Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Hand Maid May Fan Fiction / Gatekeepers Fan Fiction ❯ Retake ❯ Game Day ( Chapter 17 )

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

Retake 17: Game Day

Having been summoned to the Tendo Dojo, Greylle hadn't been sure *what* to expect. Akane had shown up human at the school that morning. There had been a few strange stories passed about by the gossips/hentai duo of Hiroshi and Daisuke. Though those two had seemed subdued for some reason.

Akane seemed to have gotten over her attitude from yesterday somewhat. Temper like an Arizona monsoon, sudden fits of overwhelming violence that dissipated after a few minutes.

Suddenly finding himself confronted by Akane, with most of the Ranma cast briefly showing up in the background (followed by them vanishing again), he had to wonder if this was some *other* imagined fault he was going to be hit with.

Then she'd made her request.

Greylle considered beating his head against the wall. No, here where he had been summoned - the Tendo dojo, he'd wreck the place in short order.

"Oh come on! I'm a martial artist and we seem to get along, why not?" Akane grinned and punched her fist into the palm of the other hand. "I can do it! Father won't train me. Ranma won't take me seriously. You showed me that 'Boot to da head' manuever..."

Maybe he was looking at this the wrong way. Instead of looking at it as being forced to endure her company, he could instead be using it to make her lose interest in him and maybe kindle a spark between Ranma and Akane. Though if they were a Destined Couple then *why* did anyone have to force the two together? Pfeh.

"...and if you're defending Tokyo, then you could definitely use help. Those mechanicals of yours can't fill in for a *real* fighter," Akane declared without any real confidence in this point. Since she'd lost the tigergirl form she'd been wanting *something* to make up for it. "Those Sailor Senshi? They may end up your enemies again!"

Greylle held up a hand and tried to look solemn. Akane always looked for a fast method or instant power up like the Super Soba or Battle Dogi. Well, how about some of the stuff he'd gotten from Valkyrie Boot Camp? "Akane, if i do this, you will come to hate me. You will endure a hundred kinds of agony and humiliation, but if you endure and master the lessons you'll be a dozen times more potent than you are now."

Akane cast a glance towards the baseball bat she could barely move, then up at the figure before her. He didn't lie to her. Even when he said he'd bring Nabiki back from the dead, he'd done it. Say he could take her to Mars, he had. Save her life after her own head had been chopped off by that damn Ryouga, done. Turn her back to normal from being a sexy and superpowerful tigergirl - and he had, damn it. If he said he could improve her martial arts, he could. If he said it would hurt, it would.

Greylle saw her about to blurt out an agreement and had second thoughts. Spending a lot of time alone with Akane? Yech. Maybe he should try to get her to rethink it. She seemed to value the traditional preoccupation with kawaii. "Before you agree, consider that it will be hard training unlike anything you've ever undergone. It won't be easy, and that you will have to put aside a lot of the luxuries and comforts you're used to. This is a path of the Warrior - a dedicated fighter. Cute is applicable for children and small pets, a Warrior is never 'cute'. You can turn back now and there is no loss of honor or reputation in deciding not to embrace the Warrior Path. The enemies you'd be training to fight do not follow martial arts match rules, and if you fight them would think nothing of crippling or killing you." There, by having her have to choose between cute and some painful training, Akane would back down.

Akane studied his face. He was dead serious. This was not a game. She could get killed or disfigured fighting the sorts of enemies the Sailor Senshi reportedly had. He was also apparently very real in his confidence that she would hate him after the training. Did she want to progress at that kind of cost?

Greylle looked away, worried. Why wasn't she just rejecting the training? She hated boys, which he definitely was at the moment, and wasn't a dedicated martial artist of Ranma's obsession level. She should be going on about the Tendo School and... THAT would do it! "While you're learning the new style of course, until you've mastered it, you would not be able to practice your family school. You haven't mastered the Tendo Ryuu, and the two are not strictly compatible."

Akane was uncomfortable with this but had come to certain conclusions, and as was In Character for her, was fitting everything into place based on those pre-existing conclusions. She therefore knew that this training was dangerous and that Greylle was trying to discourage her from undergoing it, and yet he was unlike Ranma who simply dodged everything and made fun of her. She knew, from Nabiki's earlier comment and her own observations, that the gaijin was deeply in love with her and no doubt therefore had doubts about his own ability to put her through some dangerous training. This led Akane to some concern that the big idiot here saw her as fragile (though another glance at the baseball bat made her wonder if she'd survive a friendly hug if it came down to it). She knew he was shy around her, hey waitaminute. Pride went back and looked over that line where he saw her as fragile! She'd have to prove otherwise wouldn't she!

Greylle was beginning to get a little more nervous. The expressions flitting across Akane's face were difficult to read, other than anger and pensive. What was going on in that head of hers?

Ranma popped his head out, sealing doom for everyone involved. "Ah, training her is a waste of time. She's too slow, too clumsy, and she relies on anger. If you're teaching special techniques though..."

*THWAM!*

"Shut up, Ranma!"

The pigtailed boy imbedded in the ground held up a finger. "...see what I mean?"

"Shampoo think learn special techniques from other airen sound like good idea."

"They ain't your airen, sugar. Still, Ranma-honey's got a point, it'd be nice to have backup."

"Oh my. Look Akane, all your little friends are here."

"two hundred... two hundred thirty... two hundred fourty yen." Nabiki looked up innocently. "What? Hey it's not like I've sold state secrets here!"

---------

Hotaru changed first her clothes. A pair of comfortable shorts, a loose top, and left her hands and feet bare.

Then she studied her hands and willed the other change. Other than the nails thickening and lengthening, her hands didn't change. She had to adjust the shorts to let her tail loose, but catgirl Hotaru was ready to try out her new catgirl superpowers!

