He stood up and stretched his arms over his head. "I'd rather be training, but since we're here we should keep looking."
Honoka stood up as well, and both of them looked down at Chikage, who remained sitting.
"Chikage-chan? Are you ready to go?"
Chikage quickly hopped up to her feet.
"I sense something dark," She said, staring at the street.
Kenichi narrowed his eyes and looked around, while Honoka did so with a confused look on her face.
"What are you talking about?" The younger Shirahama asked.
Suddenly, a wave of darkness washed over them and they all turned to the center of the street, where they saw a small floating cloud of some black, smoky substance. A strange black circle with odd designs appeared in the middle of the street, and small black wisps began rapidly flying in from all directions. The cloud of darkness steadily grew with each wisp that flew into it, and the floating black mass quickly reached the size of a bus and continued to grow.
"That," Chikage said.
Kenichi, Honoka, and everyone on the street stopped to watch it.
"What… what is that?" Kenichi muttered.
"I don't know, but I don't think we should stay to find out," Chikage said as the mass continued to grow. It began to stretch upwards. "We should leave, now." She immediately turned and began running.
Kenichi quickly grabbed his sister and followed suit.
"What? Where are we going?!" Honoka demanded.
"Away from that!" Kenichi said.
All around them, other people seemed to be getting the same idea.
-x-Ranma-x-
Ranma watched as the distant black mass continued to grow.
"What the hell is that?" She demanded.
"Some kind of demonic entity," Ami said, quickly reaching down and stuffing her computer in her bag.
"Ranma, we're going to have to catch you later," Haruka said. "For now, we need to go. The Senshi are going to need our help clearing out any civilians that get hurt," She said.
"Let's go!" Rei said, and the girls all nodded and they took off running towards the city.
"What?" Ranma frowned. "I'm going too! There's no way I can just sit back and watch!"
"You told me that you're not as powerful as you were before," Haruka said. "Do you really think you can help right now?"
Ranma's mouth opened, but she said nothing.
"Sorry," Haruka said. "But I really need to go." She turned and started running after the others. "I'll call you!" She said.
Ranma held up a hand, but didn't move. She instead looked at the massive black cloud and watched as it took on a solid shape. Two appendages sprouted from the bottom of its massive body, and it dropped down to the street, landing hard enough to send tremors all the way to the park. Large white claws grew from the appendages, giving them the appearance of feet. The surface of the cloud hardened into a series of jagged, but reflective black scales, and a hole opened up at the top of its body. The hole grew until it split the top part of its body in half, and opened, revealing a gigantic maw brimming with three rows of gleaming, razor sharp teeth.
The creature let out a powerful shriek-roar and Ranma winced and held her hands up to her ears. Windows on the skyscrapers around it shattered, showering the streets below with glass.
"Holy crap," she muttered, staring at the thing in shock. "It's Godzilla!"
-x-Usagi-x-
"I don't think that's Godzilla," Rei said as the seven teens all ran down the street. "Heck of a lot uglier."
"If we hurry, we may be able to attack it before it's finished forming completely," Ami said. "We just need to find somewhere to transform."
"There! There's an alleyway up there!"
They all glanced back to see Haruka sprinting after them and quickly gaining.
"Nice to see you haven't lost your touch, love," Michiru said with a smile when the blonde caught up.
They all turned into the alleyway on reaching it and pulled out their transformation pens.
"Mars Planet Power, Make up!"
"Mercury Planet Power, Make up!"
"Venus Planet Power, Make up!"
"Jupiter Planet Power, Make up!"
"Uranus Planet Power, Make up!"
"Neptune Planet Power, Make up!"
"Moon Prism Power, Make up!"
"Moon Cosmic Power, Make up!"
-x-Yusuke-x-
While people all around him scrambled to escape, screaming, Yusuke calmly stared up at the blob of darkness as it continued to develop. It reached a height of at least thirty meters before it stopped growing, and its shape was being streamlined into something less amorphous. Its massive jaw was hinged at its chest, and it had no arms or facial features. Jagged, obsidian scales covered its body from head to toe; each scale had a crimson point, and three pointed claws jutted out from the front of its feet, with a similar single claw in the back. It resembled a crocodile that had lost its forearms and was standing upright. It let out another roar, somewhat less intense than the first, and took a step, smashing several cars underfoot as it did so. It slammed its head into a nearby building and roared again as a mane of ebony flames appeared on its back.
'A single Spirit Gun charge isn't gonna take care of this thing, not the way I am now. Shit. What do I do?' He looked around. 'Kurama might be here soon, but I don't know if I can count on Hiei to help. Hmm… how can I fight this thing?'
"Mars Snake Fire!"
The displaced delinquent blinked in surprise on seeing a glowing red flame in the shape of a snake fly through the air and into the creature's side. The projectile crashed into it with minimum effect, however, dissipating on contact. The creature pointed its head down at where it'd been struck, as if to look at it, but the lack of eyes meant it probably couldn't see.
Yusuke simply turned to see where the attack had come from, and saw a group of girls in sailor fuku running towards the monster from the side of a building.
'The hell? Who are they, the schoolgirl squad?'
One of the girls swung an arm at the giant creature, and a stream of light flew through the air like a whip.
"Venus Wink Chain Sword!"
A blade of light flew from the chain and into the side of the giant beast. Again, the projectile simply crashed into it and dissipated, but that time, it visibly turned its attention to them. The creature opened its massive maw and let loose a powerful roar in their direction, showing off the three rows of sharp teeth. The force of its roar pushed him back, and Yusuke winced and grit his teeth, raising his arms in an attempt to shield himself.
"Sparkling, Wide Pressure!"
He saw one of them throw a spinning orb of electrical energy at its head. The projectile flew into its gaping maw, and the creature cried out in shock and pain and immediately closed its jaw. Electrical energy arced along its entire body, and it spasmed for an instant. The effect quickly wore off, however, and it simply shook its massive head, shrugging the effect off.
'Guess I'll just watch and wait for an opening…'
-x-Ranma-x-
Ranma panted as she sprinted along the sidewalk at full speed. Her legs were burning, not quite rested from her earlier workout, but she forced herself to keep going. She weaved through the crowd of fleeing civilians with a look of determination on her face.
'I don't care what they say, there's no way I can just sit back and watch. I'm not some weakling bystander!' She ducked and weaved to get by several people, and soon she was wading through the stragglers who were still pouring out of the skyscrapers.
As she approached, she narrowed her eyes and studied the giant's shape.
-x-Sailor Moon-x-
"It's not hurt at all!" Sailor Venus cried out. "Mercury! What's up with that thing?!"
"I'm trying to find out right now," The Senshi of Mercury said. She was looking up at the creature with her visor on and the Mercury Computer in hand. Data streamed before her eyes as she looked the creature's massive body over. The creature took a step towards them, and began to quickly close the distance between them due to its massive legs. Each step it made sent visible, red shockwaves through the air, and it left massive foot prints in the street. "The energy reading is different from anything we've ever encountered before. Its scales are made of an unknown material; I don't think we'll be able to harm it through those unless we chip away at a single point, but there's no telling how long that could take!"
The creature raised up a leg to stomp down on them, and they all scattered. Sailor Moon screamed as she barely managed to clear it, and caught the tail-end of a shockwave that send her flying into a lamppost.
"Sailor Moon! Are you alright?!" Sailor Mars called out.
Sailor Moon peeled herself off of the post and shook her head.
"I, I'm fine!" She called back. "A little dizzy though…" She muttered.
"Look out!"
She immediately turned and saw the creature raising its other foot to kick her. She screamed and ran away as it slammed its massive, clawed foot into the lamppost and sent it flying into a skyscraper.
Sailor Mercury retreated to a safe distance and continued her scans.
"Sailor Jupiter's attack seemed to have some minor success, but it doesn't appear to have taken heavy damage! We should focus on attacking when its mouth is open and try to do as much damage as we can then!"
Sailor Uranus just stared up at it as it put its massive foot back down, sending tremors through the ground and a visible shockwave through the air once more.
"And just how do you suggest we get it to look down here and open wide!" She demanded.
"We can draw its attention with repeated attacks, like before." Sailor Neptune suggested from nearby.
"It's worth a shot!" Sailor Mercury called back.
All of the girls nodded. The beast seemed to lose interest in them, and searched around with its head before facing a skyscraper. It opened its mouth wide and plunged its head into the side of the building at once, rending through it like paper, and crunched the building between its massive jaws. The Senshi all looked up in shocked awe and horror as the sounds of screams assaulted them from up high, and the creature pulled its mouth and a good chunk of the building away. It held its head up and crushed everything in its mouth once before swallowing it all at once. People screamed as they and rubble fell out of the building from the gaping hole it'd made.
Sailor Uranus scowled.
"Stop standing around!" She held her hand high above her head and clenched it a fist as bright golden energy gathered above her. "World… Shaking!" She slammed her hand into the ground and launched a sphere of the golden energy. The energy tore through asphalt and flew up at the beast's head, where it crashed, slightly knocking the beast back.
"Crescent Beam!"
"Shine… Aqua… Illusion!"
A beam of light and a blast of gelid water followed after the initial attack, each one knocking the creature back further. The beast lifted a foot up as it attempted to recover its balance, and hit the skyscraper it'd taken a bite out of just moments before. Part of the building was crushed beneath its girth.
"No!"
"Damn it!"
"We need to get that thing away from the buildings!"
Its fall halted by the building, the creature put its foot back down with a loud crash and the usual rippling shockwaves. It shook its head again, then turned to face Sailor Mercury. She watched it in a sort of shocked detachment as it lifted its leg and moved to step on her.
"Sailor Mercury!"
The blue haired Senshi was snapped out of her reverie by the shrieks of her companions, and turned and started running as fast as she could, but the massive shadow of its foot followed her.
A blue beam of light slammed into her, sending her flying just as the colossal limb came crashing down. The Senshi all watched her fall to the asphalt some ten meters away from the creature's foot, and quickly followed the beam's trajectory back to the source. A young man wearing a leather jacket, white shirt, and blue jeans stood with his arm extended and his index finger pointed at Mercury.
"Don't thank me yet! Take care of that thing!" He shouted.
-x-Ranma-x-
Ranma watched from behind a smashed car as the Senshi returned to their assault on the monster. They launched magical projectile after projectile at it from various angles, careful not to knock it into another building, and ran about the battlefield, avoiding its attempts to squash them.
'Hmm… it's got bad balance,' She thought, looking up at it. 'Legs are short… no arms, no tail to counter balance… we knock it off of its feet, it probably won't be able to get up. But there are still people stuck in the buildings up there…' She got up and ran towards another car that was closer to the battle, then ducked behind it just in time to avoid a flying piece of rubble. She peeked out from behind the car again and continued analyzing the monster. Something on its head caught her eye, and she frowned. 'Is that a horn or something?' She shook her head. 'Well, a Hiryu Shouten Ha could knock it off of its feet easy, but there's no way I could lead that thing in a spiral…' She narrowed her eyes. 'Hmm…'
Finally, seemingly fed up with all of the attacks that were hitting it, the creature bent over and roared once more, and every single one of the girls that it was facing let loose with an attack.
"Mars Snake Fire!"
"Jupiter Coconut Cyclone!"
"Deep Submerge!"
"Crescent Beam!"
Ranma watched as their projectiles – a flame in the shape of a serpent, a bright, tightly packed sphere of electrical energy, a large blue sphere, and a beam of light, – flew into the creature's mouth. The creature recoiled from their attacks and shrieked in obvious pain, swinging its body wildly as electricity arced along its body. In its movements, it hit two of the buildings around it. Steel and glass showered the combatants below, and they all scrambled to avoid the falling debris. Ranma looked up and jumped back at the last second as a chunk of building crushed the car she was hiding behind, exploding and sending shrapnel flying in every direction.
Ranma's eyes widened as rubble flew at her, and she instinctively deflected all of them with a burst of speed.
When she landed, she blinked and looked at her hands in surprise.
'Hey… that wasn't nearly as fast as I used to be, but that was way better than what I was doing earlier today…'
She narrowed her eyes.
