Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Hand Maid May Fan Fiction / Gatekeepers Fan Fiction ❯ Retake ❯ Stealing Bases ( Chapter 13 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Retake

Chapter 13: Stealing bases

---------

The first dome on Mars had been named "Sabashii" the Japanese word for loneliness. At the time it was fairly appropriate.

The easiest thing to build had been the landing dock. Processing rock to gravel and then melting it and finally trimming it to a flat surface. A nice big one for visitors.

A set of bathrooms and a Roman style bathing house was placed adjacent to the port because the Workspiders thought that based on what they understood of human psychology - being cooped up in a spacecraft for several months to get here would tend to place both on the high end of priorities.

Further on were the airlocks and finally the dome itself. Soil, another thing that could not currently be manufactured on Mars, had been imported and spread. One could enter Sabashii and believe one had stepped back a few hundred years, to find a warm summery place with fields of real grass growing underfoot and orchards of trees surrounding an apartment/office complex. The building itself made of fused rock that had been sculpted and colored to resemble wood. Mainly because one of the Workspiders had decided that wood would be comforting to humans.

Or at least would be. Right now it was still being constructed. Seeds were being planted and tended to by robotic gardeners. Carefully purified water was fed in drip tubes precisely to where it could do the most good.

Of course, it was understood that not every visitor was necessarily friendly. In which case the mass drivers being constructed could be put to a slightly different purpose.

------

Greylle was conscious of a crowd following him down. It didn't really surprise him that he wasn't going to get his way with this group.

That was about all the attention he could spare anyway. This was like threading a needle while riding crosscountry on horseback.

No, actually it was more difficult than that.

The Crystal seemed to be fighting him and trying to just raw power through the obstacle. That this would leave a lot of dead Senshi didn't seem to carry any weight with the Crystal.

Dispel Magic was a 3rd level spell as far as clerics were concerned. As near as he could tell, the time-fold would have been right where Sailor Moon had stood in her battle with Metal'la. Which would have been a few feet from where he stood now. As a time-fold was something he could not directly perceive, what he had to do was use the Crystal to sight along while using the same power focus to increase his own power level to where it could do some good.

Tendrils of magic went out and reached *something* and slid off. Greylle changed his analogy, this was like picking an invisible lock whose parts made no noise.

There. A tendril of abjuration magic found a flaw and worried at it, the flaw increasing in size as he focussed more upon the "seam" or imperfection in the field.

With a shudder, the containment field failed as the ginzuishou flared brightly. Greylle lurched from the absolute concentration as suddenly the resistance failed. Bodies started raining down.

"Ouchie," quoth Sailor Moon. Who looked up then and screamed.

------

Commandoes quietly filtered into the school, checking and finding various accessways. Shaped charges were applied by skilled hands. Tiny explosions followed.

Fess noted the intrusion and dispatched the first line of defense. Actual use would have to wait until it could be determined if more polite methods could convince the intruders to leave. According to the legal database, deadly force could only be used if other options were not allowed. "Gentlemen. You are intruding on private property. Leave immediately."

Kasumi yawned, having politely declined the offer of going to freeze off portions of her anatomy. Seeing lights flash red, she looked out into the corridor to see large men dressed entirely in black and carrying assault rifles. "Oh my, guests."

One of the figures immediately shot at the girl in the frilly apron and housedress.

Fess acted. Robots the size of mosquitoes dove in and delivered their payload.

-------

It was perhaps traditional in American comic books. Good guy group A meets Good guy group B and the first thing they did was get into an open melee.

Greylle liked a lot of traditions, but didn't care for this one at all.

"Dead Scream!" slammed into crossed bonbori and sent Shampoo flying. "Fire Soul" incinerated throwing spatulas. "World Shaking" was dodged by a tigergirl who was *really* upset about this and couldn't we just talk it over like civilized people? Lightning arced from a girl in green to a dragon in silver. "Crescent Beam" was fired at a girl with short hair who used some force field to block it?!

Hotaru had had enough of this as soon as a "Supreme Thunder" had hit scales. How DARE someone attack her boyfriend after he'd just saved their collective fannies! "Silence Glaive Surprise!"

Sailor Jupiter had enough time to blink in surprise as someone in a Sailor fuku not that dissimilar from her own imbedded her into a wall. (Yes, Hotaru *was* holding back.)

"Sailor Saturn!" Sailor Pluto cried out as this particular combatant came to her attention. Yes, she knew about the Senshi of Silence. "The Senshi of Destruction!"

"The end of the world!" Sailor Uranus reacted in considerable shock as she realized the most dangerous combatant they faced was not the big scaly one.

"How can she be here?!" Sailor Neptune exclaimed. "What... URK!"

Cologne had seen enough of this. Frankly, the antics of the young could be quite amusing. Right now she was cold and the snow was soaking through her shoes, and she had better things to do. Having hit Sailor Neptune's paralysis points, she flipped over and descended towards Sailor Uranus like an old bat out of hell.

Sailor Pluto summoned her power around her. She had to make this shot count or they were all dead! "Dead Scr-!" *THWAM!*

*You know, Setsuna, if you keep this crap up i'm going to have to put you over my knee and spank you!*

Being pinned beneath one foreclaw into the snow and rubble that was all that currently remained of Beryl's base, Sailor Pluto was suitably stunned. Mainly by the impact of the considerable weight. Fifty two feet of dragon was not exactly a light burden.

"World..." "Fire!" *THUD!* *THUD!*

As Sailor Uranus, paralyzed, and Sailor Mars, unconscious, simultaneously hit the ground - Cologne and Akane gave each other a nod of approval.