Super jumping ability, check. A good thirty feet, she guessed.
Super strength, check. At least ten times her normal strength. (She could lift at least 200 pounds!)
Super agility, check. The crane game fell before her feline might.
Super flexibility, check. This would come in handy if she joined the yoga club.

"NOW I'VE GOT YOU!" Some boy yelled as he leapt out of an alley and leveled a sparkling wand at her. "LOVESLAVE!"

*SLASH!*

Super feline claw powers, check.
Immunity to being turned into whatever that guy had been trying to do, check.

Hotaru licked the blood off her claws, not realizing how gross that would normally have been to her, and decided she ought to go see what Greylle-sempai was up to.

Behind her, another member of the Hentai Sorcery Club collapsed and was soon sent to the hospital.

---------

The view in the enchanted mirror faded.

"Okay, the Loveslave spell doesn't work on catgirls or some normal girls," said one of the Ecchi would-be mages. "Works just fine on witches."

Yugo looked up from where he was being miserable. Not that having a fawning loveslave was a bad thing, but he'd been practicing the spell and had accidently snagged his little sister. Whom he had always considered a sniveling brat with a whiney voice. Now he considered her a whiney sniveling brat who kept trying to rip his clothes off. "Here's something I ran into while trying to find a Remove Spell spell. Apparently there are ways of making these Servitor types."

"You mean like youma, daimon, cardians, or that kinda thing?" Yoiyo nodded. "Sort of an element-theme based monster?"

"Yeah. We need to try a different approach, this personal touch stuff is dangerous." Yugo wondered if Yumi could end up some kind of useful daimon.

"So we enchant someone into one of these... what do we call them? They go and try to convert targets." Yoiyo nodded. "I like it. But then I like ideas that keep me from getting hurt."

Ideas were thrown around. Some of the former Witches 5 threw ideas out too, excited by the concept.

"Okay, it's decided," said Yoiyo. "We'll use the concept. We'll infuse the magical essence with an object, and send a Henjin out to test a spell or to recruit new subjects. What'll we use as the base for the first one?"

---------

"So, when's the training begin?" Akane looked into the room. A bare cot, simple table, a light inset into the wall. Almost looked like a prison cell instead of a bedroom.

Akane took a step into the room.

*THWAM!*

Feeling her body attempting to become one with the stone, Akane tried to move. With great difficulty she shifted one arm.

"This is a 10 gravity room, Akane," Greylle said, gently picking Akane up and moving her to the cot and arranging her so she was now face up and able to breathe.

"Uhng!" Akane managed. It felt like her cheeks were trying to pin themselves to the pillow.

"Ten gravities mean everything weighs ten times what you're used to. You normally weigh, oh, about 125 pounds. In here you weigh 1250 pounds. I'll come back and get you in an hour."

"mmmmmmmmmmg!" Akane struggled briefly, then realized her sensei was moving very carefully but without apparent effort. Lying there helpless, Akane vowed that in one hour she would at least be off the bed.

--------

Michiru noted the presence in her mirror of some dark shadowy menace, and acted in a manner not usually within her character.

Like pumping her fist and spinning. "YES! Haruka, there's a new menace!"

Haruka grinned. "Oh. Well, now we have to show you MERE substitutes how the REAL Sailor Senshi operate."

Michiru II cocked her head slightly, lowering the violin. "Very well. We shall accompany, observe, and provide fire support."

Michiru continued to smile. "No, that will never do. Sailor business."

Haruka nodded. "Oh yes, that's right. We certainly can't have some windup dolls confusing things. This is a REAL battle against a REAL menace."

Haruka II held up a hand. "You're still upset about me beating you in those races, aren't you?"

Michiru II considered this. "That is not a logical attitude. It would be better to accept whatever reinforcements and powerups you can negotiate when facing an enemy of unknown capabilities."

"Logic has no place in my life," said Haruka proudly. Then frowned because that had *not* come out right.

"We were handling situations like this before you were a gleam in your creator's eyes," instructed Michiru. "This is definitely a job for experienced professionals."

"NOT wind up dolls," interpreted Haruka. She and Michiru were Perfect together, they could accomplish anything in perfect synch. A bunch of imitation Sailors were neither wanted or needed. Especially ones that were continually showing them up!

The two marionettes touched hands and exchanged a datastream. Inquiries were made, decisions reached.

"Very well," said Haruka II. "I want to work on that motorcycle anyway. I think I can tweak the engine efficiency up by at least 0.24%."

The human Haruka twitched.

"Whereas I feel the need for a fractal art, perhaps something moody dealing with a seascape from Garibaldi's moon," mused Michiru II. "The starfields visible there should produce a ethereal calming beauty."

The human Michiru twitched.

"Oh," said Michiru after she'd recovered. Bad enough to have these copies. Bad enough for them to be faster, stronger, more technically correct. Worse for them to develop creativity and copy little gestures and individual movements. "If you're going to *imitate* us, get the clothes right."

Michiru II sighed and rolled her eyes. Haruka II snickered.

"Neither of us wears a 'bunnysuit'," said Haruka as she left. "Put some *real* clothes on."

Haruka II shrugged as she looked at her companion. "Frankly, I think I look good in it."

"You do," agreed Michiru II. "Humans. Who can figure them? She didn't even realize we'd borrowed these outfits from their dressers."

--------

"Hey Akane, why are you just " *THWAM!*

Akane recognized the voice and *really* wished she could look. The sight of Ranma plastered on the floor would have done her enormous good.

"ouch," said Ranma. "Well, that explains THAT! Unnnghhh."