'Well, I'm not complaining. But exactly what can I do with this?'
She turned back to look at the group of combatants and frowned when she realized that there were two of the Sailor Senshi that she hadn't seen use any attacks yet.
'What are they waiting on?'
-x-Sailor Moon-x-
Sailor Moon looked up at the creature in disbelief as it simply recovered from the barrage of Senshi attacks and stood up to its full height, a deep grumbling sound emanating from its body.
"I don't think we really managed to hurt it very much," Sailor Mars said.
"At least we hurt it that time," Jupiter grumbled. "What is this thing made of?"
It suddenly jumped straight up into the air and all the Senshi followed it with their eyes. Only a few seconds later it reached the apex of its leap after clearing half its own height and began to fall back towards the ground.
Haruka's eyes widened with realization and she immediately turned and started running.
"Run!"
Her belated warning sounded the instant the creature slammed back down onto the ground. The force of its descent sent massive shockwaves and tremors throughout the area, and all of the Senshi were knocked into the air like rag-dolls, each one flying until they hit something hard enough to stop them.
Sailor Moon slid down the side of a building's wall to the ground and groaned in pain as she sat up and rubbed her head.
'If it wasn't for our transformations, that'd have killed us for sure…' As it was, she had a splitting headache and pain all throughout her body. A deep rumbling sound caught her attention and she turned around to see the creature standing in deep twin craters. Her eyes shifted towards the source of the sound – the building nearest the monster. Her eyes widened when the building began to collapse. She watched, spellbound with horror as it fell, a cloud of dust flying up into the air around the dark giant.
Her mind was blank as she watched it fall. She simply sat there, staring straight ahead, incognizant of the debris flying about as the once towering structure became nothing more than a pile of rubble.
Unfazed, the black behemoth turned and began digging into the pile with its mouth.
"Are you alright?"
She looked up to see the teen with the leather jacket running over to her. He had a look of concern on his face.
Her mouth opened to answer, but she struggled to form words.
"Why…" She finally said, turning to face the monster. "Why…?"
The youth stopped beside her and knelt down to check her over.
"Hey! Get it together!"
The blonde blinked and looked at the youth.
"You're one of this world's defenders, aren't you?" He asked with a scowl. "Then start acting like it!"
She stared at him in surprise for a moment, but then narrowed her eyes in determination.
"You're right," she said, climbing to her feet. She quickly looked around to see that most of the other Senshi were unconscious. The only others who had recovered were Sailors Chibi-Moon, Mars and Mercury. Mars and Chibi-Moon were struggling to stand on their feet, but Mercury was simply sitting, leaning against a tree growing from a planter in the sidewalk. She turned to look at the youth. "I don't know how much longer this battle is going to last. Please get as far away as you can," she said.
He shook his head.
"I may not be as strong as I used to be, but I still have a bit of reiki left," He said. "I can't fight directly, but if I see an opening, you can be damned sure I'm taking it."
She frowned at his statement, but noted the fiery determination in his eyes.
It mirrored her own.
"Very well," She said with a nod. "Stay safe."
He nodded and she turned and started running towards Sailor Mercury, who was sitting up against a tree. She knelt down and looked her friend over with concern.
"Sailor Mercury, can you stand?" She asked.
The blue haired girl shook her head.
"My leg is broken," The other girl said, biting her lip and wincing against the pain. She was staring down at her leg with her visor on.
Sailors Mars and Chibi-Moon joined them, both looking slightly better off than Moon herself.
"Are you two alright?" Mars asked. She was bleeding from a cut on her arm and covered in dirt.
"Mercury's leg is broken," Moon said. "What about you two?"
"A few scrapes and bruises, but otherwise alright," Mars said.
"Same," Chibi-Moon said. "How broken is your leg?" She asked, looking down at Mercury.
"Both my femur and tibia are fractured," The blue haired girl said. "I don't think I'll be able to walk on my own for quite some time."
The other Senshi nodded at that.
"I'll relay tactical data to you," Mercury said. "I'm afraid I can't do much more than that. Since I can't move, I don't want to attract its attention by attacking." she said.
"It would probably be best for you to get out of here," Moon said with a frown. "It might attack you anyway, or something could fall on you…"
Mercury shook her head.
"I need to help," she said. "Many lives have been lost to that abomination already. We need to take it out as soon as possible, and that will be easier if I can offer you tactical information."
"I'll watch her."
They all turned to see Ranma standing there, and blinked in surprise.
"I can give her a piggyback and escape if necessary, while you guys fight that thing." She said.
The Senshi all frowned at her.
"You're just a civilian," Mars began.
"This isn't the time for this!" Ranma snapped. "That other guy is helping and now so am I. You need all the help you can get, so just take it, damn it!"
The Senshi stared at the redhead for a good long moment. The sound of the black colossus crunching metal and glass between its jaws could be heard in the background as it searched the rubble for meat.
"She's right," Mercury said. "But we need a plan."
"Fine." Sailor Moon looked over at the giant monster.
It seemed to have completely lost interest in them.
"Any ideas?" She asked.
"Hmm…" Mercury turned to face the creature. "My analysis indicates that attacking its mouth is indeed effective, but the amount of damage we're doing is negligible."
"Well," Ranma began. "It has bad balance. If you could knock it off of its feet, then you could attack its mouth all you wanted," She said.
Sailor Mercury shook her head.
"In an area with open space, that would be a viable plan," she said. "But if we do that here, it could kill whatever people are still trying to evacuate the nearby buildings and destroy even more property, just by falling down."
Ranma winced.
"Ugh… yeah…" She said with a frown. "Sorry, property damage isn't normally an issue where I come from…" She muttered.
They all blinked at what she'd said, but continued thinking.
"Hmm…"
They all looked at Mercury, who was frowning.
"Sailor Moon, do you think you could time the Moon Spiral Heart Attack to strike its open mouth if it attacks us?"
"No." Moon and Chibi-Moon spoke in unison. The two blinked and looked at each other, and Moon continued on.
"You can use the Moon Spiral Heart Attack?" She asked, looking at her daughter in surprise.
"Of course I can," Chibi-Moon said. "You taught—er, well… yes."
Sailor Moon nodded her understanding, then turned to look at Mercury again.
"We'd have to guess when it's going to look down at us, and hold it until then. And… I don't know how long we can do that."
"I see. The two of you should definitely be able to destroy it if you get a clean shot, but if it's too hard to properly time launching from the ground, then we're going to need another method of delivery," She said.
"Wait, wait a second," Ranma said with a confused frown. "You're going to give it a heart attack? I don't think there's enough doughnuts in the world to do that," She said.
The Senshi, sans Mercury, snickered at her suggestion.
"Moon Spiral Heart Attack is a powerful spell," Mercury explained. "It's well suited to destroying evil creatures, but is both time and energy consuming. I determined it would be ineffective against the creature's hide, so I advised Sailor Moon not to use it unless she got a clear shot at its mouth."
Ranma blinked and looked over at Sailor Moon.
"So that's why you haven't done anything yet," She said.
Moon nodded.
"We need to think about how we're going to deliver the attack," Mercury said. "There may be survivors in that rubble. We need to act fast."
All of the girls nodded.
"Hmm, hmm…" Ranma frowned as she considered that. "…We could try delivering it from the air?" She said.
The others all looked at her.
"How would we do that?" Mars demanded. "We can't fly, and we don't want to get in a building that could be destroyed by that thing."
Ranma narrowed her eyes.
"I have an idea…" she said. "You're the fire user, yes?"
Mars nodded.
"Then I'm going to need your help," She said. "I'd like to try something. It might turn out a bit different, since you guys are using magic instead of chi, but the underlying principles are the same," she said.
They all looked at her.
"What are you planning?" Mars asked.
"We'll make a tornado," Ranma said. "Then ride the winds into the sky and shoot it from above." She looked over at the youth with the jacket. "That guy can get this girl out of here before we get started."
The Senshi all stared at her.
"Ride a tornado into the air?" Mars asked with scrunched eyebrows. "Are you insane?"
"Look, I don't see you coming up with any better ideas," Ranma snapped.
"Anything is a better idea," Sailor Mars retorted.
Ranma scowled and opened her mouth, but Mercury cut her off.
"Assuming you even get up into the air safely and deliver the attack, exactly how would you land?" She asked.
Ranma blinked. Normally, falling from such height wouldn't be a real issue, but she wasn't at her best, and the Senshi didn't seem to be as resilient or skilled as she.
"Uh… well…"
"Even if you fell from the minimum height necessary to deliver the attack, your chances of survival are…" She paused as her visor went through some calculations for her. "…not favorable, even with the Senshi transformation magic."
"Whatever the case, we cannot just stand here arguing," Moon said. "If Ranma's method has even a slim chance of working then we should use it."
Ranma blinked at the use of her name, but said nothing.
Sailor Mars frowned.
"But Sailor Moon-"
"No," Moon interrupted. "We don't have time for this. We need to take action." She turned to look at Ranma. "What do we do?"
The red head looked at Mars.
"I'm gonna need your help on this one," She said.
Mars stared at her with a look of apprehension, then sighed and nodded.
"Alright," Ranma said. "I need you to generate as much heat energy as you can and follow me. I will counter with cold ki and move in a spiral. Once we reach the center, I'll trigger a tornado," He said.
"Generate heat energy?" Mars asked. "I can't just ignite myself, you know."
"Then throw some magic around, but make sure the heat follows me as closely as possible."
Mercury frowned.
"Sailor Mars' fire magic would be deadly to you, Miss," Mercury said. "If you get hit even once…"
Ranma chuckled.
"I've seen hotter fires, trust me." She said. "Unless she's got a move called Instant Annihilation of all Mortals Blast…"
Mars growled.
"Hotter fires than mine? There are none," she snapped.
Ranma smirked.
"Oh yeah? Prove it!" She said, before turning to look at the youth with the leather jacket. "Hey you! Get this girl out of here! We're gonna do somethin' big!" She gestured Mercury.
The young man ran over to join them.
"Oh yeah?" He asked. "Well let's hope it takes down that ugly bastard." He knelt down and put her arm around his neck, then stood up and carried her away. "Try not to move your leg so much," He said.
As they moved away, Ranma looked around at all of the other downed Senshi. They were all far enough away that the Hiryu Shoten Ha wouldn't hurt them. She looked around for an area flat and clear enough to do the spiral uninterrupted, and finally found a spot in the street that was free of rubble.
"Okay, Heart Attack girls, I need you to stand here," Ranma said, pointing to what would be the center of the spiral as she ran over to the edge of the spiral while Sailors Moon and Chibi-Moon got into position. "Hey hot head, c'mon!"
"I'll show you hot!" The raven haired girl cried out as she followed after the redhead, putting her hands together. "Fire Soul!"
Ranma jumped back to avoid the fireball that came flying at her.
"You missed!" She cried out.
"Of course I did! I'm not trying to kill you!" Mars snapped, keeping her hands together. "Fire Soul!"
Ranma moved again, but also had to duck to avoid that one.
"These aren't getting close enough at all! It'll never work at this rate!" She jeered.
"Fire Soul!"
Ranma huffed as she moved to avoid the flames. She was beginning to sweat, and it wasn't just from the heat. This was different from the weakness moxibustion; back then, all she'd lost was her strength – her agility had remained intact. But she had a job to do.
"You aim like an old lady!" She taunted. The magical flames were probably good, but it wouldn't hurt to get some good old' hot, angry ki mixed in too.
"Shut up! Fire soul!"
"Not hot enough!"
"Burning Mandala!"
"I take it back, I know old ladies who have better aim!"
"Mars Snake Fire!"
"I'm not kidding here!"
"Shut up already you little twit! Mars Snake Fire!"
Ranma's eyes widened and she danced wildly to avoid that one, and even still it cut dangerously close. She winced as she stepped on a sharp rock, but ignored the pain that shot up through her leg and corrected her balance.
'Not trying to kill me? Yeah right,' The teen thought. 'But this is good enough.' She stopped and lowered her fist. "Get the hell out of here unless you wanna get caught in it!"