Sailor Moon was still being given her "welcome back" kiss by Mamoru and might not have even noticed the battle that she'd precipitated.

Sailor Mercury and Sailor Venus went back to back, outnumbered and obviously outpowered.

"AMI MIZUNO! JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOUNG LADY?"

Sailor Mercury fell over and then looked at who was approaching under a full head of steam. "M-mom?! I mean..."

Sailor Venus stared as her teammate was being berated by her mother. Looking around she noticed that she was being eyed by a large dragon, a girl in a purple seifuku, a floating girl in a pageboy haircut, a tigergirl, a *second* Sailor Mercury, a very miffed looking purple haired girl, another girl with a really big spatula, and a Macross veritech that had unlimbered its big gun. She felt a tap on her back and noticed there was a yoma?!

"Now dearie, do you want to do the reasonable thing and surrender so that we can go somewhere warm and talk this situation out?" Cologne asked reasonably of the last Senshi in anything like combat readiness.

Sailor Venus nodded and put up her hands. "You won't get away with this!"

"With what?" Cologne responded curiously.

"With... with whatever it is you're trying to do!" Sailor Venus was quite unsure of herself now. There was absolutely no evidence of Rainbow Crystals being stolen or energy being sucked off. This was quite unlike the typical experience she'd gone through as Sailor Venus.

"Hey!" Sailor Moon finally recovered enough of her wits after that kiss to notice the battle scene. "What's going on here anyway?!"

------

"Mister President?"

The 1992 American President looked up at his aide. "Is this very important? I am somewhat occupied."

The aide fidgeted. "Sir, about that little matter?"

The American President thought of what that technology could do to his re-election possibilities. "I'll see you later."

The aide and the President watched as the girl got up and left the room, clearly disappointed.

"Go ahead," said the President after the door was closed.

"The strike team located and entered the base. They..." The Aide swallowed and began looking more nervous.

"If they were caught, I've never heard of them." American politics was dominated by who could lie the most convincingly. Faking sincerity was the road to success.

"Sir, they want to speak to you." The Aide really began looking nervous. "They're in contact with NASA right now."

"NASA?" Having never cared for that agency, the President briefly wondered why they were involved. Too many civilians for it to be properly secure. Though he disliked the military, they were at least useful and capable of keeping secrets.

"Sir? A videotape of them breaking, entering, and shooting an unarmed civilian has been sent to all major news media. Plus the team is currently en route to the Asteroid Belt."

"Why?"

The Aide shrugged helplessly.

The President started considering. Unprovoked assault on Americans? There would be a way of putting the spin on things that would give him access to the wealth of knowledge now in Japan. And with that, his party could at last rise to dominance across the board.

-------

"We *will* discuss this in more detail later, Ami." Japanese did not air their differences in public, after all. Besides, she was going to build up steam again for round two. Doctor Mizuno was at the very least going to have a few words to her daughter about getting legwarmers or something for that outfit.

Ami nodded and looked like she wanted to vanish through the floor.

Ami II merely continued loading information into her database regarding posture and general movements.

"I don't trust them, they're NOT of the Silver Millenium," began Sailor Uranus.

*You know something, Haruka, you're beginning to sound like Luna.* The dragon 'pathed. Then shifted in the snow to become someone who looked an awful lot like a silver-eyed Terry Bogart. "But then you were a jerk in the Silver Millenium too." Basalt was gone, dead, didn't mean he didn't remember him.

Sailors Jupiter and Venus STARED with the usual effect of the sudden appearance of a cute guy in their midst.

Sailor Uranus frowned, trying to figure out how this boy/lizard knew her.

"Children," Cologne said, eyeing the dragon and including him in that term, "if we can get back to Japan without squabbling much more?"

"We could Sailor Teleport, I suppose..." Sailor Moon said, casting an eye towards where she knew the ginzuishou was currently out of reach. She tried calling it.

Ignoring how Sailor Moon was now pointing her hand at him and mumbling something about the ginzuishou, Greylle cleared his throat. "Take one of the ships, you people have been in several magical battles of late, you can use the time to catch up and figure out what you're going to do to explain your absence for over a year."

"What? That couldn't..." Sailor Pluto looked around as if consulting something only she could see. "Oh no..."

"Why's everyone looking at me?" Sailor Moon asked in a small voice.

"It's not her fault," said Greylle, "there's an awful lot of things that can go wrong and it isn't as if the ginzuishou comes with an instruction manual."

Usagi smiled at her defender then visibly recalled that he was a big carnivorous lizard.

"So when are you going to return the ginzuishou to Sailor Moon?" Tuxedo Kamen wasn't quite as upset at the dragon as he had been, but still wasn't precisely happy.

"Unfortunately the bloody thing has grafted itself on. If you can think of a method of removal that doesn't kill me, feel free to suggest it," grumbled Greylle. Why did every royal come to the conclusion that attitude was job one?

"You're going on the submarine with me and your double," said Doctor Mizuno to her daughter.

"...yes mother..."

"One person can ride with Snoopy," suggested Greylle with a gesture towards the Gerwalk configuration Valkyrie fighter. "The rest can take the Yellow Submarine. i'll fly back, but the most i can carry is two or three people for that distance. It'll take longer too, i'm just not as fast as either vehicle."

"It might be better if you simply maintained your human form and held onto the railing of the sub," suggested Ami II. "You did put a considerable amount of energy into freeing the Senshi."

"i can still do it, and if i accepted a ride it might be considered breaking my agreement," argued Greylle. "Since i'll have to start out first, who's with me?"

"Sempai!" Hotaru shot her hand up.

"No, Hotaru, you've got school. i won't get there nearly fast enough." Greylle blinked as Hotaru started pouting.

