Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Bless'ed Are We ❯ Chapter 01 ( Chapter 1 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: SoftRogue 
Ranma has so far lived his life constantly fighting one battle after another, but does he truly remember everything?
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Slayers Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 11.27.2003 | Pages: 6 | Words: 7.8K | Visits: 1.1K | Status: Completed
Ranma has so far lived his life constantly fighting one battle after another, but does he truly remember everything?
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Slayers Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 11.27.2003 | Pages: 6 | Words: 7.8K | Visits: 1.1K | Status: Completed
Bless'ed Are We
a Sailor Moon/Slayers/Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
by SoftRogue
whiteb100@hotmail.com
Disclaimer:
I don't own any of the characters mentioned
here. I don't mean any disrespect to their
creators. In fact I hold them in the highest
of regards. They are the Gods above us all.
They can do no wrong whatsoever!
(There, I think I kissed up enough.)
**********
Chapter 01
**********
**********
Somewhere...
**********
To understand the room, you must first understand its owner. While it would be impossible to truly understand the owner, there are several simple facts that are obvious to anyone who knows her (not that there are many who do, mind you.). The first is that she is very much a creature of comfort, preferring to forgo the trappings that others who might hold similar positions of power would think of as a matter of course in favor of her own physical pleasure. The second is that she DOES hold a position of power, and she knows well never to let any 'visitors' forget that fact.
So the fact that she was lounging on a simple (but very comfortable) divan that was draped in animal furs and was wearing loose fitting jeans and a shirt with the tail tied up exposing her midriff didn't surprise her visitor. Neither did the fact that the room didn't appear to have walls or a floor or a ceiling for that matter. Or that there was no source of light in the room whatsoever yet she could be seen clearly. Of course, the fact that he had been here countless times before might also have something to with the reason it didn't bother him.
Looking at her visitor, she rose up on one elbow and arched an eyebrow at him. "Well?" She asked with a husky voice.
Shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly, he replied. "It's as we anticipated. They've begun their plans."
She leaned back with a slight nod. "I see. It's sooner than we foresaw, though."
"That IS to be expected. After all, they aren't exactly known for their patience. Or their intelligence for that matter." Her visitor said flippantly.
"Of course not. If they were, they would be working for me." She stated simply. "I still would like to know what they're thinking they're going to accomplish by moving so soon." She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts and her visitor prepared to speak. Seeing him open his mouth she stopped his words with a hard look and said, "Don't you dare. I know exactly what you're going to say and I don't want to hear it."
She reached down and lifted a goblet filled with a dark red sticky viscous liquid and took a sip (her 'peers' and others who knew exactly who and what she was would automatically assume what the drink was; and they would be wrong. Her visitor, however, knew for a fact that it was cherry Kool-Aid made with three times the sugar and powered mix and half the water the instructions recommend. After all, she enjoyed her pleasures and had a voracious sweet tooth and never had to worry about tooth decay).
"And what of my remaining 'siblings'?" she asked, letting contempt creep into her voice.
"Your 'brother' up north is as inaccessible as ever and as for your ‘sister’, well...who really know what she's thinking anymore."
"I see." She sighed huskily. "And is our...response going to be affected by this change of plans?"
"Not really." her visitor shrugged, "She expected something like this to happen eventually, although not this soon. Of course, telling her will be half the fun." He grinned, obviously enjoying the thought.
"Very well. See that everything is taken care of. But remember," she paused to emphasize her next point, "our very existence will be affected by what happens next."
"Of course." her visitor replied and bowed deeply before fading from sight.
Alone in the room, she frowned slightly looked deeply into her goblet. "What will the future hold for us?" she asked herself rhetorically.
Unfortunately for her, her visitor hadn't left completely and chose to answer her question.
"Now that's a secret."
**********
Nerima
**********
Ranma sighed as he looked out the window of his classroom with longing. School was just so boring! He didn't even know why he was here. Who really cared who did what over a hundred years ago to who or why when this number put next to this symbol and that number meant yet another number? It wasn't that he didn't understand that some people wanted to know stuff like that or even needed to know it; but he wasn't 'some people'. He had been raised to be a martial artiest; he was fighter whose skills were unparalleled. So why did he have to bother with this stuff?
Finally, the lunch-bell rang and Ranma effortlessly hopped out the window and made his way over to the tree he usually ate his lunch at and devoured his food in seconds. With a sigh, he leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes in thought (although everyone else simply assumed he was sleeping). He had another Dream again last night and he couldn't shake the feeling that something in it had changed; but he had no idea what. Dr. Tofu should be back the day after tomorrow and Ranma hoped that he had some answers for him. Ranma needed some answers and soon, or he felt he would loose his mind.