Mars's eyes widened and she immediately leapt high and away in a sudden show of athleticism just as Ranma threw the uppercut.
"Hiryu Shouten Ha!"
-x-Sailor Moon-x-
"Hold on!" Sailor Moon called out to her daughter, proffering both hands as a large cyclone screamed into existence around them. They both held on to the other tightly, clutching each other's wands and wincing as the funnel tossed them high up into the air like a pair of ragdolls, spinning together around the point where their hands were joined. The two winced as the powerful winds pulled and tore at them, and it was only the strength granted by the transformation magic that let them stay together. They both felt a strong sense of danger from the sudden height, but both clamped down on their fear.
The tornado seemed to have been perfectly aimed to send them over the creature. It completely ignored the tornado though.
"What do we do? It's not looking high enough!" Moon cried out.
"Hey ugly!" Chibi-Moon shouted. "Ready for a snack!?"
The creature then 'looked' up at them. As if it'd sensed two delicious morsels flying straight at it, it opened its massive jaws wide.
"Now!" Chibi-Moon declared.
"Double…Moon… Spiral… Heart… Attack!"
The two stopped spinning through the air and struck a mirrored pose. Streams of hearts spiraled forth from their wands, until finally a single massive pink heart flew forth, straight into its mouth. The heart tore through the creature's flesh and disappeared into its innards, and it shrieked out in pain as its body began to glow with pink light. The shriek increased in pitch and volume until finally the creature violently exploded into countless black shards that dispersed in every direction.
Both Sailor Moons stared down at the empty space where it'd been, wincing from the pain.
They'd done it. It was gone.
And now they were falling.
"Aiiieeeee!"
Both hugged each other and screamed as they fell.
And then both were caught by a man in a black tuxedo wearing a white mask and top-hat.
"Hold on you two!" He cried out as he aimed a black cane at the ground. It extended until it hit the distant street and they stopped falling at once. Slowly, the man lowered them all down to the ground, using the cane as an elevator of sorts. In no time at all they were safely on the ground, but neither of them let go of him.
"Tuxedo Mask! My hero!" Sailor Moon cried out. "You saved us!"
Tuxedo Kamen shook his head.
"I just did what I could," He said. "You did the real work here today, Sailor Moon, Sailor Chibi-Moon."
Sailor Moon gushed.
-x-Ranma-x-
Ranma stared at the man who'd suddenly arrived just in time to save the two falling Senshi. That cane trick had taken a hell of a lot of skill; if he'd been off balance at all, they'd have teetered off and fallen down anyway.
'That guy's good,' She thought, watching with an eyebrow. 'But he's not a Senshi, is he? And they don't seem to mind him helping…'
-x-Kenichi-x-
Kenichi, Honoka, and Chikage all watched as the last of the black scales disappeared into the distance. For a time, nothing happened, until finally a small breeze blew a leaf towards Kenichi's face. He batted it away without even thinking about it, but the action spurred his mind into action. He immediately began running towards the battlefield. Riddled with craters from the black colossus's steps and massive leap, and covered with rubble and smashed cars from buildings and street lamps, the streets were an absolute mess. He weaved around obstacles on his way towards the massive, smoking pile of rubble that had once been a thirty story building.
"Brother? Where are you going!?" Honoka demanded, as she immediately followed after.
"They might need medical help!" He shouted back.
Chikage watched them go with her trademark impassive countenance. After a moment, she followed after them in a full sprint. The three of them quickly made their way to the battlefield, where they saw the girls in the strange clothes tending to their own. About half of them were unconscious, while one of them was simply sitting alone. Kenichi stopped before the first unconscious sailor fuku wearing girl he came across, and Honoka and Chikage stopped as soon as they caught up. The Ryozanpaku disciple knelt down and held the girl's wrist, searching for a pulse. He looked up at the two girls and spoke.
"Go check on the others," He said.
Chikage and Honoka nodded and split off to do as he'd instructed, while he looked back down at the girl beneath him. She had brown hair and was wearing a green skirt, and was covered in dirt and had some bruises and scrapes, but otherwise looked alright.
'I hope she doesn't have any internal injuries,' He thought to himself with a grimace. 'I don't believe this. Real live magical girls and kaiju attacks…' He looked up and around at the carnage that had resulted from the battle he'd just witnessed. 'The world got changed around a lot more than we'd thought… or maybe this really is a coma. This is all just way too ridiculous…'
The girl beneath him groaned and he immediately looked down at her. She had a pained grimace on her face and started tossing and turning.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
By way of answer, she coughed up a spurt of blood.
"I'll take that as a no," He said with a sigh. He noticed that she was taking short breaths.
"Uuhh…ow…" She slowly opened her eyes. "W…what… happened?"
"You took a really bad hit," he said. "As far as I can tell."
She stared up at him in confusion.
"Who are you?" She asked. "Where… where are the others?" She groaned again after her question and closed her eyes back. "Ow…"
"They're here, most of them are out of it though," He said, looking up. "Hey! This one's awake!" He called out. Four other girls in similar uniform, a fifth girl wearing a red sports bra and matching yoga pants, and two men – one in a tuxedo and the other in a leather jacket and blue jeans - all noticed his shout. The girl not wearing a uniform ran over to him and knelt down. He could tell from the way she carried herself that she was a trained martial artist, but she seemed difficult to gauge.
"How's she doing?" The girl asked. She had red hair and was voluptuous, even compared to Miu.
"I think she has internal injuries," He said. "She's coughed up some blood already," He said.
The redhead knelt down and started feeling around on the girl's torso.
"Broken rib," She said. "Two of 'em."
Kenichi winced.
'I guess that means no more kaiju battles for her then, not for a while.' He thought with a frown, before looking up at her. "Are you one of them?" He asked.
The girl shook her head.
"No way," She said. "There are ambulances on the way. You keep an eye on this one. Don't let her move." She stood and he looked up at her.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"I'm gonna look for survivors." she said.
The distant wail of sirens approaching could be heard as she took off running towards the wreckage of the building the monster had destroyed. He looked down at the groaning, panting girl, and wiped some of the sweat off of her face.
-x-Ranma-x-
Ranma panted as she dug through the wreckage, searching for even the faintest trace of chi. She frowned when she came upon a heavy piece of debris and grunted with effort as she lifted it. She turned and tossed it aside, then looked down to see a large spray of blood in the rubble. She stared at it for a moment, too winded to really do anything else; the image of a ketchup packet that'd been stepped on came to mind as she took in the overall shape of the splatters, and she shivered.
'Shit.'
She continued digging at a subdued pace. It wasn't long before she found the source of the blood.
She was immediately overwhelmed by the sight, and turned and retched all at once.
"Hey, need a ha… whoa."
She stopped heaving and panted, grimacing at the bitter taste of her own bile. The young man who'd helped during the fight was standing nearby.
"Are you alright?" He asked, taking a step toward her.
She closed her eyes.
"Yeah… yeah I'm fine."
He nodded and turned to look at what she'd just seen, and made a face.
"Holy shit…" He muttered.
Ranma sighed and took a few steps away from the mess she'd just made to sit down. She was covered in sweat and the area stank of her insides.
"Maybe you should take a break," The young man said, looking down at her. "The rescue crews will be here soon, and we'll just be in the way then."
She shook her head.
"There may be people still alive underneath all this shit," she said, gesturing the rubble. "When I think of how… scared and alone they'd be…" She shook her head and stood back up, but he put a hand on her.
"Hold on."
She looked up at frowned at him.
"What? Don't try to stop me."
"I'm not," He said. "But at least rest a whole minute."
She sighed and shook her head.
"Man. Two days ago and I coulda searched all of this in an hour," she muttered, hanging her head.
The young man stared at her for a moment, before speaking again.
"Two days ago?"
She looked up at him.
"Eh… you wouldn't get it." She said, sitting back down.
He stared down at her.
"Did you used to be stronger two days ago?" he asked.
She rolled her eyes.
"Helluva lot stronger," She said with a sigh. 'And at least half male, too.'
He frowned.
"You don't look like an S class demon to me…" He muttered.
She looked up at him with a eyebrow cocked up.
"What? Of course not. I'm a martial artist," She said. "Been training all my life. That tornado was just one of the techniques I know."
He raised an eyebrow.
"I've only ever seen demons do that sort of thing," He said. "Most humans I know just focus raw reiki."
She shrugged.
"I don't use reiki," She said. "I use chi."
He nodded.
"So what happened two days ago?" He asked.
She shrugged.
"Would you believe me if I told you I woke up in a different world with a different body?"
He stared at her in silence for at least ten seconds, before finally breaking out into full blown laughter. She sighed and rolled her eyes, then stood up.
"Yeah, figured," She said.
"What if I said yes?"
She blinked and stared at him.
"Huh?"
"Yeah, see… Funny thing happened two days ago…"
-x-Sailor Moon-x-
Sailor Moon sat next to Mercury, who was sitting up and leaning against the stump of a tree that'd snapped from the beast's jump attack. Sailors Chibi-Moon and Mars had run off to check on the downed Senshi.
"What should we do?" Moon asked, looking up. "If we just let the ambulances get here and see us as we are, things could get… uh, what's the word? Complit…complicated! Yeah, that. Anyway, if we transform right now, then these people will figure out who we are."
Mercury sighed and leaned back against the tree.
"I know, I know. If only we really were backed by some kind of organization…" she said, closing her eyes. A slight breeze played with her hair. "Maybe we should look into that…"
"They're almost here," Sailor Moon said, looking up. The approaching sirens were indeed much closer.
"Hmm…" Mercury frowned. "As long as we keep our senshi transformations up the whole time, then we should be fine, but there's no guarantee they'll release us without questioning. Actually, I'm sure of the opposite." She said. She reached up to the stud in her ear and engaged her visor once more, then tapped a few keys on her computer. "It would undoubtedly be safer to go in without our transformations up, but all the same, I'd rather not reveal our identities to Ranma-san just yet," She said. "The others don't know us at all, but seeing us transform will make it possible for them to recognize us…" She sighed.
"So what do we dooo?" Moon whined.
"I know a doctor that will help, no questions asked."
They both looked up to see Sailor Uranus standing over them, holding her arm.
"Uranus! You're alright?"
The blonde nodded.
"I saw the end there," She began. "My arm had been dislocated, but I fixed it." She said. "Nothing else major. But I think Neptune has a concussion," she said the last bit with closed eyes. "Anyway, like I said. I know a doctor," she said. "Unless someone needs to go to the ER, we should be fine."
"My leg needs surgery," Mercury said. "The transformation magic is the only reason I'm not screaming right now."
Uranus frowned.
"I see…" She brought a hand up to her chin and considered it. After a moment, she looked down at Moon. "What do you think we should do, princess?"
Moon blinked.
"W-well… I, I'm not sure… to be honest…" She chuckled, then sighed. "We've never had to deal with anything like this…"
Uranus frowned.
"I suggest you relinquish the transformations,"
They all turned to look at Tuxedo Kamen.
"The worst thing that can happen is that five people who don't know you find out who we are. If the authorities get their hands on the Senshi, however, the fallout will be much worse. This isn't an ideal situation, but things won't always go the way we wish them to."
Uranus shook her head.
"We can't forget the possibility that it's Ranma who's caused this whole mess to begin with," she said.
Tuxedo Kamen turned to look at her with a raised brow.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"You weren't at the meeting, so you wouldn't know, but two days ago, someone altered history."
He frowned.
"Good to know it's not just me."
"Oh, come on now," Sailor Moon said, standing up and dusting herself off. "That's just silly. Why would she have done such a thing to herself? No way, this has to be the diabolical scheme of some new enemy," She said. "Probably the demons we've supposedly been encountering… just encountered, anyway."
Haruka frowned.
"For her own entertainment, maybe? Who knows?" She shrugged.
Mercury shook her head.
"I'm with Sailor Moon," She said. "It's more likely that someone was very deliberate with what they changed and that they had some sort of plan. We should be prepared for whatever else may happen," She said.
The five of them stood there in silence as they considered what that could mean, while the blaring sirens closed in.