"You're a Sailor Senshi?" Sailor Moon looked towards the dark haired girl, then at the nod began to gush enthusiastically about how good it was to find more reinforcements and what friends they'd be.

Greylle winced at the hurt look from Hotaru now. Well, best they figure out about that deal now. Hopefully they wouldn't have Hotaru adopted by two people who originally had wanted to kill her, the way it had been in the TV series. That arrangement had never made any sense to him.

"I'll return to the Time Gate on my own," announced Sailor Pluto, fitting action to words.

"Man, she's got a *major* attitude this incarnation," said Greylle companionably.

"There were dragons in the Silver Millenium?" Sailor Moon asked of Tuxedo Kamen, who merely shrugged in reply.

"Nah, i was just Princess Jupiter's boyfriend until she dumped me," said Greylle, though technically that wasn't true anymore. It was like reading it in a fanfic or something, he didn't feel a personal involvement. Oh well, just something else he'd have to sort out.

Sailor Jupiter's eyes were HUGE at this point.

Akane, feeling some odd tigerish territorial urge, went up and stood next to her alien prince boyfriend. Accidently rubbing against him and thereby leaving her scent there. Not that she was really interested, mind you.

"Well, i'll leave you to settle the arrangements since it looks like i'm flying solo again," said Greylle, shifting forms again and taking wing. Not that he was freaking out from having Akane rubbing herself up against him.

-------

"This is Sachi Nakamura, Channel 5 News. We're interviewing the girl who was shot, a Kasumi Tendo of Nerima Japan. Miss Tendo, what were you doing down there in a top secret base?"

Kasumi glanced nervously at the camera, then back at the reporter. "Fixing breakfast, actually."

"You weren't armed were you?" The reporter pressed.

"Oh my, no. That would be wrong. Besides, I'm just a guest." Kasumi looked scandalized at the thought of herself toting a gun.

"So you were in the middle of fixing breakfast when these strangers showed up," Sachi asked. "How did they react?"

The eldest Tendo daughter looked into the eye of the camera. Her lower lip trembled. Eyes teared up. "I didn't realize what was going on. I just was going to say hello and return to fixing the miso soup. Then... they shot me." Her voice indicated that the physical wound was not the most painful one.

The camera dipped down to where one arm was in a sling and the girl was sitting in a wheelchair, then back up to her face. A tear trickled down.

At that moment, in the hearts of a vast number of people watching the broadcast, decisions were made that those responsible should be ripped into tiny little fragments.

Actually, by tomorrow, it wouldn't be necessary for any action at all.

--------

With television being piped in, it was rapidly apparent even to Usagi Tsukino, particularly with backup from Mamoru Chiba. Over a year had passed, though it had passed them by.

The reactions to this were largely quiet.

"Nice going, meatball head!"

Though there were some predictable exceptions.

Minako Aino kept looking from Ami Mizuno to Ami II and finally asked the obvious question. "Uhm, does that mean we've *all* got duplicates?"

Ami II glanced at her. "Yes. We were developed to cover for you as replacement Senshi. We are the Sailor Marionette team."

Mass blinking from the Sailor Senshi as they started working on that.

"Uhm, what's a 'marionette'?" Ami asked finally.

"An android replica, though the Senshi team has displaced souls from a series of nearby alternate timelines," Ami II said and tapped her chest. "The soul matrix resides in a special containment unit - necessary as the bodies we possessed in those timelines were destroyed."

"Beryl *killed* you?" Haruka asked, eyes slitted. She didn't trust androids either.

"No, most of us died facing Galaxia and what was left of us melted down in the Galaxy Cauldron," said Ami II dispassionately. She might as well have been discussing a tide chart for all the emotion she showed.

"Who's Galaxia?" Usagi wanted to know.

"Normally, the path to Crystal Tokyo would see you face several enemies, each several times stronger than the one before," Ami II told the Senshi, ignoring how Cologne was furiously writing all this down. Nor how others were listening closely themselves. "Beryl is followed by others: the minions of the Doom Tree, Pharoah 90, Nemesis, the Dark Moon kingdom, the second coming of Nehelenia, and finally Galaxia. In searching records we have found that in most timelines this pattern may be scrambled slightly but is prevelant in 95% of all timelines leading to Crystal Tokyo. It is Galaxia which kills us most often."

"What about me?" Hotaru wanted to know.

Ami II raised an eyebrow. "You are working with the Senshi when Uranus and Neptune kill you and Sailor Pluto in 87% of the timelines. In 35% of those timelines they gain a momentary advantage over Galaxia as a result of their plot."

Haruka considered denying it, but a 35% chance of victory *was* better than none.

"Of course, in the records, we also find one timeline visited by Shard-san as Basalt where he found out that his 'little sister' Hotaru and 'girlfriend' Setsuna were killed by you and he manages to strangle Haruka with a weapon called a Nebula Chain." Ami II calculated a high percentage of probability that such tactics attempted in this timeline might well result in a missing Sailors Uranus and Neptune and a dragon with a tummyache. Despite the loss of the Basalt identity.

Haruka made a note that if such tactics absolutely became necessary, killing the dragon before word got back to it was a priority.

"So, waitaminute, you're saying that this Galactica is so powerful we get totally sucked away?"

"That's 'blown away', Minako," corrected Rei. "And the us that are in that other universe..."

"Were reincarnated when Greylle-sama used a spell to try and free you earlier but ended up miscasting due to his own difficulties and areas of influence." Ami II shrugged slightly. "I find the entire thing fascinating and being reincarnated into an android shell is somewhat odd but tolerable considering the potential alternatives."