Of course, Ranma did feel guilty about a few things about his talk with Tofu. One of the things he didn't tell the doctor was he that the first time he had the Dream was right after Junsenkyo. He didn't mention since he knew that that Dr. Tofu would automatically assume it had something to do with his curse. Ranma Knew that his curse had nothing to do with the Dream. He didn't know how he knew but he was certain of it.
Ever since that first night after leaving the cursed training grounds, Ranma had the Dream at least once a month or so. Something else he didn't tell Tofu was that every time he woke up from the Dream he would wake up in a sweat and...er, aroused as he would blindly grope around for Her; as if he expected Her to be there in his bed with him. Ranma didn't think that Dr. Tofu needed to know about that either.
'Does this Dream...does She have something to do with Saffron?' Ranma asked himself, not for the first time.
Ever since the events at Mt. Phoenix, the Dream had increased in frequency. Now he was having it almost every night. Due to years on the road, Ranma had learned how to get by without much sleep. But now he was forced to use every trick he knew of to keep himself going. With another sigh, Ranma turned his thoughts to another of the seemingly endless problems he had.
'They're all getting desperate.' he thought to himself with a deep sigh.
Ranma had hoped that after the failed wedding that everyone would back off; but in the year since then things had gone from bad to worse. Akane would switch back and forth from being nice to him then yelling at him and calling him a pervert faster than before. Ranma couldn't understand it; it's like...like she actually thought he enjoyed her yelling at him and being malleted by her. While it was true that Ranma enjoyed a good fight more than other people did, Akane would accuse him of the most ridiculous things! Ranma once thought that they might actually one day be happily married, especially after that time that Nabiki was his fiancée; the two of them had had a great time after the maze incident. But...that was the last time that he could remember that she had smiled at him like she did that first night in the dojo when she ask her if she wanted to be friends.
Sighing again, Ranma turned his thought to Ukyo. To say that he had been shocked when he found out that his old buddy Ucchan was a girl was a major understatement. And when he found out that she was another fiancée...Ranma didn't know what to think. He had really hoped that the two of them could go back to the way they had used to be, just two good friends. At first, he thought that was how things were; he could talk to her about things that he couldn't say to anyone else. It took him a while, though, to realize that she was giving him a sympathetic ear only so she could get closer to him and use what she heard to 'win' him from the others.
With a bitter sigh, his thoughts then turned to Shampoo. The Amazon was a complete mystery to him. He still had a hard time believing that she actually thought that she could win his heart through underhanded tricks, magic, and by threatening to kill anyone who was an 'obstacle' to their 'marriage'. But she had done those things and more in an effort to trick him into declaring his love for her. Why couldn't she see that every time she did those things he lost a little more trust in her? He was honestly worried what she would eventually do to those around him in order to get her 'Airen'.
'They...they think I some sort of prize to be won. An object without any thoughts or feelings.' he thought to himself with resignation, not for the first time. 'Why can't they be more like Her?' While Ranma could remember little about Her from his Dream, he was positive that She respected him as a person.
"Ranma?" he heard Akane said hesitantly from in front of him.
"Oh, waz up, Akane?" He asked, opening his eyes and pulling himself away from thoughts about his Dream.
"I was wondering..." she trailed off as Ranma looked at her closely then felt his blood run cold.
Akane stood before him holding something that caused the pigtailed martial artist to break out in a cold sweat. "I made lunch for you this morning. You took off before I could give it to you." she said as she thrust the bento at him, trying to force him to take hold of it.
'Oh, Goddess! I really don't to die!!' Ranma thought with a silent prayer.
To his surprise, his prayer was answered.
"Hi, Ran-chan! I made a special okonomiyaki just for you!" He heard Ukyo say cheerfully as she appeared before him.
"No, Ranma wants to eat the lunch that I made for him. Right Ranma?" Akane asked sweetly through clenched teeth.
"Why would he want to eat that toxic sludge when he can have real food?" Ukyo countered, holding out the okonomiyaki towards Ranma.
"My food isn't toxic sludge!" Akane said as she rounded on Ukyo before opening the bento and turning back to Ranma. "Prove her wrong, Ranma! Eat the lunch I made for you. Now!"
Ranma felt his stomach rise as he caught a whiff of Akanes cooking. Ukyo was about to unsling her battle spatula and fling the so-called food away when Ranma heard a second answer to his silent prayer.
^Ding. Ding.^
"Airen! Shampoo make too too good ramen for you! You eat now, yes?"
"You stay away from my Ran-chan, you hussy!"
"Aiya! Violent Kitchen Destroyer make new form of life, yes?"
"HEY! I know that I got it right this time! Now if Ranma would just taste it and tell me how good it is..."
"I don't think so, Akane. You're not getting anywhere near Ran-chan with that sludge!"
"Stupid Spatula Girl is right."
"Thanks. Hey! I have a name you know!"