"They're just around the corner," Kamen said. "It's now or never, Senshi."
"Tch," Sailor Uranus frowned.
Sailor Moon looked down at Mercury.
"Can we turn the others' transformations off?" She asked. "We need to act fast."
Mercury's visor scrolled data past her eyes in response to the princess' query.
"Um, yes. It doesn't seem like anyone has suffered mortal injury, disengaging the transformation magic shouldn't cause them any harm."
Moon shook her head.
"No, no, I mean… like… remotely? For the ones not awake?"
Mercury blinked.
"There appears to be such a function. However… there is an authorization code required, from you…"
Sailor Moon blinked.
"What? But I don't know any… authorization code!"
Mercury blinked at the data readout.
"Huh. It accepted that," She said.
Everyone stared at Sailor Moon as Mercury tapped a few keys on the computer and one by one, the Senshi's transformations began to deactivate, their fuku vanishing in flashes of light.
-x-Ranma-x-
Ranma stopped running towards the three gathered Senshi and their tuxedo'd friend as the girls' transformations began to deactivate. She stared at the revealed Usagi, Haruka, and Ami in surprise.
It only lasted a few seconds.
'Thinking back, it seems obvious,' She thought, before continuing to run over to join them. "Hey, you guys are never gonna believe this," she said, not missing a beat. "But that guy? With the jacket? He's like us," She said.
Usagi, Haruka, and Tuxedo Kamen all stared at her. Ami was busy gritting her teeth and hissing at the pain in her leg.
"Um… like us?" Usagi asked.
"What's going on!?"
They all turned to see Rei running towards them.
"My transformation wore off all of a sudden!" She called out. "Without warning! So did the others!"
Just then, numerous emergency vehicles pulled into the area. Police, fire fighters, and ambulances swarmed in from every direction, and just behind them were news vans representing every station in the entire metropolitan area.
"It's alright," Tuxedo Kamen said. "That was necessary in order to avoid your covers from being blown. I on the other hand, will need to change elsewhere." He turned and started walking away. "Take care of yourselves, girls. I'll be around." And with that, he leapt off and away.
Haruka frowned and turned to look at Ranma.
"What do you mean, 'like us'?"
"He's from another world," Ranma said. "Woke up two days ago, everything different, same as us."
Even Ami looked at her that time.
"…Is that right?" Haruka muttered. "We'll have to talk to him then, see if he knows anything. Where is he now?"
"He said he was sweeping the rubble for any signs of ki," She said. "You know, looking for survivors?"
Both Rei and Haruka nodded their understanding, while Usagi looked somewhat confused.
-x-Kenichi-x-
Kenichi stood back and watched as the emergency medical technicians loaded the brown haired girl up on a stretcher and carried her away to an ambulance, Honoka and Chikage by his side.
"Big brother, what should we do now?" Honoka asked, looking up at him.
"I'm not sure," He said with a heavy sigh.
"Do you still wish to question the validity of the existence of magical girls?" Chikage asked, favoring him with her trademark deadpan stare.
He hung his head.
"I guess not…" He said with a sigh. "Man… real life monsters…" Suddenly he felt much smaller and weaker than he'd ever felt, even with his newest predicament.
"This is a prime opportunity to gather information," Chikage said.
Honoka and Kenichi both looked at her.
"What do you mean?" Kenichi asked.
"Them," the short girl said, pointing at the red head, and three of the Sailor Senshi, who were watching a fourth get loaded up into another ambulance. "They have magical powers capable of defeating powerful creatures the likes of which we have never seen. They are likely to be able to tell us what we need to know about this strange world."
Kenichi furrowed his brow.
"That makes sense," He said with a sigh.
"The Sailor Senshi?" Honoka asked. "You mean we're going to talk to them?"
Kenichi nodded.
"This is as good a chance as ever," He said.
-x-Ranma-x-
"Excuse us!"
Ranma, Rei, Usagi and Haruka turned to see the three civilians who'd helped keep watch over the downed Senshi. There was the modest looking boy about her age wearing glasses and plain clothes, a girl wearing a purple leotard under a shirt and miniskirt, and a girl with her hair in a side-tail wearing a school uniform.
"Yeah?" Ranma asked.
"Uh… well…" The boy trailed off.
"We were hoping you could explain what just happened to us," said the girl with the side-tail. "We are not familiar with such creatures. How commonly do such monsters attack this city? When did they appear?"
Ranma narrowed her eyes.
"Don't tell me… did something strange happen to you two days ago?"
The boy with the glasses and the side-tail girl shared a look, while the leotard wearing girl just looked confused.
"Uh, excuse me!" The leotard girl began. "I'm, uh, a big fan! I think you're all so cool!"
The Sailor Senshi blinked at her, and Usagi laughed nervously.
"Ahh, ahahaha… thanks?"
Haruka sighed.
"Let's get this straight, though. Did everything change for you three as well, two days ago?" She asked.
The boy shook his head.
"Just me and Chikage-chan," He said. "My sister… well, she's…" He glanced at Honoka, who was looking back and forth between him and Haruka.
"I see," Haruka said with a nod.
"Just how many people did this happen to?" Rei muttered. "I'd thought it was only us at first, but now…"
"Who knows," Haruka said. "But right now, we've got more important things to worry about. I'm going to go see how Michiru's doing." She turned and started jogging over towards Michiru, who was sitting up in the back of an ambulance and receiving attention from several emergency personnel.
Ranma shook her head.
"Well, the police are going to ask for statements soon," Rei said. "After that, I think we'll be free to talk." She turned to look at Kenichi. "Listen, could you keep quiet about… you know? We'd really appreciate it."
The three nodded their understanding.
"O-of course, right…"
-x-Inverted Spectrum-x-
Ranma crossed her arms as she surveyed everyone present. Most of the emergency personnel had all cleared out, and Michiru, Ami, and Makoto had been taken to the nearest hospital, leaving Haruka, Usagi, Chibi-Usa, Rei, Minako, the youth with the leather jacket, the three civilians that had helped out, and Ranma herself. The scene of the battle had been cordoned off, and they were standing outside the yellow tape as rescue crews worked to find survivors, or at least bodies, wherever they could. News crews were finally being allowed to enter the area and film the damage, and civilians were gathering at the perimeter to ogle everything. It was an absolute spectacle.
"Alright, so, let's get this straight…" Ranma began. "Everyone here - minus your sister, that is - woke up two days ago, in a completely different world than they remember having lived in their entire lives."
Most of the people gathered nodded.
"That sums it up," the leather jacket wearing teen said.
"Agreed," The side-tail girl said.
"We should head back to the park, we left some of our stuff there." Rei said.
"Oh, yeah alright." Usagi said. "It's not too far. In the meantime, I believe proper introductions are in order." She started walking along the sidewalk, and the rest of the group followed after. "For a second time, anyway. My name's Tsukino Usagi."
"Hino Rei," Said the girl with raven black hair.
"The beautiful Aino Minako, at your service!"
"Saotome Ranma, nice ta meet'cha."
"Name's Urameshi Yusuke,"
"Uhm, er, Shirahama Kenichi,"
"Shirahama Honoka!"
"Kushinada Chikage."
"Ten'ou Haruka."
"And I'm also Tsukino Usagi." Chibi-Usa said. "Yes, we're related; cousins, and the name is family tradition." She said.
"Just call her Chibi-Usa to avoid confusion," Usagi said.
"Tch, no way, I'm older!"
"Anyway," Haruka said, heading off their banter. "Normally, I would be against sharing information with people we don't know, but you've all seen our transformations, so it's moot. That aside, let us begin with: Does anyone know what the hell it was we just killed? Because a creature like that has never appeared in our world before."
There were head-shakes all around, except from Yusuke, who was wearing a frown.
"I've never seen it before, but it was definitely from Makai." He said. "I noticed some of its body pass through a gate to Makai before it all assembled into that thing."
They all looked at him.
"Makai?" Ranma asked. "You mean, there's an actual demon realm?"
Yusuke nodded.
"Makai is another world," He began. "I mean, in my world, at least. Creatures like that can be found all over, though most of them aren't as huge. There are many just as and even way stronger than that thing. I was a demon hunter in my own world, for a while, but I'd recently retired… well, it's a long story, but anyway, I used to be strong enough to squash youkai like that with my little finger."
Everyone gathered looked at him in shock.
"No way," Ranma muttered.
"Way," Yusuke said.
Haruka frowned. The fact that she couldn't detect a hint of deception or exaggeration from the youth was giving her a very bad feeling.
"So," She began. "You… were very powerful."
He nodded.
"One of the most powerful people in the world," He said with a shrug. "But it's all gone now. I'm back the way I was before I became a spirit detective… demon hunter, anyway."
"I see. So history was altered so that you'd never became one," Rei said. "And now all of your power is gone."
He nodded.
"That's what I was told, yeah." He cracked his knuckles. "I'd really like to get my hands on the bastard behind all of this. Everything was just fine. I had my ramen cart going and everything!"
They stared at him for a moment, but shrugged that off.
"Wait a second, wait a second…" Rei said, frowning. "Makai… Ami-chan mentioned youkai from another dimension earlier, right? So okay, there's this Makai in your world, a place where such demons live, but not in ours. We've never actually fought any creatures from this Makai place, but according to this history of this world, we have, as if Makai always existed here…"
Haruka's eyes lit up.
"It's like his world fused with ours," She said in a low voice.
Rei looked over at her.
"Yeah," She said. "Yeah! That's it!"
She stopped walking and everyone else followed suit and looked at her.
"This isn't some new world that none of us has ever been to before," Rei continued. "This is all of our worlds, fused together!"
They all stared at her in silence.
"Umm… this is all sort of going over my head…" Honoka said. "Can someone explain it to me?"
"It's actually rather simple," Haruka said. "If Hino is right, then, we're all from alternate universes that have fused together into one, with an integrated history." She looked down at Honoka. "You are the only person here who remembers everything according to the history of this world. The rest of us remember something quite different."
Honoka frowned, then looked up at her brother.
"Big Brother? You… don't remember me?"
He shook his head and sighed.
"I… remember a different Honoka." He admitted. "She… was just like you, in most ways, but… she wasn't a martial artist."
Honoka frowned at that.
"So… that's why… you've been acting so strange?" She muttered to herself. "This is all so weird... but I think I get it…" She shook her head. "If the Senshi say so, then it must be true."
"Wait, wait, okay, but," Ranma said, frowning. "Why would someone do that?"
Rei shrugged.
"No idea. It's just an early theory, really, anyway," She said. "But it makes sense given what we know."
Haruka nodded.
"We might be able to get a better picture of the situation if we know more about everyone involved,"
"Huh…" Minako frowned. "Then, shouldn't we get to know as much about each other's worlds as possible? Because, uh, chances are, each of us has things that have followed us into this world that the others wouldn't be familiar with," She said. "You know, things like that kaiju that just leveled a city block?"
Usagi nodded.
"That sounds like a good idea," She said. She looked over at Kenichi. "So were you guys demon hunters too?"
Kenichi shook his head.
"I, I was just a normal kid, really. I mean, I was a martial arts disciple, and a lot stronger than I am now, but I still had a long way to go… I can't imagine why this would have happened to me."
"Likewise, I am a martial artist," Chikage said. "As I can tell Saotome-san is."
Ranma blinked.
"Yeah, that's right," She said, surveying the small girl. "Jujutsu?"
Chikage nodded.
"From what I saw of your performance earlier, you are skilled at many styles," She said. "Similar to band-aid."
Kenichi chuckled.
"I'm not wearing a band-aid right now, you know…" He said.
They all looked at him.
"Band-aid?"
He sighed.
"My masters… were very rough," He said. "I was almost constantly recovering from their training methods… she started calling me that right around the time I had that one on my face."
Ranma chuckled, while the Senshi all considered what he'd said.
"Alright, so you're martial artists," Haruka said. "And you've never dealt with demons or anything like that?"
Kenichi shook his head.
"You'd think some of the masters I've seen fight were demons, but surprisingly, they're human," He said. "I think."