"So maybe we can sneak up on the bad guys and do a pre-emptive strike while they're not ready," suggested Makoto hopefully.

"Unlikely," said Ami II. "South of Tokyo has already been detected a power level in excess of Beryl or even Pharoah 90. It is at least Galaxia level. Chances of being able to overwhelm it through simple surprise are infinitesimal at your current power output. It is suggested you do everything you can to avoid this confrontation."

Haruka and Michiru looked up at the display thoughtfully.

Makoto, Rei, Usagi, Hotaru, and Minako all having much less desire to immediately dive into danger, listened more carefully.

Ami was still wondering how long she'd be grounded for this.

--------

The worst thing that could happen in a town like Washington DC suddenly occurred. Across the length and breadth of the city, tiny little bugs flitted along and landed on skin. Chemicals were released, and the bugs flew away and self destructed harmlessly.

Except the harm was being done by that released payload.

The chemicals released stimulated certain regions of the brain. While brain chemistry varied wildly from individual to individual, the bugs had been designed to seek out those whose chemical signature matched their ideal target.

For 24 hours, in the city of Washington DC, nobody could tell a lie. Not Republicans, not Democrats, not members of the news media, not drugpushers, not lawyers. No segment of society was spared.

The riots started one hour later.

----------

To go from dragon to human wasn't a big thing. From flying to stopped not a problem. Teleporting was less easy and fairly new, but with ley lines and being an Aramarian silver - not unheard of.

Having all three occur when oneself had not initiated any of them *was* one of those things to immediately get a Problem flag.

Which left him human in some ornate drawing room, a fire burning merrily in the fireplace, sort of what he'd expect a vaguely European drawing room to look like. Everything screamed expensive to his own admittedly unsophisticated tastes.

A man entered the room and moved to sit behind a thick desk made of dark wood. Thin, slender, wearing a dark red suit that looked expensive. Little pencil thin moustache. First thought was the guy looked like a lawyer or accountant.

"We need to talk, Greylle Shard, draconic priest of Crossover Catgirls, frequent target of Toltiir's machinations." The man spoke quite confidently and with a condescending attitude that caused a momentary pulse of resentment within his audience. Smarmy was a good term to describe this fellow. "Stop your probing of my location."

Greylle winced. This was the guy whose power level was so outrageous. Who apparently knew exactly what and who he was. Still, this guy's voice had dropped slightly on mentioning the Cat Of Mischief, aka Coyote. So...

"Yes, that's correct. While I could eliminate you from existence without any concern or effort on my part, having Toltiir paying undue attention to me would be... inconvenient." The man's tone of voice also said distasteful.

Greylle considered. Sounded like he knew Toltiir personally. Was opposed to him. Huge power level. Wears red. Lawyer or... Uh oh.

"For a mortal with a respective IQ of a flatworm you occasionally manage," noted the "lawyer." "I am prepared to make a deal."

In the Aramarian pantheon had been nine Greater powers or deities, each of whom espoused a particular philosophy of life which was the basis for the "alignment system" of mortals. Toltiir the god of Mischief represented Chaotic Neutral. Etragar the Healer was Neutral Good. The current holder of the point where Law met Evil was Ankokou The Usurper. Following a Godswar where the gods of that pantheon had taken mortal form and the previous holder of the office had been destroyed. Except that an Elder god transcended the rules of life and death and the like, and the whole thing had just been a sort of contest among them anyway. Which meant that the previous holder of the Lawful Evil point of the alignment wheel had basically been voted out of office and could now wait for the re-election. The god of conquerers, assassins, and slavery whose philosophy could best be summed up as "the strong dominate or destroy the weak". Warnas Redsword, the Aramarian god of war.

"I prefer 'evolution favors the strong'," corrected the Elder god. "My deal is simple. I understand that you and your sense of morality would eventually draw you like a moth to the flame or a lemming to the sea, and you would try to oppose me. I am here to rest and bide my time. I am less than a shadow of myself at present, and so have withdrawn my power into a cube one mile across while I partake of the sweet nectar of negative emotions that humanity puts out. Put simply enough that even your mind can grasp it, I will cease all actions outside my cube, so long as you stay outside it yourself. You and your minions both mechanical and otherwise. I have no desire nor reason to conquer this world, turn it inside out, or defend it for that matter. You have no reason to oppose me, nor do I have a reason to particularly care about your little activities."

Greylle swallowed nervously. Beings who could turn the sun inside out on a casual whim could have that effect on him.

"You have other opponents and menaces to deal with anyway." Warnas made an off hand gesture towards the table.

The dragon had seen this game before. It was *sort of* like chess. Except it was played by more than two people, anywhere from three to six people. Alliances could be forged between two or more of the players, special in-session rules applied. Backstabbing and assassination were valid strategies to use, and there was more than one chessboard level involved. This particular game was set up for five players.

The "pawns" on his side were the Sailor Marionettes, depicted as such by a clockwork key in their backs. In the back were an obviously cyborg Nabiki as Rook, Kasumi as Bishop, Akane tiger as a Knight, Hotaru in her Senshi garb was Queen, himself as dragon the King, then Ranma as the Knight on the other side, Yuka and Sayuri in their hardsuits as another Bishop, Ukyo was the far Rook.

Queen Serenity and King Endymion were the King and Queen of the second side. Mars, Mercury, and Venus as one side's Rook, Bishop, Knight. The other side had Pluto, Neptune, Uranus. Their pawns were three mooncats directly in front of the two rulers and Venus. Umino and Naru were there on the same space, their pose suggesting nervousness, and there were three others including Unazuki that Greylle recognized as being connected to the Senshi.