Shaking his head, Ranma stood and slowly walked away from the three girls who were a complete mystery to him. As he moved away, he could sense their battle auras come to life and, for the life of him, he couldn't find a reason to turn around and stop the coming battle. He knew that if he was lucky he would just be beaten into a pulp by the three girls for taking sides (it didn't matter who's side he took, even if he did take one, they would all assume he took someone else's side). Of course, if he were unlucky, he would end up with a mouthful of Akane's cooking.
Only one person noticed Ranma as he walked away from the developing fight. The three fiancées of Ranma going at it was so commonplace that everyone in the school simply ignored it and assumed that Ranma would stop it by being flattened by the girls. Nabiki watched with narrowed eyes as Ranma almost aimlessly drifted across the schoolyard before he leapt on top of the school.
The middle Tendo sister had noticed that Ranma had seemed almost distracted and listless at times in the past several months, but up until now she hadn't put too much thought into it. She had been making a LOT of money off of Ranma lately and had started to plan what she would do once she left for collage in a year. The attacks by Ranma's fiancées and rivals were at an all time high; and so was the damage to the house. So far she still had a positive cash flow; but if Ranma was about to do something drastic...
'Yea, right. Like Ranma would just up and leave!' Nabiki snorted to herself. 'He doesn't know the first thing about living in the real world.'
Still...he had been seeing Dr. Tofu a lot of late. He had even visited him just before the doctor left for his vacation. Nabiki hadn't been able to bug Tofu's office as of yet and it was starting to get to her. The good doctor had a knack of finding the listening devices she placed around the clinic. She would have given an arm to find out what those two talked about. Whatever it was, she knew that it had something to do with how Ranma has been acting.
Ranma settled down on the roof of the school and relaxed. He knew that he would catch hell from his parents and Mr. Tendo for leaving Akane alone to face Shampoo and Ukyo. And from Akane. And Ryouga, Kuno, Nabiki, and who knew who else. And frankly, Ranma didn't care.
'If they want to fight over me, then let them fight.' Ranma thought with another sigh. 'After all, Akane keeps insisting that she's a martial artist. It's time she proves it.'
Ranma relaxed and closed his eyes. He tried to remember the Dream, to see what it was about it that changed last night, if it had even changed at all. 'It's probably just my imagination.' he thought to himself as he felt a familiar burst of Ki from the school grounds. Apparently, Hinako-sensei decided to put an end to the fight before it got out of hand.
'Oh, well.' Ranma thought to himself as he slowly drifted off into sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~
He slowly moved down the passageway, his senses reaching out to find anything that didn't belong. It was dark down here, as dark as the grave; but that's how most of them liked it. The Sword in his hand was both an aid and a handicap in this place. Its pale green glow pushed back at the inky dark making it easier to see where he was going, however that same light caused shadows without form to flicker here and there. He didn't know how many times since he's been down here he thought that there was something there that wasn't. Of course, there were plenty of things that had struck from the real shadows.
They liked the shadows. They were home in them in this world. Not that it kept Them from going out into the sunlight, however.
The ground shook as he pressed himself against a wall and hoped the ceiling wouldn't cave-in. That had already happened twice before and he'd been forced to take several side-passages to continue on his course. He was almost there, he knew it; he FELT it. Deep in his soul, he knew the one he was looking for was just around the corner ahead of him.
He paused and took stock of himself before he rounded the corner. He felt the familiar weight of the Sword in his hand as it's light soothed his worries and fears. He glanced at his cloths and for the first time realized that they were shredded. He remembered when one of Them had gotten in a lucky shot and embedded it's claws into his left thigh. It was a bloody mess, but he ignored it. He'd been trained to ignore just about any injury to his body as long as he could still fight. Besides, that claw hadn't been poisonous; unlike the one that scratched his face.
He paused and touched his right cheek tenderly. It had only been because of the skills that had been beaten into him by his idiot of a father that the scratch hadn't been any deeper; if it had, he would have been dead. As it was, it was merely a scrape and he had fortunately been able to remove the poison before it had spread through his body.
He shook himself out of his thoughts as the ground rumbled again. Not for the first time he wished he was back on the surface with Her. Truthfully, there wasn't much he could've done to help Her in Her fight; in fact he would probably would've just gotten in the way. He wasn't worried about Her, however, and knew that She could take care of Herself. Just like he was sure She was wishing that She were down here with him. Not that She was worried about him; She knew that he could take care of himself.
It's just that he felt...whole with Her.
He pushed his thoughts aside. She would win Her fight like he would win his. After all, they had no choice.
With a deep, calming breath, he gripped the hilt of his Sword and rounded the corner. He entered a large cavern like room and saw the one he was searching for sitting on a dais on a throne made of skulls.
"How typical." he muttered under his breath as he walked forward.
The figure stood up and walked down the dais to meet him. He stood at about 6'2" and looked human. If humans had red skin, that is. But he knew better, he knew exactly what the creature before him was.