"I've fought demons before," Ranma said. "Nothin quite so big as that last guy, but there's been all kinds. Same with crazy martial artists, and a few perverts… wait, no, a lot of perverts."
"You fight perverts?" Usagi asked with a disgusted frown.
Ranma sighed and nodded.
"So Shirahama-san lived a completely normal life, then?" Rei asked.
Kenichi frowned.
"Well, actually, I suppose I wouldn't call my life normal… There certainly weren't any demons, but… Yami and YOMI…" He sighed. "Where were we going again?"
"A park," Usagi said as she continued walking. The rest of the group followed after, except for Honoka, who was looking at her brother in surprise.
"You fought against Yami and YOMI?" She asked.
He stopped and turned to look down at her.
"That's right," He said. "Do you know about them?"
She nodded, but looked distressed.
"I… do," She said. "Sensei said it was Yami who killed her sensei."
All of the muscles in Kenichi's face locked up.
"I…see." He said, closing his eyes. After a moment, he opened them and continued walking. "Come on, Honoka, we're going to get left behind."
She watched him with concern, but then followed after.
"So, what's this Yami you were talking about before?" Haruka asked. "Right away, I'm going to say that I don't like their name."
Kenichi nodded.
"Well, as some of you may know, martial arts has many different schools of thought, but it can all be broken down into two main ideologies; The Katsujinken, and the Satsujinken."
Ranma, Haruka, and Rei all nodded at his explanation.
"Katsujinken is the way of the life giving fist, or sword," Rei said. "It embodies all that is righteous: protecting the weak, destroying evil, and cultivating one's own spirit. Conversely, Satsujinken is the way of the murdering sword or fist, which takes the lives of the weak, propagates evil, and eventually destroys one's humanity."
"Yeah, Katsujinken users only kill when they have no alternatives, and Satsujinken martial artists kill whoever gets in their way," Ranma said with a frown.
Chikage frowned, but said nothing.
"There's always an alternative." Kenichi insisted. "Always."
Ranma winced, while Usagi nodded in agreement, but Haruka chuckled.
"That sounds naïve if you ask me," She said.
"Regardless, we are not here to debate philosophy." Chikage said, returning to her usual indifferent demeanor. "Band-aid."
Kenichi nodded.
"Anyway," He continued, "Yami is the largest single organization of Satsujinken users in the world. Their ideology, I think is based on the age-old JakuNiku KyōShoku. They support criminal organizations and count many skilled assassins amongst their numbers. I'm not sure what their goals are." He said. "My masters fought against them and interfered with their operations as much as possible, saving human lives where ever they could. And I fought against YOMI, a sub-group in Yami of disciples who followed Satsujinken masters." He shook his head.
Usagi frowned.
"You fought against murderers?" She asked.
Kenichi nodded, and Minako shook her head.
"Unbelievable. Youkai, Youma, whatever you wanna call em – they're just blood thirsty monsters. But you fought against people?"
He nodded.
"I used to fight people like that, back when I first started out as Sailor V… it always makes me sick when I'm reminded that there are humans who profit from the suffering of other humans."
"Why'd you stop?" Ranma asked, frowning.
She shrugged.
"Well, fighting monsters and such all the time takes a lot out of you," She said. "Especially recently, with those daimon… With otherworldly creatures to worry about, I just haven't had the time to even think about regular criminals." She shook her head. "Anyway, that's definitely not a normal life. Even if it's not monsters you were fighting."
Kenichi nodded.
"Do you have reason to believe that this Yami is here in this world?" Haruka asked.
The group turned onto the street where the park was located. The park was almost completely empty, a stark change from when it'd been over-crowded during the eclipse.
"We know for a fact that they are here." Chikage said. "We are also aware that the Yami of this world has youkai in its ranks."
The entire group looked upset at that.
"That's like, twice the bad news," Minako said with a grimace.
"Agreed," Haruka said with a heavy sigh. "And this organization; you said it's the largest in the world, so I'm guessing they have a lot of influence."
"Yami's influence over the world's governments is great." Chikage said. "There are some which are resistant, but what politicians aren't already their puppets, they assassinate and replace as soon as they are troublesome."
"Unless, of course, people like my masters stop them." Kenichi said. "Unfortunately, in this world, my masters… may not even exist, for the most part. I haven't seen any of them, and of the two I've heard about, one is dead, and one is extremely elusive," He said with a heavy sigh. "And still might not even be what I remember him to be."
When they entered the park, Ranma opened her mouth to get a word in.
"So, okay," She said. "Let me get this straight. We are dealing with a bunch of demons from this Makai place, who are running around killing people at whim, and an organization of murderous martial artists that spans the entire world and can have us all killed, which also includes some of the aforementioned demons." She said.
The group all shared looks.
"Sums it up," Yusuke said.
"Sounds right to me," Usagi agreed.
There were more sounds of agreement.
"Unless there's something you'd like to add Ranma?" Haruka asked, closing her eyes and holding her head.
Ranma shook her head for a moment, then shrugged.
"Well, I'm not sure," She said. "None of my problems have actually shown up yet. They might be gone, they might be different, no way ta tell."
"Your problems?" Usagi asked.
"Err… well… it's nothing as big as what those guys mentioned… just a few violent fiancés, jealous rivals, and a lot of random bullshit. Some of which, I'd rather not share just yet. It's a, uh, personal matter. But let me tell you one thing; don't ever go to China. Ever."
They all stared at her.
"Did you say fiancés?" Kenichi asked. "As in, plural?"
Ranma chuckled.
"If there's anything that you're not telling us which could affect us, please, don't hide it," Haruka began with annoyance, "I'd rather not be caught by surprise."
Ranma shrugged.
"I think we're cool," she said. "I mean, my life has changed so much, I don't even know what's the same anymore. I mean, in my world, I was a poor martial artist who traveled around the world with my father, and here, I'm made of money and I've never used martial arts in my life. Even my family's different."
They all considered that.
"Um, wait a second… I might be missing something, but… If all that has changed, for those of us who remember the world as it used to be, is personal history, then shouldn't your family be the same?" Usagi asked.
Ranma shrugged.
"I donno."
Usagi shook her head.
"Hey, Chibi-Usa," Rei said suddenly, looking over at the pink haired girl. "Are you following all of this?" She asked. "You haven't said a word."
Chibi-Usa looked over at her.
"I don't get it," she said. "If history has changed… then why do I remember the same history as you all?"
The Senshi all stared at her.
"I mean… given my circumstances… I should remember the history of this world," she said. "Right?"
Haruka raised an eyebrow.
"That… is a good point," She said.
"What is she talking about?" Ranma asked.
"It's nothing," Chibi-Usa said. "Alright, so… what's the plan? How do we deal with all of this?"
Usagi sighed.
"Well, it looks like we've got two new enemies to think about, all at once," She said with a sigh.
"And these aren't like anything we've faced before," Haruka said. "If youkai are like that one we just fought, then as far as I can tell, they pillage and kill for the sake of consuming human flesh and nothing more; no overarching plan or desire for world domination or destruction. This Yami on the other hand is quite possibly the most devious and resourceful enemy we've faced yet. They aren't like our previous enemies, who were arrogant and relied entirely on supernatural means to get what they want. If they have humans in their ranks, then they are capable of anything, of being anyone," she said. "Our prime minister could be a member of this group, or a puppet who doesn't even realize it."
"Even our friends and family could be members," Minako said with a frown. "Our own histories have changed too, remember?"
Kenichi gulped at the thought.
"So? What do we do?" He asked.
"We need to focus on righting this entire situation to begin with." Haruka said. "Which means finding out who caused it, why, and how. Then we find out how to fix it, and we do just that. If we can return to our own worlds… or split this one back apart… then we'll at least only have our own problems to deal with."
"True enough," Usagi said. "But at the same time, we fight. They may not be from our world, but we can't turn a blind eye to the activities of these new enemies. We investigate this Yami organization, and we fight any youkai we find."
The group turned to look at her. Gone was the carefree blonde; her expression had hardened, and her voice had sounded different then, authoritative even.
Chikage frowned.
"Hmm."
Kenichi glanced down at her.
"Something wrong, Chikage-chan?"
She mutely shook her head.
"Can we count on your assistance?" Usagi asked, looking between Ranma, Kenichi, and Yusuke. "I am aware that you lack the power you once had, but your experience and knowledge would be helpful to us nonetheless."
Yusuke shrugged.
"Look, let's straighten one thing out first," He said. "Not all youkai are evil. I was working under that mindset when I was a spirit detective in my world for a long time, until I found out that some of them were just like us, and only fighting because they had to. The blood thirsty ones I'll help you kill, but if they aren't hurting anyone, then you're going to have to go through me if you want to hurt them."
Most of the Senshi looked taken aback at his statement, but Usagi merely nodded.
"Very well." She said.
"Then sure, I'll help out." He said. "But don't expect me to come running every time you need help. I've got things I gotta take care of, too."
Usagi nodded again and turned to look at Ranma, who shrugged.
"Ehh, I guess," She said. "I've got to get back in shape, but yeah sure whatever."
She nodded again and turned to face Kenichi.
"I'd be happy to help," Kenichi said. "But… I'm gonna have to get back into shape too. And I really don't know what a guy like me could do against demons…" He said.
They arrived to see the group of blankets that the Senshi and Ranma had left earlier in their hurry to combat the monster. They were exactly as they'd been left.
"Well, we really need to check in on our friends in the hospital, and fill them in," Usagi said, her previous cheerful demeanor returning.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Ranma said. "I need to get back to my training, too."
"We'll have to keep in contact somehow," Rei said. "Think we could exchange some phone numbers?"
Yusuke was the only one not to nod, and they all began to retrieve their phones.
"I got nothin' really," he said with a shrug. "Didn't even have clothes when I woke up this morning."
They all stared at him.
"Serious," He said with a scowl. "Two bastards I know sort of abandoned me with nothing more than a hospital sheet. And the wind took even that from me,"
Haruka, Ranma and Kenichi had sympathetic looks on their faces, while the others looked appalled. Ranma cleared her throat and spoke up,
"Well, do you know this area? Maybe we can meet up somewhere around here,"
He shook his head.
"No way, I used to live in another ward," He said. "I'm lost right now."
Ranma chuckled.
"You and me both, man," She muttered.
-x-x-x-
After exchanging phone numbers, the Senshi gathered up their belongings and took off after some short goodbyes, eager to visit their friends in the hospital, leaving Ranma, Kenichi, Honoka, Chikage, and Yusuke in the park.
"So you guys are all martial artists?" Ranma asked, looking at each one.
"Ehh, I guess," Yusuke said. "I didn't learn karate or anything like that until Master Genkai," He said with a shrug. "I just consider it all different types of fighting, you know? I'm more of a brawler if you catch my drift."
"Yeah, I gotcha," Ranma said. She turned to look at Kenichi. "What about you?"
"Well, I uh, I know Karate… Jujutsu, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, and I've been studying a few weapon styles," He said. "I don't use weapons, but I can apply some of the tenets to my martial arts."
Ranma nodded.
"Nice," She said. "Maybe we can spar some time?" She asked.
Kenichi chuckled.
"Well, I donno…" He said.
"If you can really put up a fight, sure," Yusuke said. "But don't cry if I hurt you."
"I would like to participate in such an arrangement." Chikage said.
Honoka looked over at Kenichi.
"It sounds fun," she said. "Why don't you wanna join in? You… you're a disciple of katsujinken, right?"
He sighed.
"Well, yeah, guess, but I really need to do my basic training," He said. "My masters always said that a strong foundation was the most important aspect, and I know I'd have died if not for their training."
Ranma nodded, while Yusuke shrugged.
"Eh, I always learned best by doing," He said. "Fighting included."
"I think we can help each other out though," She said. "You can't do all the training your masters had you do alone, right? And we all need someone to keep us on our toes. As far as I know, none of my old rivals are around, and I'm guessing the same is true for you guys, right?"
Kenichi chuckled.
'Well, Tanimoto-kun is "around" but I wouldn't say he's in the best shape for sparring… it'd be nice not having to fight delinquents or people out to kill me, though.'