Greylle came by, saw Ranma weakly struggling (in girl form yet) to rise up, picked her up and put her in the bed next to Akane. This should allow the two a common experience to share, and the two would be closer as a result.

Ranma weakly struggled, especially after she realized that she was in bed with AKANE?! If the old man could see them, they'd be married that afternoon!

After considerable effort, Ranma lifted herself up, slowly moved towards the edge of the bed. Freedom!

*THWAM!*

Practically imbedded in the floor, Ranma realized that at least she wasn't in bed with the tomboy!

Akane would have pummelled Ranma if she could have known that was what the strained laughter was about. Well, that and if she could have moved.

-------

Sailor Moon stared. While she wanted to get back into the swing of things and prove that just because her android double was smarter, a better student, more graceful, stronger, faster, a better cook, and more popular - she was still the reborn Moon Princess who was going to end up ruling the world!

It was just that... "We have to fight THAT?!"

"BREAAAAA!"

Even Sailor Jupiter was staring and looking distinctly unhappy. "What IS it?"

Sailor Mercury was glad of the chance to get away from attempts of her mother to get Ami to go visit "that nice dragon prince and see if he could part with a diagnostic scanner for just a bit" or something. She busied herself with the Mercury Computer. "It's a magical construct. Main attack seems to be a magical transformation beam."

"No kidding," said Sailor Uranus who had been hit by that very beam early on. "Other than removing clothes, I can't see any other effects."

The beam swept out from the monster. Women's clothing could be seen rising in a streamer from the impact point, joining with the monster and increasing its size slightly. Feminine screams could be heard all around it.

"Well, let's just fight the thing," said Sailor Uranus.

"Not everyone is as anxious to make a public spectacle of themselves as you," indicated Sailor Mars.

Another beam from the monster. More feminine screams, and the monster was now 30' tall.

"I'll get it," Sailor Jupiter announced, rushing forward.

"Wait," called out Sailor Mercury. "Oh. Too late."

"Jupiter Thunder Attack!" ZAP! "Eeeeeek!"

"Got everything but her hair scrunchie and her earrings," noted Haruka with an appreciative eye. "Shouldn't you all attack it en masse?"

Sailor Venus tried a different tack, leaping from ground to ledge to roof, then posing. "Women's clothing is colorful and in fashion, and should not be attacking their owners. I, Sailor Venus, will punish y... EEEEEEP!"

"At least it left her hair ribbon," said Haruka.

"Waaaaaahhhhhhh," cried Sailor Venus from her position on the roof, desperately trying to cover herself.

"While it seems silly, note that the attack does cause the victims to give up their own attacks," said Sailor Mercury. Not that she was going to attack it.

"Excuse me," said Kumori Mizuno, who had given Ami a ride and so far hadn't been terribly impressed with the performance of daughter or friends.

"Moon Tiara Action," said Sailor Moon, stepping around the corner and doing her magic frizbee attack.

"BREAA!"

"WAGHHhHHH!"

"Got her hair ornaments too," noted Haruka appreciatively.

The monster lumbered forward, turning the corner that these pests kept popping up from around.

"Oh heck," said Mercury, currently a blushing bundle of embarassment.

"BREAAAA!"

Doctor Mizuno went back to her car. She had a spare labcoat there, which beat her current lack of raiment. Muttering something about how grounded Ami was going to be if she didn't do something *fast*.

Rei stood, barefoot among other things and gestured. "Unforgiveable. MARS Fire SOUL! Fire Soul! Fire Soul! Fire Soul!"

"BreaAAAAAA!"

Haruka clenched a fist. "Yeah! Burn! Burn, you monster! See! We don't need any robots or powerups or..."

"Nice," said the returning Doctor Mizuno. "You *do* realize that all of your clothes, my clothes, and all the clothes of all those women are what is producing that three story tall pillar of flame, right?"

The various naked Senshi began to sweat as the burning monster crashed into several stores and continued to blaze merrily under the influence of Mars' magical flame.

"Young lady," began Doctor Mizuno, addressing the still trying to cover herself Mercury. "We are going to have to talk."

--------

Haruka II finished relaying the fight sequence.

"How embarassing," said Kasumi, watching from where it had been televised through the complex.

"Maybe I shouldn't offer to help on their next encounter," mused Nabiki. Up until that she'd wanted to practice her Drill Brand or Elmekion Lance. Though it didn't sound like they were too open to new members.

"I'll bet our hardsuits would have been immune," opined Yuka. "They're technically armor, not clothes."

Sayuri had a different opinion. "Why would you want to fight a thirty five foot tall bundle of clothes in the first place?"

"Man, the stink off of all that latex and stuff." One of the Maid units wrinkled her nose. "Why didn't Mercury or Neptune try to put out the fire?"

"Mercury is getting dragged off by her mother, Neptune is running from a crowd of naked enraged shopkeepers," observed another Maid unit. "It looks like Sailor Uranus was trying to use a World Shaking on the pile of clothes, but just blew it up instead. Ooooo! Now Neptune's led them back and the crowd's throwing things at the other Senshi."

"Hotaru," said Setsuna, casually finishing her tea and looking quite elegant and refined, "it looks as if we are needed to rescue our fellow Senshi."

Hotaru nodded. "Okay! Fess-san, please build me a *good* combat mecha!"

--------

Akane sighed as regular gravity returned. Clearly Greylle had overestimated her abilities. On the other hand the realization that Ranma hadn't exactly bounced back was well appreciated. Something else had penetrated during that time.

He was taking her seriously as a martial artist. Clearly he respected her. Maybe she would have to convince him that she was a *little* fragile, but he was taking her a *lot* more seriously than Ranma did.

Not that she was interested, of course.

-----

The Hentai Sorcerers rejoiced.

"Woo hoo! Dibs on the short haired blonde!"

