I don't own Sailor Moon, that honor belongs to Takeuchi-san. Any other characters from any other anime or video game that appear in this story belong to their respective creators. The handful of characters that don't fit into those categories, belong to me, please ask before borrowing them. That being said, I am not making a single yen from this work, my reward is the joy of telling the tale… and reviews of course. So, don't sue me (being that I'm a college student, you won't get much anyway).

The Ranger's Tale

Prologue

By Lance the Flamesniper

It was one of those moments that Ami Mizuno always was afraid would happen. She had been out on patrol with Makoto, but had gotten separated. Now she found herself surrounded by several seemingly high level youma, or at least strong enough that her most powerful attacks were being shrugged off as if they were nothing or even more maddeningly dodged with little effort. Now thoroughly outnumbered and surrounded she closed her eyes and silently issued out a silent prayer. 'Makoto, someone, anyone please! Help me!'

While the words were not spoken aloud, someone did answer.

"Celestine Barrage!" A male voice called out causing the senshi of Mercury's eyes to snap open.

Her eyes opened just in time to see a beam of Emerald hued energy cut through three of the youma surrounding her. She glanced to the entranceway to the alley she was standing in and saw a man silhouetted against the street light, his left hand seemingly sparking with energy. The remaining two youma hissed at the sight of the man only to cringe as he moved toward them. Ami could relate, something about him was causing her to feel uneasy as well. As he moved closer she got a better view of the man. He was tall, at least six feet tall with Dark green hair streaked with silver. He seemed to have heterochromia: his right eye was blue but the left was silver. She realized that something about that silver eye was what was causing her to become ill at ease. He was clad in what looked like browned leather clothing with silvery mail over it and tall buckskin boots. Strapped at his hips were a pair of short swords while there was a long sword strapped to his back. On his forearms were a pair of metal bracers that seemed to grow a pair of long blades as the man moves forward.

Without any further preamble the man charged forward launching into a twisting kick that knocked one of the youma further down the alleyway, cratering it into the wall. As the man touched down from the kick, he pivoted and swung his left blade up impaling the stunned youma through the midsection. The senshi's would be savior's hands took on a different glow.

"Decompose," he hissed.

The youma screamed in pain as his body seemingly disintegrated. The final youma upon seeing the fate of its ally began to flee. Little did it know it would not make it far.

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" The senshi of Mercury called out as she finally got her wits back about her.

The youma who happened to actually be one of the more agile youma in the pack would have normally dodged the attack. In its panicked state however it ran right into it. It also screamed as its body disintergrated.

Mercury sighed now that the crisis had passed. She turned to her savior to find him putting a silvery eye patch over his silver eye. Surprisingly, doing so seemed lift the uneasiness filling the alley. "Thank you," Ami replied with a smile.

The man smiled as well then responded with what seemed like a string of gibberish sounds. His smile faded as he saw her confusion and repeated himself.

"I-I'm sorry, but I don't understand…" She apologized then began to wonder why she could understand the name of his attacks but not the rest of his speech. It also occurred to her as he tilted his head to the side, that he might not be able to understand what she's saying.

The man paused to think then made a very distinctive pair of hand motions: one was a double tap of the silver stud in his ear and the next was something that looked like he was typing one a keyboard. He then looked at her expectantly. Ami caught on quickly and activated her visor then took out her Mercury computer. Once she was had the computer activated and pointed at the man he spoke again the computer translating what he was saying with a strangely masculine voice.

"Lady Mercury, are you okay? Are the others okay? My squad has been worried since we lost contact," The man responded.

"How do you know me by that title? Who are you?" She asked then blinked as the computer translated her words into seemingly gibberish for the man.

"Sorry, When you didn't answer in Celestine, I should have guessed that something had happened to make you forget the language, probably some other things as well. I am Auric of Pluto, sometimes called the Prince of the Wolves, Commander General of the Rangers," The man responded with a bow. "My squad have only just arrived after awakening from magical stasis and the proper translation spells have not been cast yet," At this he paused and seemed to listen to something. It was then that the senshi of ice noticed he was wearing an communication device on his right ear. "Yes Misa it was a good thing you heard her call out and equally lucky that I was nearby…. Yes I supposed it would be best if things were explained better." He then turned his attention to Mercury again. "If you would Lady Mercury, please come with me."

As Mercury and the man walked Auric's mind once again began to drift as he recalled the path that lead him to where he was now….

TBC