"So maybe we can all meet up somewhere or something every day, and work out. Sound cool?" Ranma asked.
Kenichi nodded.
"I'd like that, actually," He said with a smile.
She smirked back.
"Alright," She said. "Just as long as you don't cry if we hurt you."
Yusuke chuckled while Kenichi shuddered.
"Well, er, I don't exactly live around here, anyway," He said. "Meeting up every day is going to be a little hard. I live in another district. I was a live-in disciple in my world, so the dojo was always there, but this wouldn't be nearly as convenient. We've got to think of the money, and the travel time…" He trailed off. "Sorry, I'm not trying to dissuade you or anything, it's just, these issues are important."
Ranma hastily nodded her understanding.
"Yeah, yeah, I get where you're coming from. Hmm… any ideas?" She asked, looking around.
"Coming should not be an issue," Chikage said. "As long as we have money, we will be able to come and return to our homes. A little more travel time than you're used to is a small sacrifice for the art."
Kenichi shook his head.
"That's not what I mean," he said. "The time we spend traveling means less training." He said. "And there's also the… monsters to consider."
She blinked.
"Of course…" She muttered.
Ranma sighed.
"We'll figure it out," she said. "As it is, I'm a long way from home right now, so I should actually get started on the way back, or they're going to worry about me," she said. "I jogged here from my house because I thought it'd be a good work out, and because those girls and I needed to talk about this mess we're in, but I got caught up in that fight."
Yusuke nodded.
"Aight," He said. "See you later, school girl."
She frowned.
"School girl?"
He snorted.
"Yeah, school girl."
It was then that Ranma realized where she'd seen him before.
"You!" She shouted, pointing at him. "You're that jerk from the other day! Who got… the shit kicked out of him…" She frowned. "How the hell did you heal so fast?"
He shrugged.
"Like I said, there are youkai that aren't totally bad," He said. "A friend healed me."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Huh."
Yusuke turned and started walking away, waving a single hand in the air.
"I'll be around," He said. "This area looks a little familiar. If I can find that dumb school, I should be able find the dump where I woke up. Thanks for reminding me, babe."
Ranma growled.
"I'm not a girl, damn it!" She snapped.
Everyone stared at her.
She blinked, realizing their attention was on her, and chuckled nervously.
"Err, that is… I… uh… want to be treated with the same respect as men…eheheh…"
Kenichi made a silent ah with his mouth, while Yusuke rolled his eyes and continued walking away.
"Whatever. Later!"
Ranma sighed and shook her head, then turned and started jogging away.
"We'll talk later!" She called out, glancing back at the three who remained and waving over her shoulder.
Honoka looked up at her brother, who waved back at the redhead with a smile on his face.
Once both Yusuke and Ranma were out of sight, he slumped over and clutched his head.
"Monsters are real and my masters are still nowhere to be found! We're gonna die! WE'RE GONNA DIE!"
Honoka sighed at her brother's antics, while Chikage simply turned and started walking.
"We still have a few dojos to search." She said.
-x-Ranma-x-
Ranma fought back a wince at every other step she took, but soldiered on despite the pain in her foot. The idea had been to speed up toughening her feet, but she hadn't counted on being in a place full of sharp objects like that. She was jogging along the sidewalk near her school, and had just passed where she'd run into Haruka and Michiru earlier. The streets weren't nearly as crowded as they'd been before; she passed maybe one or two people per block. As far as she could tell, everyone had cleared out of the area due to the kaiju attack.
'Man, I'd have loved to be able to actually help,' She thought. As she considered the battle, she recalled how her body had moved with reflexes more like what she was used to. It wasn't the kind of progression that she could have attained from the two or so days of training that she'd been doing; no, it was more like her body was remembering. There was also the fact that, unlike the day before, despite all she'd done that morning and during the fight, she was not tired. She'd been winded after the battle, but now she was just a little sore. There was definitely some steam left in her yet. 'Okay, maybe I'll just go to the park and exercise some more.' She thought.
Then her stomach growled.
'But before that, I need some grub. Man am I starving.' She thought with a frown. She reached in her top and pulled out her cellphone. On checking it she noticed that it'd been an hour since she'd met with the senshiat the park. She'd gone straight there after exercising, so it was no surprise she was so hungry.
She suddenly stopped and jumped back just in time to avoid a dark shape flying out of an alleyway.
Ranma watched as the familiar form of the lost boy rolled across the pavement, grappling with a man in all black. Ryouga threw his opponent away, and the man flipped in the air, landing on his feet. Now that she could see him clearly, she noticed that he was wearing a very stereotypical ninja outfit. Ryouga on the other hand was wearing his usual get up; trademark bandana, faded yellow tunic, black pants, black boots, and a big backpack filled with camping gear and souvenirs. His umbrella was in hand, currently closed.
"Ryouga?!" She cried out. "What the hell are you doing here? Wait, no, never mind that. Who the hell are you fighting?" She demanded.
He looked over at her in utter confusion.
"Ranma? What are you doing in Albuquerque?"
She shook her head, relief flooding her as she realized he knew who she was.
"Dude, you're in Azabu Juuban," She said. "Minato ward? Hellooo?"
Ryouga blinked, looking around.
"What? But I could have sworn I was just at Los Pollos Hermanos…"
"Enough games!" The ninja barked. "You will tell us how you found our base, now!"
Ranma blinked in confusion.
'Us? Our?'
It was then that a number of other ninjas came out of hiding and surrounded them.
"Look, I'm telling you, this is some sort of mistake!" Ryouga snapped back at the man with a growl. "I was just looking for the bathroom!"
The ninja snorted.
"Take us for fools, eh? Fine! Then just die!"
Ranma took a step back as she watched the ninjas attack her friend. One by one the lost boy fought them all off, dealing swift, decisive blows to each one the moment they approached. She narrowed her eyes as she watched his performance; right away she could tell that he was nowhere near top form. He was still Ryouga though; his style was exactly the same and his monstrous strength was nothing to sneeze at. She had a feeling that he was nowhere near as tough as he'd once been, but given her own current state, there was probably no way she could hurt him anyway.
Soon, Ryouga stood over a broken, groaning pile of ninjas, clenching his fists and panting. Satisfied that they wouldn't be getting up again anytime soon, he turned his attention back to Ranma and walked over to her. She had crossed her arms and was now staring at him in annoyance.
"About time, sheesh."
The lost boy scowled at her, showing off his prominent canines.
"Ranma!" He growled. "Where did you put the dojo!"
Ranma sighed.
"It wasn't me, man."
Ryouga blinked.
"What?"
She sighed and walked over, then patted his shoulder.
"Listen, it's a long story. C'mon," She said, walking away. "Let's talk it over lunch, my treat. Whaddya say?"
Ryouga blinked.
"Your treat? Uh oh… don't tell me… you too?"
It wasn't hard for her to figure out what he was getting at.
"You moron, if I'd been affected too, I wouldn't know what damn dojo you're even talking about," She said.
Ryouga stopped walking to stare at her.
"You… wouldn't?" He asked.
She nodded.
"Ryouga… the dojo's gone."
Ryouga stared at her in silence. After a brief moment, he finally blinked.
"You're serious." He said, matter-of-factly.
"As far as I can tell it never even existed," She said with a shrug. "Come on, I'll tell you everything I know, but I need some grub bad."
-x-x-x-
"So let me get this straight," Ryouga said. He and Ranma were sitting at a table in a cheap diner, a pile of empty dishes before each, and he had to raise his voice to speak over the hum of the crowd in the background and the sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen. "We're in some kind of alternate universe… which is the result of something – we don't even have a clue really - fusing a bunch of different worlds together. And now there's murderous demons and martial artists running around."
She nodded. Ryouga stared at her with confusion.
"So what exactly has changed?"
"Well," she said, holding a finger up. "… the dojo's gone, anyway. So are the amazons and I can't find a trace of Ukyo either."
Ryouga tilted his head.
"I'd thought it was just me being me, but Nerima's actually a different place now?"
She nodded.
"Anyways, a kaiju just destroyed a city block and killed who knows how many people. You shoulda been there, man. Really coulda used your help."
Ryouga frowned.
"Just now?"
She nodded.
"Just now. I was there. Helped take 'em out."
The lost boy sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"I don't know how much help I could be," He said with a sigh. "I'm… not as strong as I once was."
She frowned.
"I noticed," she said. "But I'm nowhere near where I used to be."
He blinked and looked down at her.
"C'mon, try and sense my ki."
Ryouga leaned forward, narrowed his eyes and stared at her for several long moments… before he suddenly burst out laughing. The teen laughed so hard and loud that people turned to look at them. He fell back in his chair, and rolled out onto the ground, slapping it.
"HAahaHAHAAHAahahaah!"
Ranma scowled at him and stood up.
"You jerk!" She said through clenched teeth. "This isn't funny!"
Ryouga's laughter calmed down and the teen got up and started to fix his chair… But before long, a snigger escaped, then a giggle, before he collapsed into another laughing fit, even louder than before, pointing at her and slapping the ground.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Ryougaaa! SHUT UP!"
A waitress approached the two.
"Um, excuse me," The woman said. "Do you think you could tone it down? The noise level is bothering our other customers,"
Ranma looked around, suddenly feeling very self-conscious as she noticed the looks of contempt and annoyance being sent their way.
"Um, I'm very sorry, he's just an idiot, that's all," She said, bowing to the waitress. "I'm very sorry about this!"
"Er, it's… alright, just… please try to calm your boyfriend down…" She said.
Ranma's jaw dropped.
"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" She hollered.
The woman was taken aback by her sudden shout.
"Oh? Ah, my apologies, then," She said, bowing. "Whatever the case, please, try to consider the other customers, or we will have to ask you to leave."
Suddenly, there was a very loud crash, and indistinct yells of men and women in the kitchen could be heard. Everyone turned to face the source of the new sound, including both Ranma and Ryouga. Both frowned at the sound of a familiar, feminine voice yelling in Chinese. They shared a hopeful glance and Ryouga climbed up to his feet just before there was yet another crash and the wall separating the diner from the kitchen exploded, revealing Shampoo in all her glory, her signature Chúi in each hand. Her eyes flit about the room, searching, before they fell upon the two displaced martial artists, who stared back at her rather casually. Her face lit up with rage, and she pointed.
"Hibiki Ryouga! You I kill!"
Ryouga blinked.
"Come again?"
She yelled something in Chinese before suddenly lunging at him with a flying kick that he ducked to avoid. She passed over their table, crashing into their mountain of dishes and sending it clattering to the floor, where they all broke. She roared and swung one of her maces at the table and sent it flying at him, but he deflected it, sending it flying through one of the diner's windows. Shampoo seized the opening that'd made and leapt at him, but he recovered fast enough to block her next swing with both arms.
"Shampoo?!" Ryouga yelled. "What the hell are you doing?!"
Ranma took a step back.
"Uh, Ryouga, I don't think that's our Shampoo." She said.
Shampoo's only response was to break away from Ryouga, only to reengage, swinging both Chúi at him hard enough to send him crashing into another occupied table and knock it over. She roared and leapt up, swinging her maces overhead for what would very obviously be a finishing blow, but he rolled to the side to avoid it, leaving her weapon to hit the ground, making a large crater.
It was at this point that pandemonium broke out. The other patrons and restaurant staff were broken out of their shocked stupor and began to evacuate the building, screaming all the while.
Shampoo continued her relentless assault, swing after swing, all with lethal intent. Ryouga blocked and deflected every attack, but did not counter.
"Just what-" He ducked under a horizontal swing, "the hell," He stepped back to avoid another overhead, "is going," he deflected a thrust that would have crushed his ribcage with his left arm, "on here!" he caught both of her maces.
Shampoo spat in his face, and he jerked back in surprise. A vein popped out on his head as he closed his eyes.
Ranma sniggered.
"Okay," Ryouga said suddenly. "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!" With a roar of his own, he suddenly turned, swinging her around, and released the maces, sending her flying into a flat screen TV hanging high up on the wall. The television was destroyed instantly as she plowed through it and into the wall behind it.