"I think the one with the green hair's gonna have *my* brand."

"Yoiyo, that was *genius!*"

Yoiyo smiled, surprised and pleased by how it had worked out. "Did we get it?"

Hikaru smiled and tapped the camcorder.

People would have shuddered at the sound of slightly lecherous insane laughter coming from the third floor of the school. That is, if anyone besides the cranky old janitor and the club were around to hear it.

*Click!*

"Hey, howcome the lights went off?"

"Cause it's six o'clock!" The janitor yelled from the ground. "Damn whippersnappers can't even figure out a clock."

-----

She blinked and stared. "You think this transmission is accurate?"

"Yes, princess. We have found the prince. He is on a Tech 6 planet with natives of a bipedal ape descendent. We followed a probe back to this world. He has apparently allied himself with a industrial nation of these natives." The scout raised his head and grinned.

The princess grinned back. "At last. Mobilize the appropriate teams, destination... what do these natives refer to their world as?"

Making a gesture of third degree embarassment tinged with anticipation, the scout replied. "Soil, princess."

"Well, that's at least better than that world where the natives refer to their home planet as 'excrement'," allowed the princess. "Go then! To that distant soil!"

-----

"...and really young lady, I expected a lot more from you and your friends, letting a pile of dirty clothes get the better of you!"

"Yes, mom," said the still very very embarassed Ami.

"AEGIS was a wonderful little organization back in the late 60s, protecting the Earth from the Invaders. I suppose it was too much to hope for that my own daughter would follow their tradition." Kumori shook her head. "This *never* happened to the Gatekeepers. Of course, if it *had* things would have gotten interesting."

"Yes, mom."

"I... hang on while I get the phone." Kumori pressed speaker on her handset. "Doctor Mizuno here."

"Hello, Doctor. This is Fess. I take it young Miss Mizuno and yourself are all right?"

The doctor pulled her car into a parking lot. "You witnessed the battle?"

Fess hesitated. "Not only was one of our marionettes watching this, some news channels managed to record some brief footage."

Ami once again attempted to shrink into a tiny little ball.

Doctor Mizuno fixed her daughter with a definite "we'll discuss this some more in private" look of maternal doom. "How bad?"

"Well, they didn't get a lot of footage of your faces," allowed Fess.

Ami whimpered.

"You might want to avoid some of the editorials," added Fess. "The good news is that the marionettes all went into public areas and imitated the originals, with the exception of Haruka II - who was on scene. So nobody will be identified even if they think to do a point to point map of facial features."

"What kind of editorials?" Kumori asked.

Fess decided to just send a snippet. The voice was definitely someone else's. "Sailor Senshi, yesterday's heroes, today's zeroes. At fourteen they were the defenders of the world, a year later and they can't beat the Thing From Beneath The Laundromat without wholesale destruction. Can these former heroes salvage their reputation, or should they simply bow out and let this Prince Dragon or these superpowered catgirls and Nerima martial artists handle things? Especially disappointed were Sailor V fans, though seeing their idol stripped naked on primetime TV has some clamoring for posters. More after these messages."

Ami pulled her head out of the huddle, wondering if she had heard Minako's scream of anguish or had she just imagined it?

-------

Various supermodel androids walked down the street.

Traffic came to a halt. People (not just guys) walked into various inanimate objects.

A pair of sleazy looking guys tried to convince the girls to come work for them. They tried flattery, bribery, then threats. They ended up getting stuffed into a mailbox.

Which was when disaster hit. There was a theatre running a "chick flick" with the unlikely name of "Graduation IV - Exams Of Passion."

The supermodels, naturally enough, went en masse as part of their desire for data on the activities of the human female.

-----

Ami looked miserable. Actually she looked kind of spiffy in a white peasant shirt and a pair of could-have-been sprayed on blue jeans. Her mother, in a similar outfit, proved that she might have been older but she was still hardly ready for retirement. And had avoided the usual pudginess striking Japanese women in their middle years.

Most of the other Senshi were just grateful for the borrowed clothing but leaving as soon as possible.

Doctor Mizuno had asked a simple question. "Why are you two looking at my daughter like that?"

"We've seen something interesting lately," had allowed Hotaru, wanting to slap Ami for such shabby treatment of her sempai in a previous life.

All of which had led to this and Ami's current misery.

They were watching another sequence that Fess had recorded or accessed.

This particular scene seemed to be set in some European pre-industrial setting. As for Ami's misery:

"Daughter?" Kumori looked between the embarassed Ami and the one on the screen. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"This is a previous life," indicated Fess.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ami stood on the top of the tower and let her robe fall behind her to stand momentarily naked before the cliffs.

Then she leapt.

Her form shifted, enlarged, changed. Wings reached out to cup the air and shift falling into flight.

~~~~~~~~

Ami stared, her jaw hanging loose. Her mother also stared.

Kasumi, who had just wandered in, smiled and sipped at her tea. "I didn't know you were a dragon in a previous life, Mizuno-san."

"Neither did I, Tendo-san," managed Ami weakly.

~~~~~~~~~

The silver dragon flew overhead, looking amazingly graceful for something that was larger than most of the buildings it was passing over. She flew out to a larger dragon, moving around it in an elaborate pattern.

The larger dragon briefly looked shocked, somehow conveying this in body language, then began responding in kind.

They danced. An aerial ballet with the two arcing and diving in a manner that became more synchronized as they went. From over the city, the two gradually moved into some distant mountains, becoming lost to distance gradually.

"Well, looks like Doctor Ami is finally mating," said a voice.

"About time, I was beginning to worry about her," added a second.