Cologne had the third side's Queen position. There was no one in the King position. He didn't immediately recognize any of the pawns that occupied the front row, who were all Amazons from their raiment. He'd crossed paths with the Amazons a few times, and so recognized Vanilla, Sash, and Sugar on one side. The other side being Shampoo, Mint, and the odd team of Salt and Pepper as the Rook. He figured out that the "pawns" represented Perfume, Tigar, Lotion, Frost, and the rest he still couldn't place.

The fourth group was more amorphous. Those looked like the Witches 5, but mixed among them was the whole Dead Moon group and some of the Nemesis crew. It looked from the way the chess pieces were depicted, that a good breeze would start a civil war. Various daimon or yoma stood as the pawns.

The fifth and final group was Galaxia and her crew.

Off to the side, not on any of the boards was a large mixed crew of statuettes that he recognized some of and didn't recognize others. Doctor Mizuno was there, as was a drummer girl he'd briefly known in another life, there was no third or fourth series involved at least.

While he watched, Ranma disentangled from his side to join the "Undecided" - joined by Akane, Shampoo, and Ukyo a moment later. Kodachi, still in that pile, gravitated to his side. Ranma's place on Greylle's side was taken by the Arcadia. Ukyo's position as King's Rook was taken by Rei Ayanami with a to-scale version of the Lance Of Longinus.

The set up was obvious, as it no doubt was intended to be. His side were his allies, and subject to change without notice as all such games of this kind were. In the game he'd seen played on boards in a star lounge in Federation Space, computers or cards could be played to simulate chances of driving off or bribing the pieces of another side.

The Sailor Senshi were going to try for Crystal Tokyo. Cologne was on her own side. If any of the others could offer a better deal for her Amazons and their village, she'd ally with them.

The fourth side were the usual menaces that would face the Senshi. If the Senshi would tolerate allies in those battles, they'd likely have help from his group *and* Cologne's group. The fifth group was sufficient that any of the four previous groups might well abandon their problems to deal with this new menace collectively. Though there was one of the "Unclaimed" pieces that looked an awful lot like Morgana LeFey, but she wasn't around in this timeline was she?

"These are your problems," said Warnas. "Frankly, I don't think you need to cross me."

Greylle winced. He didn't have a particular problem himself. Warnas was evil, but he also wasn't a liar. However he had just raised the Senshi and if *they* got the idea that Warnas was a Menace...

"Then I will try to come up with an amusing way to send them back to you, but I will not tolerate being threatened in my home. Likewise any other intruders that I deem yours but you lack control over." Warnas made a distasteful expression as if he could barely tolerate lowering himself this long to be able to hold a conversation.

"Very well. i agree with these terms," began Greylle. Then blinked as he was suddenly on the roof at Furinkan. Actually he wasn't sure he could have negotiated anything and had it come out any better.

The school bell rang below him.

------

Sailor Pluto frowned and checked the timeline. Crystal Tokyo was not there. Chibiusa, her "Small Lady" did not exist in this new timeline.

Going back in time and killing the dragon was the obvious move, but Sailor Pluto was only protected against certain paradoxes. One that she could NOT ignore was that of "doubling back" in time. She had been in stasis for over a year, but that *still* counted.

Before that year had started, there was no trace on earth of this alien. Every alteration he'd caused had begun within that time. Sailor Pluto could not go back and strike at the root.

Which had caused the Senshi Of Time to go looking at the problem in more detail than she otherwise would have. What had this dragon done that had destroyed her future?

Absolutely nothing, apparently. There was the scene where the Outer Senshi ambushed the dragon, killed him, and the ginzuishou vanished from Sailor Uranus' bloody hand just as she was holding it triumphantly aloft.

Then Nemesis had come along and the Sailor Senshi had been slaughtered, their heads on pikes outside a large tower serving as decorations. Except for Sailor Moon who had been demoted from Queen to Concubine.

Frowning, Sailor Pluto made a note NOT to ambush the dragon until later. Then viewed the timestream again.

They got through the Nemesian battles with assistance from these Chinese Amazons, the dragon, and the dragon's minions. Sailor Moon was getting along more and more with Sailor Saturn. THEN the Outers ambushed the non-Senshi, killing Saturn along with the meddlers. Sailor Moon was quite unhappy with this, but would eventually come to forgive the Outers.

And as the ginzuishou had vanished AGAIN, they fell to Galaxia. Once again everyone died and still no Crystal Tokyo.

Rubbing her forehead and knowing darn well that this sort of act was severely frowned on if not actually taboo, Sailor Pluto tried again. Set up the ambush AFTER Galaxia and...

Sailor Pluto winced as she saw her head being removed by a very large pair of jaws and Sailor Uranus getting this curved sword taken away from her and rammed up a sensitive part of her anatomy. Sailor Neptune didn't last very long after that.

It was very difficult to do this, so the red-eyed Senshi decided to stop after one more attempt at foresight. What would happen if they *didn't* kill the damn dragon?

Sailor Pluto, guardian of the Gates Of Time, stared in gape mouthed astonishment at the brief image. At which point she realized that Uranus and Neptune were likely plotting an attack right now!

--------

Greylle liked lunchtime. A chance to unwrap from cramped desk. A chance to rest his eyes from trying to decipher kanji all morning. (He had finally stopped confusing most of the hiragana and katakana.) The smell of ramen and okonomiyaki cooking, the chance to relax under a tree and breathe fresh air, to rest his mind from the deluge of useless information.

"Shard Greylle! I challenge you!"

Greylle sipped his box tea (bleah), not bothering to look up.

Ranma stood there for a good twenty seconds. He opened his mouth to repeat his challenge when the blonde boy said, "So?"