The Chinese girl recovered almost immediately, though, and crawled out of her hole, dropping down to the floor. She landed on both feet, and kicked a nearby chair at him before lunging. Ryouga caught the chair and threw it back at her, and she smashed it with one of her maces in midair. It fell down to the floor in a crumpled heap as the two engaged once more.
Ranma crossed her arms and watched as their fight continued. The two traded vicious blow after vicious blow, demolishing the diner in the process. Broken chairs, tables, and dishes littered the floor. A few ceiling fans had been destroyed, and several more televisions were obliterated over the course of their fight. She mentally noted that the purple haired girl's fighting style was the same as it'd always been, but that the girl actually seemed a bit stronger than before.
"Hello there."
Ranma blinked and turned to look to her side. There, sitting on top of her signature cane, was none other than Cologne herself.
"Old Ghoul," Ranma said, by reflex.
The aged Chinese woman glared.
"I am most certainly not a ghoul," She said, giving the redhead a conk on the head with her cane. "You should respect your elders, girl." She muttered something in Chinese, before, "What are these barbarians teaching their children these days… honestly."
Ranma frowned as she rubbed the new sore spot on her head. Cologne had just called her girl.
"…uh, sorry." The redhead said. She paused. "Why is she trying to kill him?"
The ancient martial arts master sighed as she turned to watch the battle.
"It's complicated," She said, fetching a pipe from her robes. She lit the pipe with a burst of chi from her finger, then put it in her mouth.
Ranma frowned.
"Did he beat her in a fight?"
The old woman looked up at her.
"How did you know that?" She asked.
Ranma blinked.
"Uhm… well… you're Joketsuzoku, right? I uh… read about it."
Cologne stared at her.
"Don't lie to me, girl. How do you know about that?"
Ranma frowned.
"It's complicated." She said with a heavy sigh.
Cologne scrutinized her closely again, but nodded.
"Fair enough." She turned to watch the battle once more. "You'd be correct. He did indeed defeat her in fair combat."
Ranma frowned as she too turned to watch the battle.
"Okay, so why is she trying to kill him? Doesn't she have to… marry him?"
Cologne nodded.
"She did," She said. "There's no law in our tribe that says you can't kill your husband, though. Quite the opposite; if a man who defeated you once can be killed by you, then the reason for marrying him in the first place becomes null."
Ranma glanced at her.
"You don't say." She turned back to watch the battle. "Somehow, I'm not surprised."
"Hn." Cologne turned away. "He should be getting here any minute now…"
Ranma blinked and looked down at her.
"Who should?"
"The reason why Shampoo wants a divorce," The old woman said.
"Shampoo!" Boomed yet another familiar voice from outside.
Immediately the purple haired girl stopped fighting and turned to face the voice. She and Ryouga had been mid-grapple and were trading blows, but Ryouga stopped mid-punch on seeing her own reaction. The front entrance exploded as none other than Mousse ran into the diner… pushing a ramen cart. He looked much the same as well, but something was missing.
'Ah,' Ranma realized. 'No glasses.'
"Shampoo! Did you find him!?"
Shampoo gently caressed Ryouga and smiled softly.
"Yes," She said. "My husband is right here!"
Mousse sighed in audible relief, shaking his head.
"Oh, good. Finally! Man, Hibiki, you sure get around!" He laughed.
Ranma stared at Mousse.
Ryouga stared at Shampoo.
"Hey…" Mousse began, narrowing his eyes as he scrutinized the lost boy. "Those aren't bruises, are they?" The Chinese boy frowned. "You haven't been mistreating your husband, have you, Shampoo?"
"No! Never!" Shampoo said, holding Ryouga's head close to her bosom. "Is hickey! Shampoo only too too happy to show affection for husband!"
Mousse laughed again.
"Hahaha! My mistake then!" He shook his head. "But try not to do such things in public, you two! Hahaha!"And with that, he backed out of the diner, pulling the ramen cart with him. "Cologne! I'm going to find a good place to set up shop!" He called out. "Please try to keep Hibiki from getting lost again!"
The walls above the entrance caved in when he had fully dislodged the cart.
"Such a tall order," Cologne said, shaking her head.
Shampoo released Ryouga and calmly walked out of the diner, using the hole Mousse had just made.
Ranma and Ryouga shared a glance, before turning to watch her walk off.
Cologne walked over to Ryouga and held up her cane.
"Well, come on, you. We don't have all day."
Ryouga stared down at her.
"What?"
"I said come on," she snapped. "So grab the cane and follow me! And no matter what, do not let go, or I swear to my ancestors, so help me, I'll crack your nuts open!"
Both Ranma and Ryouga cringed at the threat. Ryouga mutely did as he was told, and Ranma followed after.
"Um, excuse me… granny?" Ranma began.
"Yes, child?"
"Just what is going on here?"
Cologne sighed.
"To be brief," she said. "This young man defeated my great-granddaughter in a fight. However, she's had her eyes on someone else for a very long time, and despite their marriage, she is not ready to give up on that other young man."
Both Ranma and Ryouga stared at her.
"Shampoo likes Mousse?" They asked in unison.
"I would say it's a much stronger feeling than like," Cologne said with a sigh as they exited the diner. "She's head over heels in love."
None bothered to look as the diner collapsed behind them.
-x-x-x-
The scene they came upon was a strange one. Mousse was busy setting up a ramen stall on the side of a busy street, and Shampoo nigh on clinging to him.
"Shampoo," Mousse muttered, glancing up at Ryouga. "I'm a little busy here…" He said.
"Shampoo only want to help," The purple haired girl said, looking at Mousse with adoration. "What do?"
"Um… well… I can handle this… alone…" The boy said uncomfortably. "Oh, look! The man himself, in the flesh!" The Chinese martial artist broke away from Shampoo with ease and approached Ryouga with a big smile. As he leaned in and whispered. "Boy am I glad to see you!"
Ryouga blinked.
"Uh… huh?"
"Hahaah!" Mousse stood straight and gave Ryouga a rigorous pat on the back. "And just who is this absolutely stunning friend of yours, hmm?" He asked, looking at Ranma.
It was Ranma's turn to blink. But then a second later, she remembered that she was, indeed, stunning, and smirked.
"Uhh, this… is Ranma," Ryouga said, gesturing the barefoot girl. "Saotome Ranma."
Ranma bowed.
"Nice to meet all of you," She said.
"Mm." Cologne pogoed over to the stall, and picked up where Mousse had left off. "So, girl. I see Muko-dono here has told you a bit about us. Why not tell us about yourself?"
"Uhhh… well, I'm… heir to the Saotome Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu…" She said.
Cologned looked up at her.
"Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu?" She asked, eyes narrowed. "You… you're one of Happi's?"
"Huh?" Ranma blinked. "That old goat? No way," she said. "My pop taught me,"
Cologne considered that.
"And you're the style's heir, you say?"
She nodded.
Cologne frowned.
"Interesting… perhaps you can spar with my Shampoo some time?"
Ranma rapidly shook her head.
"No way, nuh-uh, sorry," She said, crossing her arms in an X shape. "I don't think so."
Cologne snorted.
"Sparring does not count as a duel, girl," She said. "She would not be under obligation to kill you… if you defeated her. Which, by the way, I just don't see happening."
Ranma frowned.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me, girl," The aged master said, returning to her work. "There's no way you could defeat Shampoo. Not as out of shape as you are. You have skill, that much is certain, but no muscle. Do you even train at all? I can only wonder what sort of master would name you heir."
Ranma's eye ticked.
"I could take Shampoo anytime!"
Shampoo laughed out loud. It was genuine, full of mirth and derision.
"Hahaha! Weak Japanese girl too, too stupid if think can defeat Shampoo in honorable combat!"
Ranma growled.
"Oh yeah? You think so!? Fine! Let's go! I'll take you on any day of the week!"
Ryouga paled.
"Uhh… Ranma…"
Ranma turned to glare at him.
"What?!"
"Oh, I don't know, uhm… this sounds more like a challenge to me than an invitation to spar. You know… challenge? To a duel?"
Ranma froze, and Cologne cackled.
"Just when I'm convinced you're not the sharpest arrow in the quiver, you go and surprise me. Nicely done, Muko-dono."
Ranma turned to look at Cologne with a frown.
"You were trying to trick me into dueling with her?!"
Cologne chuckled.
"Trying? I succeeded, girl. You already challenged her. It's up to her to accept."
Shampoo snickered.
"Out of kindness of Shampoo heart… Shampoo decline challenge," She said. "No like hurting weaklings. Waste of time."
Ranma felt her anger rising further and faster than it had since Phoenix Mountain.
"Weakling?" She growled. "Waste of time?"
"Whoa, whoa," Mousse said, holding up his hands. "Let's all just calm down here, okay?"
Ranma turned to glare at him.
"Look, please, accept my apology on Shampoo's behalf," He said. "She can be rather insensitive sometimes."
Ranma looked at him with incredulity.
"What? No!" She turned and pointed at Shampoo. "Shampoo! Let's spar!"
Shampoo snorted.
"No. Shampoo already turn down weak girl," She said, crossing her arms. "No interest in fighting weaklings."
Ranma stared at her.
"If fight weaklings, Shampoo only get weaker." The purple haired girl continued.
That was the last straw.
In a flash, faster than she'd moved since waking up in that ridiculous bed, Ranma was flying at Shampoo in a kick aimed for her face. The other girl only had enough time to respond with a look of shock.
And then Mousse was standing there before her, his arms raised in a cross block. Her kick hit him dead on… but she did not budge him an inch.
Ranma dropped down to the ground and landed in a crouch. She stood up and stared at him.
"Hmm. Impressive form, Saotome-san," Cologne began. "Very impressive. However, I would advise you not to attack my granddaughter outside of the pretext of sparring. If you do, she would be within rights to consider the fight a duel."
Ranma frowned.
"Alright then," She said, fixing a glare on Shampoo. "Shampoo. Want to spar?"
Shampoo narrowed her eyes.
"…Fine. Shampoo spar with you." She looked over at Cologne. "If okay with great-grandmother."
Cologne chuckled and glanced at Ranma.
"Go ahead, child. Mousse! Get to work!"
Ranma nodded at Cologne appreciatively.
"Okay, silly girl. Where we sparring at?"
Ranma looked around. They were still in the neighborhood of the park where she'd met the Senshi.
"I know a park nearby," Ranma said. "Lots of open space."
Shampoo nodded.
"Sound good to Shampoo."
Ranma turned and started walking, and Shampoo followed after. Ryouga glanced at Cologne and Mousse, then followed after.
A small, wrinkled hand grabbed his ear and then pulled him to the ground.
"Owww!"
"And just where do you think you're going?"
"I'm going to watch them fight, of course!" He snapped. "What else?"
"Tch! Idiot. You, follow someone on your own?" She snorted. "We've been looking for you for weeks! Haven't even finished setting up shop yet! You're not going anywhere alone. Oh no." She started walking after the two herself, dragging him by the ear. "I'm leading."
"Ow! Owww! Stop that! Ow!" Ryouga whined. "What about your stand!?"
"Mousse can take care of that," She said. "Now shut up and stay close!"
"Let go of my ear you old biddy!"
He received a whap from the cane for his troubles.
Up ahead, Ranma was calmly surveying Shampoo. The other girl seemed to actually be taking her seriously now, but she was exuding an air of confidence all the same. She knew she could beat Ranma.
'She's stronger than me,' Ranma thought as they walked. 'Faster, better reflexes. But she doesn't know The Art like I do, and she also doesn't know that I know her style.' She frowned. 'I'll have to use every dirty trick in the book. One clean hit from her might be the end.'
About five minutes later they reached the park. It had since been vacated by all of the people she'd met earlier, and the only others there were a young boy was playing with his dog and an old man sitting on a bench reading a book.
"Here?" Shampoo asked.
Ranma nodded.
"What are rules?"
Ranma smirked.
"I told you, I am the heir to Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu." She said. "Anything goes."
Shampoo nodded.
The two turned to face each other and took a few steps back.
And then the battle was joined.