The camera angle changed, revealing a group of tanned European children of about twelve or so.

~~~~~~~~~

Ami blinked. She was a doctor? And a dragon? And... "mating"?!?!

Doctor Mizuno nodded, not noticing her daughter was about to melt down into a little puddle of embarassment. "Like with your father. You have to be able clue your husband in on when appropriate times might be, being a doctor puts quite a strain on your personal time and energy after all."

Setsuna sniffled. "That was so beautiful, the way she initiated a mating dance under a full moon. How romantic!"

Hotaru wordlessly handed Setsuna a hankerchief.

Ami twitched.

"Oh my, that looked very... interesting." Kasumi said, wondering briefly if dragons used protection - and if so *how*?

"One of the happiest times he'd had was this brief century in this particular culture," said Fess. "There were also times where the others he'd interacted with were also content. Not that there were not moments of friction."

~~~~~~~~~~

Ami stalked into the room. Not her usual glide. Not a walk. This was a definite "I've got a major problem" stalk.

"Sensei, you honor us with your presence," said one of the younger girls as she curtsied.

"THAT that that..." Ami threw her hands up in the air as if inarticulate at her frustration level.

Wiping sweat, and leaving a trail of grease, the older redhead (though mainly gray) gestured to the others to go back to work on what looked like a primitive steam engine. "Guy problems? I take it a flight over the ocean or talking with the other dragons would not help?"

"We started out human," Ami reminded the girl. "We still are, in a lot of ways. No, and they're all busy with their own little projects. Or they just smirk at me. Ukyo, how do you handle it?"

Ukyo used a sweatrag to finish wiping her face. "How do I handle balancing being an explorer with being in charge of a group of engineers while I'm just a fixit-girl myself? How do I handle things on a human scale instead of being able to turn into a 'warrior of love and justice' or a dragon? How can I handle the idea that my good friend Ami is not only the head of our medical program, but is still a teenager while I'm pushing seventy?"

Ami shook her head, pacing back and forth. "No, you've been married for forty years now."

"Forty-three," automatically corrected Ukyo.

"Your marriage isn't the mess mine is," declared Ami. "We've been going together for at least as long but he's..."

"Ah," said Ukyo, understanding now. "We love each other. We fight, we yell, we apologize, we make mad passionate love (which is how we ended up with six kids), and we have learned that sometimes to stay together we have to spend time apart."

Ami blinked, then turned to stare at her friend. "But everyone points to you two, and the trials you endured, as some great love story."

"Someone wise once said 'an adventure is someone else going through a rough time'," quoted Ukyo. "We love each other dearly. That doesn't mean that once in a while one or the other of us doesn't get mule-headed and the other doesn't want to slap that someone around. Because each of us knows how much the other loves us, it makes the tough times bearable until we get back to the more friendly territory. Neither of you is a slave or a puppet, and disagreement is part of a healthy relationship too. Now tell me, do either of you say anything truly unforgiveable? Has either of you struck the other?"

"Uhm, no," admitted Ami. "I just told him that he was an empty-headed reptile and he should go crawl under a rock..."

"I've said worse to my Ranma," consoled Ukyo. "Hardly sounds like an 'epic romance', does it?"

Ami sighed. "I suppose."

Ukyo shook her head. "You know, my friend, let's go out tonight and party one last time. I suspect this'll be our last chance for such things, healing spells or no."

"Huh?" Ami startled. "But you're still..."

"Ami," said Ukyo with a smile. "I'll be seventy next week. I am neither dragon nor one of your 'senn chi' nor an android or one of your other companions. Most people back in the continents die at half my age. I've adventured and explored new lands. I've had six healthy kids, raised 'em, and now spoil the grandkids. I've found love and laughter and a good man. Maybe I'll continue on another seventy, but maybe not."

"Grammy," scowled one of the younger redheads, hands on hips and glaring through her glasses, "don't talk like that!"

Ukyo's smile widened a fraction. "Well now, Ami, shall we go check out the library? Hear tell there are some fine young men hanging around there lately."