'So'? What did he mean by 'so'?! "Maybe I didn't make myself clear; I'm challenging you to a fight!"

Greylle took a long, slow gulp from his drink. "Why fight?"

Ranma's mouth dropped and hung there until he had to shoo away a bird that was considering his jaw a nesting site. "To show who's the better man, of course!"

Greylle ignored the growing crowd around them as he ate more of his lunch. "No need show. Do you?"

Ranma felt every eye around land upon him as his own twitched. This wasn't how challenges were supposed to go! The stares that he was getting and the quiet mutterings he was hearing started to chafe. And that girl had that weapon of hers showing again. Maybe a different approach. "I hear you're pretty good in your Art."

"I guess so," said Greylle. Yeah, he was probably the most powerful cleric or White Mage in Furinkan at least. Heck, he might be the best in Japan!

"Well, I'm the best there is," said Ranma, using his most practiced "piss the heck out of your opponent" smirk.

"If you say so," Greylle said. In martial arts? No contest. Ranma was LOTS better than him. Heck, if it came to real martial arts without tricks or anything, AKANE was better than him.

Gotcha. "So you think you're better, huh? Well, why don't you prove it? Or you a coward?"

"No need. You better marital artist is," said Greylle agreeably.

"Wow! A fight of Martial Arts Humility!" Yuka looked to Sayuri.

Sayuri made an unfeminine noise of disagreement. "Yeah right. Ranma's the better man. Shard-san is the better dragon. Those two? It's worse than comparing apples and oranges."

"What you want really, Ranma? This silly argument," Greylle asked of the ponytailed boy.

"Uhm, can you remove the c-c-c-c- furry thing from my curse?"

"Think so," agreed Greylle. "Should have just said. Try after school."

--------

A little black pig sulked. "Buqiiiii!"

"Well, that's true, Saotome. You have to admit you *did* bring it on yourself."

"Buqiii! Oink!"

"Saotome, we've been friends many years, but I'll thank you not to use that sort of language in my house."

Genma squeaked and continued sulking. At least when he was in pig form he could move. Otherwise the pain was too much. Fortunately he could avoid hot water.

Soun tripped over apparently nothing and dropped his tea. "oops."

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHH!!"

--------

Hotaru's shrine area was fairly crowded after school.

Akane had started to pull the rope that got the bells jangling but as soon as she had, feline playfulness had surfaced and now she was batting the rope around like a kitty toy. On one level she was amazed how much fun little things like a crinkly piece of paper could be. Or earlier when Greylle-sam... Shard-san had absently scratched her behind the ear and she'd started *purring*?! Not that it really mattered or anything. Oooooo! Birdies!

Nabiki had floated to the top of one of the red archways or torii in order to work on a nasty little homework assignment but still be able to watch things progress. Information was useful after all. As to the sight of Akane giggling and chasing birds, well, Nabiki just shrugged and noted that Akane was enjoying herself and to cut down on the catnip in the future.

Yuka had practically dragged Sayuri down here, and was now waiting for the whole thing to be over so that she could talk to Hotaru about maybe doing a study session.

Sayuri was in front of the shrine praying that things would return to normal soon.

Ranma was looking nervous as chalk lines were drawn around him in various odd patterns.

Greylle was concentrating solely on the circles of protection and invocations that had to be prepared. A Jusenkyo curse was *not* an easy thing to lift. In game mechanics, he was age category five (young adult) as a silver dragon so his effective power level for a spell was 19! Admittedly his clerical level wasn't as high, but he had the raw power due to dragons being naturally attuned to the forces of magic. Still, curses could be tricky and finesse was required with any but the most crudely applied of them.

Hotaru was trying to memorize all this stuff. It could come in handy someday!

Three of the Rei units were looking around, unobtrusively standing guard. Well, at least as unobtrusive as three albino Japanese girls carrying laser carbines could be.

--------

Miles away, another sort of preparation was taking place.

"It's okay, Ami-chan, you're needed here," Rei assured the quiet girl.

"But I snuck out of the apartment," whined Ami.

"Just because your mother grounded you is no reason for you not to defend the world," said Haruka, waving off the concern. "This is a higher duty."

Michiru frowned as she regarded the manor. "Are you *sure* about this, Haruka? The smell of the sea is strong here, but we just came out of a battle."

"They won't be expecting us, surprise is our biggest ally," Haruka said with false confidence. She hoped nobody else realized how much fertilizer she was spreading.

"That's right," Makoto said, fist striking palm, "this is our first chance to strike *first* and on our own terms and conditions!"

Setsuna had already transformed to Sailor Pluto. Other than the sense of some vague lurking evil, she hadn't seen anything indicative of a threat from this house. However there *was* a time distortion, one so subtle that she hadn't seen it until she had looked for it. Therefore her powers were needed to breach the barrier.

"Mamo-chan," said Sailor Moon, looking up at her future husband.

"This time I'll be with you from the start," promised Mamoru Chiba.

Minako pumped a fist. "All right, we'll finally catch an enemy with our skirts down!"

Group groan.

"That's catch *them* with *their* pants down," corrected Artemis with a wince. He had a bad feeling about this.

Luna looked around. "Okay everyone. Transform! We're going in!"

---------

Ranma-chan felt for ears and then a tail, then frowned. "Hey! How come I'm still a catgirl?!"

"Jusenkyo curse fight me," said Greylle. "Try other tack. You now Catfist control. Just think cat-like."

Ranma-chan considered that for a few moments, wondering if she should just be satisfied for the moment. The guy looked like he was about ready to keel over and if it was that tricky then maybe it would be a BAD thing to push it.