"So, I see you could finally make it." the creature said, trying to stifle a yawn. "I thought perhaps you had gotten lost. It’s been so bored just waiting for you."
He let himself grin slightly and replied, "Well, ya didn't exactly give me a map ya know. If ya wanted me here sooner, ya shoulda' put out the red carpet. But don't worry, there's one now."
The creatures' eyes flashed in anger briefly as another tremor shook the room. It then smiled and said "Too bad. It seems that that mongrel slut of yours won't be here to see you die."
He ground his teeth together and gripped the hilt of his Sword tightly for a moment before he relaxed. "That ain't gonna' ta work, ya know. I know your kinds tricks and I ain't gonna' fall for them." He pointed his Sword at the creature and said, "With this Bless Blade I'll defeat ya in the name of my Goddess." He then brought the Sword back and, keeping it parallel to the ground, he raised the Sword to head level and shifted his right foot back. "Let's dance."
The creature looked at him in anger before it...shifted. Once in its true form, it brought a clawed hand back, ready to strike. The two stood still as once again the room shook as another tremor rocked the surface above.
Then, as one, they moved. Clawed hand extended forward to meet glowing Sword.
**********
Juuban
**********
In another part of Tokyo, something was happening that left the residents of that ward as indifferent as the residents of Nerima were to a martial arts fight. A creature had appeared and began destroying buildings and attack poor, innocent people. No big deal, really. After all, the Sailor Senshi had just arrived. They would defeat the creature like they always did and life would continue on as normal.
However, like the residents of Nerima, those who lived in Juuban were about to find out that the rules had just changed.
Sailor's Mercury, Venus, Moon, and Jupiter were the first to arrive, having heard the commotion as they were walking home from school. After they transformed, the four of them moved into position on a nearby rooftop to assess the situation.
"Man, that thing must have cut in line several times when they passed out 'ugly'!" Jupiter stated as she looked at it.
All of the Senshi agreed. It stood at about eight and a half feet tall and had giant bat-like wings. On top of its head were two horns that curled back like a rams. It had long fang-like teeth and large clawed hands and was a sickly green in color. Overall, it looked rather fearsome and nothing like what they had normally fought in the past. Most of the time, the things they fought against were either female in form or were some sort of possessed object, person, or animal. Whatever the creature was, it appeared to be natural, if such a thing could be called 'natural'.
Mercury retracted her visor with a thought and snapped her computer shut. "Well, what ever it is, it isn't very powerful. I put it on the same level as one of Jedite's Youma."
The rest of the Senshi looked at Mercury before Moon said, "You’re kidding, right?"
Mercury shook her head and looked at the others. "No. So...who gets to do the honors?"
"Oh, me! Me!" Venus said as she raised her hand. She had seen several cute boys that had fled the creature as she had leapt to the rooftop and she hoped that they would stick around to see the Senshi cream the latest monster and she figured that it was her duty as Sailor V to give them a good show. Seeing that no one else volunteered, Venus hopped onto the ledge of the building and began her speech.
"Ugly creatures like you shouldn't be allowed to roam around terrorizing the public! In the name of the Moon, I; Sailor Venus; will punish you!
"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM!!"
The creature looked up at the Senshi of Love just before the Crescent Beam struck and the ground exploded. On the roof, the Senshi looked at each other and shrugged before they jumped to the ground. As they approached the crater where the creature stood a moment ago, Mercury re-activated her visor and scanned for a moment before retracting it again.
"Well, whatever it was, it's gone now." the blue haired Senshi said with conviction.
"Damn! And it's been a long time since I've had a chance to pound something!" Jupiter said as she slammed a fist into her palm.
"Jupiter...sometimes you worry me." Mercury muttered as she shook her head.
Venus looked around, hopping to catch sight of those cute boys she had seen before. Not seeing them she said, "Ok...so, what now?"
"Ice cream!" Moon said excitedly, glad that this was apparently just a random monster and not the signal that something bad was about to start. Saving the world from Evil was a full time job and it cut into her ‘snuggle’ time with her Mamo-chan.
The other Senshi sighed and shrugged. "Might as well." Mercury reluctantly agreed.
They turned to leave, secure in the knowledge that they had once again saved Tokyo from Evil in the name of Love and Justice. That's when things went horribly wrong. Just before they leapt to the rooftops, a ball of blood-red energy slammed into the back of Venus and sent her flying into a wall. The other three Senshi whipped around to see the creature they had just defeated standing there with an arm extended.
"Ohhhh, the famous Sailor Senshi! I'm so scared! Ha! And here we thought that you would be an actual threat to us! Please!"
Mercury summoned her visor and had pulled out the Mercury Computer; trying to figure out what had happened as she activated the emergency frequency. Moon rushed over to Venus to make sure that she was all right as Jupiter strode forward angrily.