Ami smiled as she noticed the embarassed looks on various young girls' faces that indicated they'd heard the same rumors. Actually, watching the young engineers boyhunting might be just the thing. "Let's go. We can bring your grandkids along to fetch us something to drink."

~~~~~~~~

Ami blinked. "That was..."

"Same names. Different individuals," assured Fess. "Except for you, of course."

Kumori Mizuno considered her daughter and what she'd just seen. So in a previous lifetime, her daughter had married this boy. Now he was still a dragon but she was a magical girlscout, though not very good from her earlier showing. Her concerns about having her daughter end up in a relationship with an alien prince/dragon were slightly eased. Though it appeared Ami's were heightened.

"What happened to that Ukyo?" Hotaru asked.

"Lived another twenty two years. Saw her great grandkids. Her husband Ranma passed on, and she followed him six months later," Fess said. "The whole 'Ranma & Ukyo' love affair - particularly their early adventures and difficulties - became the subject of a series of plays that eventually reached international notoriety. Even a few novels and eventually a TV series. Though they took serious liberties with the latter."

That got some attention. "Was Ami in these novels or the TV series?" Kumori asked for everyone.

As a reply, a scene from a cartoon played in which the now glamorous Ukyo was consoling a somewhat dumpy long haired girl in glasses. "This is how the TV series played it. There were protests, of course. All of the dragons had been sketched or painted during their stay and the actress cast to portray the human Ami looked nothing like those sketches."

The images now playing caused a few gasps. There was a sculpted marble Ami, styled in a Greek fashion and handing off a scroll, looking somehow glorious and elegant despite her near-lack of clothing. "This is how she is most often remembered, the sculpture is of her passing the knowledge of medicine on to mankind." The image shifted to Setsuna, except in her hands were a pot and ladle. "Setsuna, and her gift of the knowledge of herbcraft and tea." The next statue was of Hotaru, an expression of proud defiance on her face, Silence Glaive in one hand and the other held open as if to bar entry. "Hotaru, guardian of the mount." Fess considered showing other statues but decided the others could wait. Though the statues *were* being duplicated elsewhere in the solar system.

"Were there any others among these lives which particularly shaped him?" Hotaru asked. Having difficulties in her own past, she felt that this would help her understand her new sempai.

"Many," acknowledged Fess, bringing up another scene. As Minako had just walked in, with Artemis peeking out of a fold in her purse, Fess decided to try a particular one.

Devastation, in which the figure from the "Amnesia" world walked through a landscape that had been largely obliterated. The figure stopped and began digging a grave at one point.

"This particular world saw the Sailor Senshi fight heroes who were not of the Silver Millenium, and thereby branded as untrustworthy and obstacles by those who wanted to create Crystal Tokyo. The governments of Earth, rival superheroes and devil hunters, even goddesses themselves and those who allied with such - all rose up as Usagi Tsukino began her plans to create her Utopian Kingdom. The battle was... rather intense."

The "camera" panned up and out, and they could see that the burial was taking place in an enormous impact crater. As the point of view went further away it almost looked like a lunar landscape with all the craters overlapping each other. Finally a visible coastline allowed the watchers to place this fractured landscape as being central Japan.

"The ginzuishou is a nearly indestructible, almost omnipotent, power focus. It does have some limitations and drawbacks. The remainder of the Senshi attempted to hold off the forces arrayed against them while Sailor Moon used the ginzuishou to bring about the Great Freeze and eliminate all suffering and poverty by cleansing the hearts of mankind." Fess continued in his dry voice. "There were many who had reservations about such a process and outcome."

Minako seemed to be listening to a nearby whispering voice. "But if Usagi's crystal is so powerful, they wouldn't be able to do anything about it, right?"

"Almost omnipotent is like being almost hit by a truck, Miss Aino. To do such a thing, Tsukino-san must build up the power gradually and control it carefully. In *this* world, there was a group known as the Justice League. While they might have agreed that healing the world would be a good thing, giving the world the choice between permanent exile to Nemesis or becoming "purified" and a commoner in someone else's kingdom? No, they disagreed with that end as well as the means. There was a fight."

The camera zoomed in on a chain of islands.

"North America saw some of the worst fighting. While the various superbeings were fighting, a plan to hit the enemy base was concocted and utilized. Every nuclear weapon capable of making the trip was targetted for the Sea Of Serenity." The camera went up to focus on a jagged edged moon. "In this devastated Earth, there is an empty and lifeless Crystal Tokyo, there are also a few pockets of survivors - mainly in Europe and a few islands which have not been struck by meteorites."

Kasumi crossed herself. Setsuna swore.

On the screen, the wanderer lashed two pieces of wreckage together as a grave marker and began wandering again. "This particular episode was important for him as well. Out of this he learned many new skills and collected a few items that he used in several other 'adventures'. Though one of those turned out rather poorly."

"Worse than that?" Cologne had arrived and indicated the desolate blasted landscape.

"Only on a personal level. Greylle is somewhat of a sentimental person, and one of the DNA samples he collected on this journey led him to one of his little idiosynchrocies." Fess responded back. "You'll notice that while he skirts the edges of it with marionette and ship designs, he does not use genetic engineering technologies."

"Yeah, so?" Minako didn't see the point, though she was still going over the idea that some people might object to Crystal Tokyo.

"He collected Kryptonian DNA from a fallen dog named Krypto, among other sources, and used it to craft a superdog. A companion that would follow him through his adventures and that wouldn't get picked off by a stray disintegration beam or something similarly lethal. In a Shadowrun universe he was a Dog shaman, so it seemed a natural fit." Fess flicked up an image of some scrappy little terrier with a red ball in its mouth, wagging his tail so hard the dog seemed ready to fly just on the force of that. "The experiment was a success. A dog more powerful than most conventional armies, with powers and abilities far beyond those of normal dogs. Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a bullet train, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. The single vulnerability being magic. After three years, one mission took him to Jusenkyo..."