"Sorry, but not have power after this morning." Greylle shrugged and fought a yawn. He lost. "Next week maybe again try."

"Oh," Ranma said wondering what she'd missed.

Cologne watched this interesting boy. He had limits. Limits were good. Flipping up a little piece of wood, the Chinese Matriarch considered what exactly she could do about the fellow. She'd already sent a message back to the village. Sugar and Spice, Salt and Pepper, Vanilla and Mint. Once they were here she could find out who the best match was. Maybe she should have contacted the twins Lotion and Potion. No, Potion was entirely too fond of explosives. Still, who else could Potion find who could *survive* some of her tantrums?

Akane had found a place where there was warm wood to stretch out in, and a sunbeam that was downright toasty. She purred in a drowse.

"So, Greylle-san, what do you think about what happened with Kasumi?" Yuka asked.

"What happened to Kasumi?" Greylle asked.

--------

Kasumi twitched her tail as she stalked forward, the beautiful and dangerous catgirl whose superhuman levels of elegance and poise left mortal men in quiet admiration. Yes, the brownfurred Kasumi who was as at home in a simple Japanese kitchen as she was leaping through the jungles of deepest darkest Africa or along the skyline of Paris.

There was Doctor Tofu, handsome in his tuxedo, gaping at her as she hinted ever so slightly that she might consent to his company as she prowled the night. IF he was lucky and could avoid acting quite so silly. She craved mature and dignified, and running around town giggling was not what she had in mind. No? Well to heck with him then!

Kasumi strode forward, ignoring the envious looks of the women and the other looks directed at her by the men. She was too much for THEM to handle anyway. She knew that she was most comfortable in a domestic role, but tonight she was on the prowl. Tonight she was going dancing, and she was going to enjoy...

Soun Tendo appeared in front of her, crying piteously. "No, Kasumi! You have to take care of me and my lifelong friend - the wastrel I brought in off the streets."

Finding herself back to human, with chains holding her to the house, Kasumi looked around. Where were the crowds? Where was the dance floor? What was that huge pig doing in the house? Why did that mirror show her with gray hair and wrinkles?

-------

Kasumi gasped as she woke up. She looked down at herself, now wearing the familiar old housedress and blouse combination that she'd always worn. Good old responsible Kasumi. Human Kasumi. A Kasumi who couldn't defend herself or find someone to defend her.

No wonder Shard-san wasn't interested. She was *plain* and useless. Not exotically cute like Akane's tigerform. Not clever and useful like Nabiki's cyborg self.

"Fess-san?" Kasumi asked the wall.

"Yes, Miss Tendo?" Fess responded instantly.

"How difficult would it be for me... That is..." Kasumi labored over a way to put this that wouldn't seem too forward or too strange.

Fess waited patiently while directing other projects elsewhere in the complex.

"Fess-san, Akane is a tigress, and Nabiki has many talents..."

"Just a moment, Miss Tendo. I'm directing another magical artifact to the collection."

Kasumi blinked. "Magic?"

"Yes, Miss Tendo," said Fess. "As we currently have little in the way of magical knowledge for our database, we have constructed a vault of magical items to be researched and their potentials for use recorded."

"Oh," said Kasumi, coming to a decision. "Fess-san. I need to run a little errand and check something. I'll be back in a few hours."

"Very well, Miss Tendo. Please use the elevator under the stairwell as repairs to other accessways have not been completed."

Kasumi nodded and checked her makeup and clothing. She was going to have to go see Doctor Tofu, and if he wasn't willing to have a serious conversation with her, she'd have to explore her other options.

--------

Going into his apartment had revealed that the Sailor Senshi had indeed gone off half-cocked and attacking someone they should *not* have. At least this short guy with blue-black hair had a box out marked "Universal Translator." "Let me guess, you attacked that mansion even after you were warned not to, right?"

The blond linebacker (he was wearing a football uniform) scowled. At his side a slender man in a tuxedo winced.

"Further guess," supplied Greylle. "He changed your base equation so that you're male and now you can't transform into Sailor Senshi by those makeup transformations. With the exception of Miss Chiba over there."

"Can it, we're having a bad day," growled Haruka. "Can you fix this or not?"

"If i go and ask very politely, he *might* replace this with another transformation. Break the enchantment myself? Only if i were in dragonform and had a couple of days to prepare. If i tried like this it would most likely fail." Greylle shook his head. Actually, all of them looked fairly tough and muscular. Ami (judging by the blue tint, glasses, and height) was still fairly short but had something like a gymnast's build. "Considering that it *is* Warnas, you'd have to consider what he'd do. Most likely he'd turn you to children or animals or toys."

"So you're a cowardly dragon?" Haruka started forward only to be restrained by Michiru.

"Guys tend to be more aggressive, so you ought to watch out for that," Greylle advised Haruka.

"You know of this villain, then?" Setsuna (a tall man wearing a purple turtleneck and slacks) asked wearily. She was obviously not enjoying this.

"Never met him prior to this, heard of him by reputation," Greylle said, leaving the door open. It was standing room only in here and any air circulation he could get was needed. "Warnas is of the Aramarian pantheon - Elder gods that are hundreds of billions of years old in some cases, each of whom has spawned copies or reflections of themselves in other pantheons and timelines. Each embodies a universal concept that is part of reality. Warnas Redsword is the god of slavery and conquerers, the desire for absolute control over one's environment including others within that environment. He's a god of order: embodying the need for laws, castes, and the old 'might makes right' or 'survival of the strongest' concept. To some extent he's the god of evolution. During the Aramarian godswar he was deposed by a challenger, another Being by the name of Ankoku the Usurper. He lost a lot of power. Right now he only extends the barest threads of himself outside a one mile radius. IN that radius however - he can break the laws of physics, overpower the ginzuishou, or rewrite reality however he desires."