"I'll show you something that'll threaten you! JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"
Mercury let out a gasp of shock as she saw the creature disappear completely from all of her scans the moment before the Oak Evolution would have struck it. "Well, that wasn't hard..." Jupiter said hesitantly as she turned to Mercury.
"No!" Mercury exclaimed as she franticly typed on her Computer. "You didn't kill it! It just disappeared!"
"Where did it go?" Jupiter said as she dropped into a defensive stance.
"I don't know!" Mercury said, not understanding why she couldn't see where, or even how, it had disappeared. She was still trying to figure out what had happened when her world was suddenly filled with pain.
Jupiter was looking at Mercury when she saw the air 'twist' behind the Ice Senshi. She started to call out a warning but was too late as could only watch as Mercury was struck from behind and thrown across the street.
"You Bastard!" Jupiter yelled as she launched herself at the creature, figuring to fight it hand to hand and thus not give it time to disappear.
Jupiter was fast. Jupiter was tough. Jupiter was strong. Jupiter was not prepared for the creatures' arm to stretch nearly three times its length and she was swatted into a nearby car, smashing its front end in.
"STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY KISS!!"
Sailor Moon had helped Venus back to her feet only to see both Mercury and Jupiter knocked around as if it were nothing. Not wanting to take any chances, she called on one the strongest attacks she had. The creature looked over to see the pure healing energy heading for him; she didn’t want to see anymore of her friends hurt anymore.
The creature looked over to see the pure healing energy heading for him.
"EEEP!" it eeped as it vanished well before the attack could hit it.
"That's it!" Mercury yelled as she unsteadily got back onto her feet. "Moon! You're the only one that can stop it!" It was a guess on Mercury's part, but a good one she felt; after all, it had fled well before the attack had come near it; unlike either Jupiter’s or Venus’s attacks.
"Yea, like I'm stupid enough to just stand around and wait for her to hit me." a voice said from behind Moon.
Acting on instinct, Venus shoulder-rammed Moon; both narrowly missing a swipe by the creature's claws. Looking up from the ground, they both saw the creature standing above them with its arm poised to strike.
"WORLD SHAKING!!"
"DEEP SUBMERGE!!"
Sailor's Neptune and Uranus announced their arrival with their usual flair as they both launched into action to save their princess.
"Are you alright?" both Moon and Venus heard the quite voice of Sailor Saturn from behind them.
Moon and Venus both nodded in relief as Mercury and Jupiter (who had to literally pull herself out of the hood of the car she landed on) joined them and helped the two blondes to their feet.
Uranus was about ask what the hell was going on when the creature suddenly appeared between her and Neptune and back-handed both of them in the face, sending them flying. The creature then looked directly at Moon and launched itself at her before any of the other Senshi could react.
Well...all except one of them.
"Silence Wall." Saturn said as she placed herself before Moon.
The smirk on the creature's face was evident as it approached Saturn just before it once again disappeared. A split second later, Saturn felt something slam hard into her barrier. The creature reappeared the instant it hit the Silence Wall and hung there a moment before it slid to the ground.
"What the???" the creature said in confusion before it was suddenly forced to dodge the swipes that Saturn took at it with the Silence Glaive. It was finally able to back away from Saturn and it once again disappear.
For the next several minutes, the Senshi were forced to fight a defensive battle. The creature kept disappearing and reappearing at random, doing massive amounts of property damage as it knocked the Senshi around like rag dolls and effortlessly avoiding their attacks. All except Saturn that is, who he avoided like the plague. During these attacks, it would keep trying to get at Moon, who was being protected by her ever-vigilant Saturn.
The Senshi were in trouble, and they knew it. The creature was too quick for them, and Mercury was at a loss as to how it kept disappearing and reappearing at will. They were getting tired and they were hurting. They knew that unless something changed, and soon, they would lose.
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!!"
The creature disappeared again as a flaming arrow sailed through the space it had just vacated. Sailor Mars leapt down from a nearby roof as she finally arrived.
"What's going on?" she asked, as she approached the other Senshi.
"Where the hell have you've been!" Jupiter snapped out, definitely not having a good day.
"I'll tell you later." Mars said, not wanting to explain how she, of all people, had gotten detention.
Before anyone could take exception to her dodging the question, they all saw Mars suddenly stiffen and spin around to face Moon. "LOOK OUT! FIRE SOUL!"
Moon trusted her friends completely; so when Mars launched a gout of flame at her, she knew there had to be a good reason and she dodged (well, she fell on her butt, but it amounted to the same thing). Moon felt the intense heat streak above her and heard as it impacted something behind her. Turing around she saw the creature take the Fire Soul in the chest and was send into a wall. It got back to its feet and once again disappeared
"How did you...?" Mercury started to ask before she was silenced with a wave from the Senshi of Fire.
"Shush..." Mars commanded as she slowly spun around in a circle with slightly glazed eyes. "Can't you FEEL it? It's...it's like an open cesspool! There! FIRE SOUL!"