"Oh," said Cologne, understanding instantly. "Jusenkyo tends to pull in the unusual to drown in its pools."

"After that, it took him quite some time to be able to accept any sort of companion during a mission," Fess indicated.

Hotaru's lower lip began trembling. "Poor sempai."

--------

In an old American convertible equipped with antigrav, Ami and her mother left the base, each deep in their own thoughts.

Ami Mizuno, 14 year old cram school student, looked on herself in a whole new light. In a previous life, she had been *married* to a *dragon* and ended up a dragon herself apparently.

Her mother worried about a number of things. Including questions about what kind of grandkids would result. Also what kind of "improvements" and "security upgrades" would be added to *her* car.

Hotaru noted their preoccupation and decided to make a side trip and tell Mizuno-san why she would just have to let it go in this life. Greylle-san already had a fiancee, thank you very much. Time to give someone in *this* life a chance.

-------

Greylle himself was trudging down the street and wondering why he couldn't get any respect. Fess was off on his own agenda. The marionettes didn't have time for him. The Sailor Senshi regarded him either as an enemy or a rival, depending on who you asked. Akane was his student in a martial arts style he didn't really know.

The list went on but it all came down to: his life was a mess.

"At last I have found thee! Foul wyrm, prepare to die!"

Reflexes came online and Greylle brought his trusty baseball bat up to block the attack.

It shattered and the bokken almost sliced into him despite twisting away from the point of impact.

Greylle stared. Tatewaki Kuno was *not* that good. The bat had been enchanted as well as made of hyper-dense materials. Which meant...

The roughly chiseled wooden sword gave the reason. Musashi's bokken - haunted and guided by the spirit of Miyamoto Musashi.

Greylle leapt up, swung onto an awning, and prepared to leap to a rooftop to give him some room. The awning ripped, he fell through, and went through a small table of trading cards. "Crap!"

"Have at thee!" Tatewaki Kuno declared as he charged and swung his bokken at the fallen monster.

------

"This is why you should give up, Mizuno-san," said Hotaru. "I was already Shard-san's iinazuke when I stepped across that boundary. I knew it would cost me, but I decided it was better to do this... He's in danger."

Ami was asking questions, but by the time she'd stammered out the first one, Hotaru had already launched the ancient Thunderbird into the air and was far off.

"Say what you will about their lack of magic, they at least have decent transportation." Kumori Mizuno looked at the vanishing tail-lights in the distance.

Ami stood in the gloom and looked across at the house. There were lights on and the occasional movement. Hard to believe an ancient evil was in there, having warded this place so that if one stepped across the property line you'd become some mindless slave to a dragon!

"Come on, let's see if they'll let us use a phone," said Ami's mother, starting for the house.

"EEEEK! NO!" Ami jumped in front of her mother to stop her. "You mustn't! There's an evil god in there!"

Doctor Mizuno blinked at her daughter. "A what?"

"If you cross the property line, you'll be turned by the magic into that dragon's mindless catgirl pet by the magic of a god of evil!" Ami took a couple of deep breaths to steady herself. "That was close."

"Ami-chan, is this something to do with those doujinshi I found in your room?"

Ami turned beet red briefly. "No! That's not it at all!"

"Hotaru said she had been over there, and I didn't see any signs of tail or ears." Doctor Mizuno considered. "She's a bit young, but her devotion to her fiance might just be a schoolgirl crush. You remember that one you had on Doctor Werube?"

Ami turned beet red again briefly. "Mother, please!"

"Besides, if it was crossing the property line," the doctor said, pointing down.

Ami looked down, she was standing on a line marking the property of the evil god. Hands came up to feel her ears. Normal human ears. She checked for a tail. Nope. Checked her breasts. Were they C instead of A now? No, she couldn't suggest *that* after the doujinshi remark. "Uhm."

Doctor Mizuno had been recently disappointed in her daughter. Shortly after she and her friends been brought back from the dead by a dragon, that dragon had been declared a non-friend at the very least and viewed with nothing but suspicion. (That she could see anyway.) Then they had done rather poorly in their battle against the dirty laundry monster. Now she was making apparently groundless accusations against someone. Though Hotaru *had* corroborated this tale to some extent, from her brief conversations with the young girl, the pediatrician was not inclined to see anything mindless or "pet" oriented about her. And here was her daughter making up stories then patting her own buttocks and examining her own breasts. "Ami. If you are done, I'm going to go use the phone there."

"B-b-but," Ami watched as her mother went up the path, eventually reached the door, knocked, went inside, and came back out after about five minutes. "B-b-but I... that is."

Doctor Mizuno frowned ever so slightly at her daughter. "Somehow I pictured a god of evil to be somewhat less polite. Not to mention less enamored of some gaijin TV program called 'The Simpsons' or to offer me a glass of wine while I made a phone call. Ami. We will talk."

Ami fidgeted. "...but he..."

"Actually she's quite correct in some respects, completely wrong in others, but then she *is* simply a four-dimensional being," came a velvety smooth voice.

"WAAAGGHHHHH!" Ami did a credible Usagi impression, leaping straight up in the air with her hair toinged out, whipping out her henshin pen in mid leap. Unfortunately said pen left her hand and landed somewhere in the shrubbery.

Doctor Mizuno let out a deep breath and hid her eyes. "Ami. Maybe you need a vacation. Without those friends of yours along."

"That's him! That's the god of evil!" Ami pointed at the fellow in the burgandy smoking jacket and trousers. "Get behind me mother!"

Doctor Mizuno raised an eyebrow at the fellow.

"She's been listening to her friends, and they've been exaggerating," explained the god of evil. "Don't return again."

Doctor Mizuno nodded. "Sorry about this then."

The "man" in the smoking jacket returned to his home as Ami stammered.

Doctor Mizuno began planning a vacation for Ami. Something for just the two of them... Perhaps Shard-san had an idea! Certainly he'd be able to come up with *something* exotic or at least save them on transportation costs.

Seeing her pen in the shrubbery, Ami hesitated for a moment. Lights blinking as they approached indicated another ride heading their way would be of the flying sort.

"See mother," Ami said, firming her shoulders and marching across the lawn into the shrubs to pick up her pen. NOW her mother would believe her! She could feel the magic altering her, changing her, turning her into a submissive pet slave.

"See what, Ami?" Doctor Mizuno requested gently of her daughter.

Ami blinked. She wasn't some slavepet? She wasn't mindless? "Uhm..."

"Daughter. I'll start scheduling that vacation."