The transformed Senshi looked even more upset.

"How can we beat someone with THAT much power?" Usagi asked. He made a fairly tall guy with his hair back in a single ponytail.

"You don't. If you don't enter that single mile, he won't do anything to you," said Greylle. "He's got a heck of a limitation there. It's sort of like being in a penalty box - he has to wait his turn to get back into the game, and if you don't bother him he won't bother you."

"So let's go, *anything* is better than being a guy!" This from a really tall guy with brown hair.

"i disagree with that, and i'm *really* tired. It would be best to wait until tomorrow."

"NO WAY!" "I can't let anyone see me like THIS!" "There's got to be a better way."

"Please," pleaded Setsuna. He looked about ready to cry.

"That would probably work *if* you were a girl right now," pointed out Greylle. "No. i'm too tired to negotiate anything. It just wouldn't work. No. Absolutely not!"

--------

Kasumi was quickly losing patience.

"Hahahaha! See, Betty, Kasumi came to see you! Would you like some tea Kasumi?"

That he was dancing around the office and had just mistaken an anatomy chart for her did not sit particularly well with Kasumi. "Doctor Tofu. We need to speak. Father engaged me to Shard-san but I'm not sure that I could handle someone both younger and an alien."

"Wow, Kasumi, you look tired. Why don't you take a seat?"

A frown began to trace itself on Kasumi's face. Now Doctor Tofu had apparently decided that she was Betty. "Doctor?"

"So... you've decided to not be engaged? How nice!" Doctor Tofu leaned against a curtain to straighten himself. He fell over immediately.

Kasumi let out a deep breath. This sort of thing usually happened whenever she was alone with Tofu Ono. She crossed to the chiropractor, grabbed him and tried to shake him, to get to him to listen to her.

At Kasumi's touch, Tofu Ono momentarily calmed. He looked down, seeing the delicate makeup job enhancing her beauty subtly, the fragrance of her perfume dizzying.

Seeing him at last gain some resemblence of sensibility, Kasumi calmed herself. Maybe she could reasonably discuss this with him after all.

--------

"i told you to let *me* do all the talking."

"You didn't seem to be doing all that well before I stepped in," protested Haruka.

The short blonde woman stopped and glared at Haruka. "Yeah. NOW LOOK!"

"Well, at least you're cute..." Ami's eyes got wide as what he had just said and how he felt about it penetrated. "Oh no."

Greylle looked up at him. How odd, this was the first time she'd been around Ami and Ami had been the taller of the two. "Thank you for noticing, Ami-chan, but i'd rather not explore my femininity at this time."

"Like you've got a choice?" Setsuna gave a shrug as he looked over the short and curvy blonde. "That outfit looks good on you."

"i have *never* wanted to wear a Sailor Senshi seifuku, by the way. Nor will i particularly get the hang of walking in these shoes very easily." Greylle fumed slightly.

Haruka saw the chance at another dig. "Hey, little girl, you wanna come home with me?"

"You keep that up, Haruka, and i will show you a 'World Shaking' from the other end. 'The world needs the Sailor Senshi to defend it.' Urrrrrrr." Sailor Solar System glared at the tall boy.

"All the more reason for you to find a way to break the enchantment," said Haruka before Michiru could stop him.

Two fingers came up. "Crescent B..."

Makoto smiled sheepishly at the much shorter and very curvaceous girl she'd grabbed. "Uhm, much as he deserves it right now, please don't..." Makoto's eyes widened comically.

Minako had also dived for the new Senshi and was also staring.

"Uhm," Ami wanted to put this delicately. "Makoto, you might want to keep that hand over her mouth just so that she doesn't do anything rash, but the hand on her breast *might* be a bit much. Minako-kun, I'm sure you didn't mean to grab her there, but judging from the way she's trying to kick you, you might want to get that hand away from her crotch."

"AAAAGHHH!" Makoto and Minako shot away as if they had been burned.

"Get a room!" Someone yelled from a window nearby.

(Twitch twitch) "You.... hentai..." (twitch twitch) Sailor Solar System picked herself off of the pavement.

"Maybe we should sleep at Mamoru's apartment tonight," suggested Usagi, grabbing his shorter lover under one arm and running before checking to see if anyone was paying attention.

Breathing hard and trembling, her nails digging into her palms, the 5'0" (5'4" in her current shoes) Senshi tried to restrain herself from trying out some really nifty high power attacks on the remaining guys. "You had better *not* have intended that."

Once again Haruka proved that she suffered from Saotome Mouth Syndrome when male. "Oh come on. They're not going to try anything with a little tramp like you, unless you keep leading them on."

Dead silence. Everyone else but Haruka and the new Senshi started looking for cover to hide behind.

Suddenly Greylle smiled, showing dimples. "You know, Tenou-kun, I have just one thing to say to you."

Haruka smirked. "You know you love it."

"Go soak your head. DEEP SUBMERGE!"

Michiru shook his head and went to go collect the unconscious Haruka-kun. "Now THAT he had coming."


=========

__Oh no! Gender reversed Senshi?
(i've read one of these - but they only reversed Usagi's gender, not *everyone's*).
__Greylle is Sailor System?
__What of the effect on Crystal Tokyo?
__Will Mamoru be the one who gives birth to Chibiusa?
__Haruka has Ranma's foot in mouth disease as a guy? (It *is* fairly common of male anime characters, after all.)
__What of Hotaru and Fess?
__Will the evil villains make their appearance?


===========