The rest of the Senshi fired off their quickest attacks at where Mars had indicated. They looked back at her and saw her looking around intently. "OVER THERE!"
Once again they opened fire to no effect. Before Mars could say anything else, she threw herself to one side to dodge a strike she felt coming from behind. After that, the creature changed its tactics. Making sure to keep its prey between itself and Mars, it continued in its struggle to attack Moon by taking out the rest of the Senshi.
Mars was starting to get annoyed at being forced to curb her attacks for fear of hitting one of her friends. She suddenly paused and slapped her forehead as she realized WHY she seemed to know where the creature was going to attack. It wasn't a Youma/Cardian/Phage/whatever. It was an Akuma. A ‘true’ demon; not some creature created by someone or something to help their plans. And as a Shinto Priestess, an Akuma was something she had been trained on how to defeat since she had begun learning her faith.
Her realization almost came too late. The Akuma had just grabbed Jupiter by her hair and slammed her repeatedly into the ground. Stepping over her, it raised its clawed hand and was about to strike at the dazed Senshi of Lightning.
Mars quickly slipped a ward out of her elbow length glove and held it before her. "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryou taisan." she muttered, charging the ward.
With a practiced flip of her wrist, she sent it flying through the air with deadly accuracy. The ward landed square between the Akuma's eyes and fluttered there for a moment before it seemed to paste itself over its face. Jupiter looked up with relief as she saw its eyes go wide as it suddenly stopped moving.
"HIT IT NOW!" Rei yelled out. "MARS FLAME SNIPER!"
"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"
"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!"
"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"
"SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE!"
"SPACE SWORD BLASTER!"
"SUBMARINE REFLECTION!"
"STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY KISS!"
Several blocks away, someone stood on the edge of a tall building watching the fight. She saw the energies of all eight attacks slam into the creature and the area explode in a cloud of dust. The watcher had been observing the entire battle with a mix curiosity, humor, surprise, and then finally disappointment. With a sigh, the watcher stretched her arms up to relieve the tension in its shoulders.
Which was a neat trick; considering the fact that the watcher didn't Have shoulders.
"How...disappointing." The watcher said with a surprising feminine voice.
Her voice wasn't the only feminine thing about her. She had a shapely body and was well endowed. Although the fact that she was purple in color with green hair and no apparent mouth would distract quite a few people from her assists.
Oh, yea. Her arms. How they seemed to float by where they should've been connected to her body also would have distracted most people from admiring her body.
Her name was Auswei, and she was a Greater Mazoku. She had come with poor, little lamented Dargo to asses any threats her kind would have here in this place that would effect their plans. She had been selected for this task because she was intelligent and very good at strategy; something that Auswei knew many of her fellow Mazoku weren't good at. Dargo had come because he was...expendable.
"They're not much of a threat." She said to herself as she assessed what she had just seen. "That stupid blonde in blue could be a problem; but only if we were dumb enough to stand in one place. The one in red, however, THAT was a little bit of a surprise. I didn't think anyone these days practiced the old forms of Shamanistic Magic. Still...she obviously isn't well trained. Now...how in the name of Shabranigdu did that small one stop Dargo from killing the blonde?"
"You will never know, gutter trash!" A voice spat from behind Auswei.
The Mazoku spun around to see a Senshi who hadn’t been present at the battle. She was dressed in black and dark red and held her hands together before her and her eyes were closed. Auswei raised her eyebrows in surprise, and then smirked (which was another good trick, since she didn't have a mouth).
"So...you think that You can stop me all by your lonesome? It took all of your little friends to beat Dargo and I am by far much stronger than he was." Auswei said with mirth as she strode forward.
The Senshi in front of her suddenly opened her eyes and her crimson orbs glowed with power. Auswei was surprised when she suddenly found she couldn't move. She looked puzzled for a moment before she decided to retreat back into the Astral Plane. After all, if it had worked for a pitiful Brass Demon like Dargo it should work for her.
The Mazoku was shocked when she discovered she couldn't move to the Astral Plane. She narrowed her eyes as she 'studied' the magic that held her, then gasped loudly.
"Holy Magic!?" She exclaimed. "How did you learn Holy Magic?"
"I had a good teacher." The Senshi said in a cold voice as she began to slowly walk forward.
Auswei panicked for a moment before she smiled a small, private smile (again, a really good trick). It had been a very long time since she had encountered Holy Magic, but she recognized the spell that had been cast on her. It would only take her a moment or two to dispel it; then she would rip the heart out of this human. After all, some secrets are best left in the past. All she had to do was distract the human for a few seconds.
"Oh...so what are you going to do? Flash me? Oh I know! You're going to repeat a corny speech about love and justice over and over until I die of boredom, right?"
The Senshi stopped before the trapped Mazoku and spoke in a voice devoid of emotion. "No gutter trash, I'm going to do this."