-x-Kenichi-x-
The sun was halfway set by the time Kenichi, Chikage, and Honoka all exited their local train station. The three martial artists walked together along the streets of their hometown in silence. They passed under a street light just as it and others on the street flickered on, bathing them in an artificial white glow.
"Band-Aid," Chikage began. "I wish to talk."
He and Honoka looked at her.
"Alone." The side-tail sporting girl added.
Kenichi frowned, but then nodded, and looked down at Honoka.
"I'm sorry, could you go ahead of us?" He asked.
The younger Shirahama sibling frowned at her brother's request.
"Exactly what are you trying to talk to my brother about all alone?" She asked. "Huh? Huh?"
"Things that do not concern you." Chikage said. Her usual deadpan stare had an edge to it; to an outside observer, it wouldn't have been noticeable, but to Kenichi, it was as sharp as any glare. "It is a personal matter."
Kenichi watched the staring contest unfold and sighed.
"Please, Honoka."
Honoka looked at her brother in surprise. He had a serious expression on his face that she hadn't expected in this other girl's favor. Her own expression melted, and finally she nodded.
"I'll… be waiting," She said, before turning and running off.
Kenichi frowned as she went, sure that he'd be paying for that later.
"Alright," He said, turning to look at Chikage with a sigh. "What's up?"
"Why didn't you tell them?" She asked.
He blinked.
"Tell them? What?"
"Tell them," She repeated, "that I am a member of YOMI."
He frowned.
"It… didn't seem necessary?" He said. "I mean, you're not a member of the YOMI in this world."
She narrowed her eyes.
"So I suppose that means you're not a disciple of the Katsujinken in this world?"
He frowned.
"What? No, of, of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"
She nodded.
"Indeed. Why not?"
He was taken aback by her question, but it suddenly hit him what she was getting at.
"I… I didn't mean any offense," He said. "I just… I didn't want them to treat you badly."
Her eyes widened ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly. Again, to Kenichi, it was a sign as obvious as a blaring siren.
"We are friends," He said. "Even if you are… a Satsujinken follower."
She lowered her head.
"That girl had it wrong." She said quietly. "The Satsujinken does not propagate evil. Martial Arts is neutral. It cannot be divided up into such base terms as good and evil."
"Murder is always evil, Chikage-chan," Kenichi said with a sad smile. "You may think that good and evil are 'base' qualities, but I truly believe in this."
She tilted her head up at him, looking up at him in obvious wonder.
"One such as you could never achieve Zen."
He shrugged.
"That's alright." He turned away. "As long as my friends are safe, I'm satisfied. As long as I get to experience another day full of laughter and fun with the people I love, I'm happy. There is no reason to spill blood… there's never a reason to spill blood. Between human beings, there will always be the option to resolve things peacefully."
She remained silent as they walked.
"Besides," Kenichi continued. "You don't have to kill to achieve Zen."
She shook her head.
"You misunderstand. Zen is not about doing one thing or another, or not doing one thing or another, for the sake of achieving anything. It is about balance. That is all."
Neither spoke after that. It wasn't until ten minutes later that Chikage broke the silence.
"One thing about this whole situation concerns me." She said, looking up at the power lines overhead. "No one bothered to consider the fact that we may not be the only ones."
Kenichi blinked.
"What?"
"There may be other worlds and histories that have fused with ours," She said. "And there's nothing to stop even more from doing the same in the future. We could be reverted back to stone-age technology in an instant… our species may even cease to exist, or the planet itself may even be obliterated from a random event that happened in the past of some other universe, such as an asteroid impact… we could suddenly be faced with fallout from a nuclear holocaust. Anything could happen, anything could change."
Kenichi shivered as he considered her words.
"I sure hope nothing that bad happens," he muttered. 'Those people with magic might be able to do something about it… but we'd die for sure.'
-x-Haruka-x-
Haruka glanced over at her girlfriend, who was sitting in the passenger seat of her car as she sped along the expressway in the dark of night.
"It sounds like we have a lot to deal with," Michiru said with a heavy sigh. "I'm worried about this Yami organization. Since they remember this world's history, it's quite possible they've known about us much longer than we have them."
"We're going to have to do a lot of digging. Discreet," Haruka said. "I'd like to hope that they're wrong and it doesn't exist, but that's just wishful thinking." She shook her head. "At the moment I'm more concerned about people knowing our Senshi identities. They can hurt us."
Michiru closed her eyes.
"The princess made that decision, and to be honest, better random people than the powers that be." She said. "What can you tell me about these people? Aside from Ranma, of course. Did they seem trustworthy?"
Haruka chuckled.
"If by trustworthy you mean they didn't have any obvious ulterior motives, yes. But that could just mean their ulterior motives aren't obvious."
Michiru sighed heavily.
"There are times when I wish we didn't have to worry about the security of an ancient, millennia old kingdom."
"You're telling me," Haruka snorted. "Especially when said kingdom currently consists of a single princess and eight soldiers."
Michiru chuckled.
"Mayhap we should stake our claim on the moon and planets. At least then we'll have some territory."
They both shared a laugh at that. When it was over, Haruka glanced over at her again.
"How are you feeling?" She asked.
"I'm fine." Michiru said.
Haruka reached up and started searching for stations on the radio.
"Well, you just worry about taking it easy for now,"
Michiru smiled, and glanced at her partner through one eye.
"You've made that very hard for me, Ten'ou Haruka. But I shall try." She said as a DJ's voice came on.
"…by the popular pop unit, Zwei Wing, consisting of Amou Kanade and Kazanari Tsubasa, 'Gyakkou no Flugel'. For those not in the know, 'flugel' is German for wing, so it translates to 'The Backlit Wing'! Sort of like a wing that glows, I guess!? Anyways, hope you enjoy it!"
The song had started during the end of the DJ's explanation. There was a short prelude before the lyrics began.
"Kikoemasu ka?" Gekijou kanade~ru mujiiku
Ten Ni
To-ki-ha-na-te!
-x-Usagi-x-
Both Usagi and Chibi-Usa sat in the back of Kenji's car as he drove away from the hospital.
"You have no idea how worried we were," Tsukino Ikuko said as she looked back at her daughter and 'niece' from her place in the passenger seat. "We're so fortunate that neither of you girls were hurt. It's a miracle that you and your friends all survived that mess," She said. "What were you doing there anyway!? I thought you said you were going to a park to watch the eclipse!"
"Ah, eheheh…" both Usagis only laughed nervously in response.
"This city's just not safe anymore," Kenji grumbled. "First monster attacks, now kaiju? What's next – alien invasion?"
"Don't say that, dear!" Ikuko scolded. "What if it comes true?"
Kenji sighed.
"I don't think we should wait." He said suddenly. "I can stay here to work, but we should really send them there now."
"What? Now?" Ikuko asked. "But Usagi just transferred in to her current school! I thought you said we should wait until Chibi-Usa graduates middle school, at least?"
Usagi choked at being referred to as 'Chibi-Usa', while her time-displaced daughter sniggered.
"That's not an option," Kenji said. "They could have died today. Many people did. Mahora Academy is far removed from all of this nonsense," He said. "They'll be much safer there."
Usagi made a face.
"Um, wait a minute," She said. "What are you talking about? Transfer?" She tilted her head. "But I don't want to change schools!"
Kenji glanced at her through the rearview mirror.
"It's not up to you decide, little girl," He said. "I know you have friends where you are, but Juuban is just too dangerous. I can't just up and quit my job, but you two and Shingo can stay at a boarding school," He said. "Your mother and I had chosen it for your high school already anyway. It costs money, but your safety is priceless," He said. "And there is no way you'll be safe in this monster ridden town."
Usagi's jaw dropped.
"But… but no! I can't! I can't!"
Both parents sighed heavily at her response.
"You'll make new friends, dear," Ikuko said. "But I agree… your father is right. It's not safe here anymore. Juuban is no longer a place for raising children, and the rest of Tokyo is almost as bad."
Usagi shook her head.
"No, you don't understand! I can't leave! I… I have… obligations!"
Both of her parents bodily turned to look at her.
"What did you say?" They asked.
Ikuko looked at her husband.
"Dear, the road, the road!"
Kenji turned back around just in time to see that they were about to swerve into incoming traffic, and jerked the car back into their lane.
"Whew! But did you really say obligations?"
Usagi nodded, which he again saw in the rearview mirror.
"Usagi…" He began. "…Do you know what that word means? I'm surprised you even know how to say it!"
Usagi growled.
"Stop making fun of me!" She cried out.
"Your father has a point, dear," Her mother sighed. "Your scores aren't exactly the best. That's another reason we wanted you to attend this Mahora academy. I read an article about a teacher who turned a failing class into one of their top scorers."
Usagi groaned.
"But, I'm trying! I swear, I'll get my scores up! Just let me stay!"
"This decision is final," Kenji said. "Right, honey?"
Ikuko nodded.
"I'm sorry, Chibi-Usa-chan, but this is for the best."
One look at her parents and Usagi knew that their minds were made up. She sank into her seat and groaned.
'Great… just great… how am I doing to fix this?'
-x-Hiei-x-
Hiei lounged lazily under the dim lighting in the same gentleman's club as the previous night, sitting back in a plush chair with his feet up on a small table before him. He reached over to another, identical table beside him and picked up an old fashioned glass with a look of disdain on his face. His chair was surrounded by numerous similar chairs, all filled with patrons. There were humans and youkai alike – some there for business, as he, and others for pleasure. He held a hand over his beverage and rubbed his index finger and thumb together for a few seconds before snapping them. Immediately, the cocktail lit up with a dim blue flame. Satisfied, he lifted the cocktail to his lips and drank.
"Hello, Hiei."
He didn't even turn to see Kurama sitting beside him. He set his flaming drink down and folded his hands behind his head.
"One question, before we start. Did we really need to leave him with just a sheet?"
Hiei nodded.
"Of course. Now, what did you find out?"
"Quite a bit."
Hiei glanced at him.
"Do tell."
Yoko Kurama stretched his arms over his head and leaned back in his seat, but kept his eyes on the stage before them, where several dancers were busy showing off their bodies.
"Mmm… as we'd guessed, the void that big players such as ourselves left in Makai was filled up by something else," He said. "You're never going to believe this, but there's actually just one King right now, one who was powerful enough to get all of Makai to kowtow to his power. No tournament or anything, he just did it on his own."
Hiei raised an eyebrow.
"Interesting."
"Mmhmm. From what I have been able to gather, he is indeed powerful. Even compared to the S-Class youkai that we know, at their best, he would be able to beat them into submission. He's already killed some of our acquaintances."
Hiei's eyes hardened.
"Enki."
Kurama looked surprised.
"Nice guess. Apparently an example was made," He said. "There can and will never be peace with humans, at least, not while our new king is at the top."
Hiei closed his eyes.
"I see. So he embraces the old ways." He chuckled. "That suits me just fine. I never cared particularly strongly for weaklings anyway."
"You care about Yusuke," Kurama pointed out. "He's not exactly strong right now."
Hiei snorted.
"Yusuke is no weakling. He will come back from this stronger than ever."
Kurama smiled.
"I'm surprised. Hiei, having faith in someone?"
Hiei shook his head.
"If he didn't it'd mean that I was wrong about him in the first place. I'm just never wrong, that's all."
Kurama fought back a laugh.
"Is that so," he said.
"Hello, boys."
They both looked up to see the familiar green haired proprietress of the establishment standing over them with a tray in hand. She was wearing just as little as the dancers on stage, and had a cheeky smile.
"Miss Aensland," Kurama acknowledged, inclining his head.
"Is there anything I can get you? A particular drink… or private show, perhaps?" She said with a wink at Hiei.
Hiei said nothing in response, but Kurama considered her offer.
"An Orgasm, if you would," Kurama said with a mischievous smile.
Aensland chuckled.
"Right away," she said, walking off.
Hiei watched her leave, then turned to his friend.
"I'm assuming you meant that both ways."
Kurama's only response was to grin, and Hiei returned his attention to the stage.
"So," He began. "What's this king's name?"
Kurama's mirth slowly dissipated as he also returned his attention to the stage.
"Demise."