-------

Ranma was confused. Not abnormal by any stretch of the imagination.

He was a reincarnated princess? Damn, he really really hoped Ryouga never found out. He'd never be able to live it down.

On the other hand, didn't that mean that he had some power up coming to him?

Except that it would probably only be for his girl side. That wasn't good.

Yet wasn't it a tenent of Anything Goes that any advantage should be used?

On the other hand...

Hey, what the heck was going on over there?!

--------

Tatewaki Kuno brought the Musashi Bokken across the dragon again and again. His blows with the wooden sword could shatter stone and were perfect and without peer. The beast sorcerer had been wounded by his matchless prowess.

However, the stubborn beast refused to stand still and perish before his might. It bled profusely, his wooden blade had slashed deep into the human guise of this nefarious being, but it still dared to mock him with its continued survival!

"Okay, Kuno, you want a fight. Here goes!"

Kuno blinked. Nabiki Tendo? *Flying?!*

Nabiki summoned power and made the appropriate gestures. "FLARE ARROW!"

Kuno stared. The bokken, however, neatly deflected the spell.

Nabiki frowned for a second, then grinned. To heck with blackmail and photographs. THIS was power!
"Spark flare bright,
Crimson flame alight,
FIRE BALL!"

*BOOM!*

"Yes!" Nabiki said, exultantly. Until the smoke cleared and Tatewaki Kuno was still standing visible. "Oh."

"Foul witch, you show your true colors! No longer will you stand between the Blue Thunder and his bride."

"SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE!"

"dead... scream!"

Tatewaki Kuno ducked one and blocked the other, though his feet dug furrows into the pavement from the impact. "None can stand against me! With this, I am invincible!"

Sailor Saturn took one look at her fiance's injuries, then the face she turned to Tatewaki Kuno was not of a tearful little girl but of Death.

"Oh man, this guy doesn't look so-" *WHAM!* Realizing he had just been thrown *through* a parked van, Ranma decided maybe this was another youma like that moose-guy.

The Silence Glaive came up. "Death Reborn..." A hand stopped the Glaive from dropping.

"No, Hotaru-chan," said Greylle, trying to hold the gut wound closed with one hand long enough for the ginzuishou or natural healing talent to kick in. "Killing yourself taking the bad guy out isn't always a viable solution. i should know."

"So, foul beast. You seduce others to your cause. Know that I shall end thy crimes here!" Kuno lifted the bokken into an eight-strike stance. There were eight seperate attacks he could make from that start.

"Not a chance, Kuno," said an arriving Akane. Then her eyes widened as she took in the scene. Greylle looked cut up pretty badly and had lost a lot of blood (in fact some little corner of her mind put the splash trails as being around three gallons worth - more than should be in a human body), buildings and trees looked sliced open or smashed, the pavement was cratered and even burning in a couple of places, and there was the sound of sirens in the distance. The explosions that had guided her here had been from a fight with *Kuno*?! She charged forward, experience with fighting Kuno should make this quick and easy.

"Illusions now, sorcerer? Be done with them!" Kuno had been able to dominate the sword through his singleminded focus on revenge. Akane's appearance had thrown that off. His bokken swept towards the ground and a line of force smashed Akane with about the same results as Ranma had experienced earlier. Except that she missed the car and went through a store window.

Greylle tried to come up with a solution. Changing into a dragon with these sorts of injuries would likely put him in shock. Not that he wasn't heading there anyway.

Hotaru felt a warm glow within her as she held her unsteady fiance up. She knew from that earlier fight that he trusted her, he liked her, he cared about her. Now if she could just get him to switch from seeing her as a little sister!

*Click KLAK!* "Vat ve haff here is a failure to communicate." *Vrrrrrrrt!*

Tatewaki Kuno began blocking the machine gun fire provided by an ARNIE unit, using the bokken to parry the bullets.

"EXPLOSION ARRAY!"

"Kitty Flash! Pluto Evisceration Slash!"

Saturn, being a miko of Amaterasu, threw ofuda. "Akuryo Taisan!"

ARNIE tried something else. "Rocket Punch!"

"Turn Undead!" Greylle tried.

Musashi's bokken blocked the punch, faltered under the ofuda assault, couldn't parry the area effect of the Array, and was Turned just before Bishoujoneko Pluto's claws sliced through wood and hakama.

"Foul... beast..." Kuno began.

Finally, belatedly, the ginzuishou flared.

---------

Whatever the doctor and her daughter had expected to find when dropping the aforementioned doctor off at her hospital, it had not been this.

Even R2's beeps sounded confused.

"Maybe a youma?" Ami suggested.

"If that's the case, do you want to transform and get the rest of your team?" The pediatrician asked, her usual cool and elegant having taken a severe beating today.

Male doctors and staff were tied up in the hallway, looking as if their energy had been drained. This was familiar enough for Ami to momentarily smile.

On the other hand, female staff and patients were not looking either drained or normal.

Quite a few were in various states of undress, a few were fully clothed but looked oddly out of it. The Nurse's station was occupied by a few who were giggling about something in room E-107.

After trying to get their attention for several moments, the doctor just grabbed the chart for E-107.

Ami peeked over her mother's shoulder. "Patient Higari Katsumatsu. Age: 15. Symptoms: massive crush injury to his... oh my."

Doctor Mizuno read the rest of the SOAP (Symptoms, Observations, Analysis, Plan) sheet. "ER room 107. Subject unconscious through transport from scene. According to witnesses he flashed some young girl who responded by kicking him in the nuts. Apparently she's a martial artist. Hmmm. Regained consciousness while ice was being applied to injury site prior to seeing if detachment had occurred. It stops in mid-sentence here. Ami, why don't you go freshen up in that bathroom over there while I investigate? And maybe you should call your friends and let them know you're here."

Ami shot a grateful look towards her mom. She'd have a chance to prove the Sailor Team was *not* all washed up!

=========

the Hentai Sorcerer's Club concept came to me awhile back. You have libido-charged hyper hentai (always shonen) in series like Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, Magic User's Club, etc. If they had access to a real book of spells, what do you see them doing? In the clubs here and in Hotaru 1/2, they're fairly pathetic and small time (it's funnier that way) with using powerful spells to: cheat on tests, conjure panties out of girls lockers, try to get themselves a loveslave girlfriend (and then lacking the nerve to actually do anything), or Conquer The World (without actually having much of a clue as to how to do it, or what to do when you've got it, it's just the genre thing to do.)

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