Auswei gasped as the Senshi...shifted. Suddenly she knew Who; knew What; stood before her. "You!!" she cried out in panic and anger just before pain blossomed through her chest.
A few moments later Sailor Pluto stood alone on the rooftop, rubbing her arms and shoulders as she looked at the dust that had once been a Greater Mazoku. "I HATE doing that!" she muttered to herself, trying to massage her aching muscles.
Pluto reflected on the events that just occurred as she walked over to the edge of the building to see her fellow Senshi begin to recover from their fight. She really hated to do what she had just done. Not killing the Mazoku; oh no, she would happily kill any of Them she came across; but she hated how she had to kill it. Since Mazoku weren't affected by the passage of Time, she couldn't use the power granted to her as the Senshi of Time to kill the filthy...thing. However, she wasn't yet ready to let the others know certain...things about her, so her options were limited. Yes, she could have killed it in a half a dozen ways that were more effective and less painful to her; but the other Senshi would have noticed what happened and would have rushed to the scene. And she wasn't ready for the questions they would've asked her.
So, she had used her ‘alternate method’ for dealing with 'problems', even tough the pain it caused her would bother her for days. The pain was worth it however; it left one less of Them.
Seeing that the rest of the Senshi were fine, Pluto turned back to the remains of the Mazoku. "Why were you here?" she asked, obviously not expecting answers. "Were the two of you just a random occurrence? Or...is it time? But it's too soon..."
Pluto shook her head as she continued to massage her aching muscles. Knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to find any answers just standing around she, decided that she had enough time to go home and take a relaxing bubble bath before she went to amazed and frustrated her fellow Senshi.
Pluto disappeared from the rooftop, thoughts of warm water and bubbles and someone she wished could join her to rub her sore back her filling her thoughts. Perhaps in the long run it was good that she left when she did. If she hadn't, she would have seen what happened next. If she had stayed, then things would have been much more...frustrating for her and caused her countless headaches.
Not that she wouldn't get frustrated and headaches later, mind you. But at least this way, she would be able to enjoy her bubble bath in peace.
Back on the ground, the Senshi all looked with surprise at the dust cloud that was the result of their combined powers. Mars let out a sigh of relief as she could no longer sense the Akuma. She had felt the thing 'die' when their attacks hit the thing.
"Got it!" the Fire Senshi said with conviction, but was surprised when she saw twin blonde ponytails streak past her.
"What?" she said in confusion.
"Jupiter!" Moon cried out as she dived into the dust cloud.
The rest of the Senshi eyes went wide as they remembered that the creature had been standing above their fellow Senshi. They were about to rush in and follow there future Queen when they heard the sound of coughing and saw two figures coming out of the cloud.
They all sighed in relief as they saw Jupiter walking out supporting Moon as she favored one foot. "What happened?" Uranus asked, concern in her voice at seeing the blonde of the pair leaning against the taller girl.
"He, he, he...I tripped." Moon said with embarrassment, causing the others to sweat-drop.
They then looked closely at Jupiter and several of them gasped. Her hair was singed, her face, arms, and legs were blackened with soot and her fuku was shredded; leaving her practically naked.
"<Cough, cough> Next time, make sure I’m out of the way. Alright?" the brunette said evenly as she favored one arm.
Without even being asked to help, Saturn moved forward and used her healing powers on the two injured Senshi. "Mars?" Mercury asked as they all watched Moon test her now healed ankle, and almost fall over again. "How were you able to stop, let alone find that thing?"
"I'll explain later back at my place." Mars said as she looked around to see the others nod in acknowledge (some more reluctantly that others).
The eight Pretty Sailor Solders of Love and Justice were about to go their separate ways to meet up later at the Hikawa Shrine when they all heard something that made them pause.
^Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.^
**********
Author's Notes:
He, he, he. Ain't I a stinker?
I LOVE doing that! Setting something up and then just
just leaving it hanging.
Well, you'll find out this and more in chapter 2. Whenever
I get around to writing it, that is.
If you want to give me any C&C, flames, praise and/or
comments just drop me a line at whiteb100@hotmail.com
This fic and others can be found at my FF.Net account, which is
www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=266642
Also, you can link to my FF.Net account from Thermopyle's website
http://thermopyle.anifics.com
And (although I still need to get them updated) at
http://tannim.anifics.com
11/27/03
a Sailor Moon/Slayers/Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
by SoftRogue
whiteb100@hotmail.com
Disclaimer:
I don't own any of the characters mentioned
here. I don't mean any disrespect to their
creators. In fact I hold them in the highest
of regards. They are the Gods above us all.
They can do no wrong whatsoever!
(There, I think I kissed up enough.)
**********
Chapter 01
**********
**********
Somewhere...
**********
To understand the room, you must first understand its owner. While it would be impossible to truly understand the owner, there are several simple facts that are obvious to anyone who knows her (not that there are many who do, mind you.). The first is that she is very much a creature of comfort, preferring to forgo the trappings that others who might hold similar positions of power would think of as a matter of course in favor of her own physical pleasure. The second is that she DOES hold a position of power, and she knows well never to let any 'visitors' forget that fact.
So the fact that she was lounging on a simple (but very comfortable) divan that was draped in animal furs and was wearing loose fitting jeans and a shirt with the tail tied up exposing her midriff didn't surprise her visitor. Neither did the fact that the room didn't appear to have walls or a floor or a ceiling for that matter. Or that there was no source of light in the room whatsoever yet she could be seen clearly. Of course, the fact that he had been here countless times before might also have something to with the reason it didn't bother him.
Looking at her visitor, she rose up on one elbow and arched an eyebrow at him. "Well?" She asked with a husky voice.
Shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly, he replied. "It's as we anticipated. They've begun their plans."
She leaned back with a slight nod. "I see. It's sooner than we foresaw, though."
"That IS to be expected. After all, they aren't exactly known for their patience. Or their intelligence for that matter." Her visitor said flippantly.
"Of course not. If they were, they would be working for me." She stated simply. "I still would like to know what they're thinking they're going to accomplish by moving so soon." She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts and her visitor prepared to speak. Seeing him open his mouth she stopped his words with a hard look and said, "Don't you dare. I know exactly what you're going to say and I don't want to hear it."
She reached down and lifted a goblet filled with a dark red sticky viscous liquid and took a sip (her 'peers' and others who knew exactly who and what she was would automatically assume what the drink was; and they would be wrong. Her visitor, however, knew for a fact that it was cherry Kool-Aid made with three times the sugar and powered mix and half the water the instructions recommend. After all, she enjoyed her pleasures and had a voracious sweet tooth and never had to worry about tooth decay).
"And what of my remaining 'siblings'?" she asked, letting contempt creep into her voice.
"Your 'brother' up north is as inaccessible as ever and as for your ‘sister’, well...who really know what she's thinking anymore."
"I see." She sighed huskily. "And is our...response going to be affected by this change of plans?"
"Not really." her visitor shrugged, "She expected something like this to happen eventually, although not this soon. Of course, telling her will be half the fun." He grinned, obviously enjoying the thought.
"Very well. See that everything is taken care of. But remember," she paused to emphasize her next point, "our very existence will be affected by what happens next."
"Of course." her visitor replied and bowed deeply before fading from sight.
Alone in the room, she frowned slightly looked deeply into her goblet. "What will the future hold for us?" she asked herself rhetorically.
Unfortunately for her, her visitor hadn't left completely and chose to answer her question.
"Now that's a secret."
**********
Nerima
**********
Ranma sighed as he looked out the window of his classroom with longing. School was just so boring! He didn't even know why he was here. Who really cared who did what over a hundred years ago to who or why when this number put next to this symbol and that number meant yet another number? It wasn't that he didn't understand that some people wanted to know stuff like that or even needed to know it; but he wasn't 'some people'. He had been raised to be a martial artiest; he was fighter whose skills were unparalleled. So why did he have to bother with this stuff?
Finally, the lunch-bell rang and Ranma effortlessly hopped out the window and made his way over to the tree he usually ate his lunch at and devoured his food in seconds. With a sigh, he leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes in thought (although everyone else simply assumed he was sleeping). He had another Dream again last night and he couldn't shake the feeling that something in it had changed; but he had no idea what. Dr. Tofu should be back the day after tomorrow and Ranma hoped that he had some answers for him. Ranma needed some answers and soon, or he felt he would loose his mind.
Of course, Ranma did feel guilty about a few things about his talk with Tofu. One of the things he didn't tell the doctor was he that the first time he had the Dream was right after Junsenkyo. He didn't mention since he knew that that Dr. Tofu would automatically assume it had something to do with his curse. Ranma Knew that his curse had nothing to do with the Dream. He didn't know how he knew but he was certain of it.
Ever since that first night after leaving the cursed training grounds, Ranma had the Dream at least once a month or so. Something else he didn't tell Tofu was that every time he woke up from the Dream he would wake up in a sweat and...er, aroused as he would blindly grope around for Her; as if he expected Her to be there in his bed with him. Ranma didn't think that Dr. Tofu needed to know about that either.
'Does this Dream...does She have something to do with Saffron?' Ranma asked himself, not for the first time.
Ever since the events at Mt. Phoenix, the Dream had increased in frequency. Now he was having it almost every night. Due to years on the road, Ranma had learned how to get by without much sleep. But now he was forced to use every trick he knew of to keep himself going. With another sigh, Ranma turned his thoughts to another of the seemingly endless problems he had.
'They're all getting desperate.' he thought to himself with a deep sigh.
Ranma had hoped that after the failed wedding that everyone would back off; but in the year since then things had gone from bad to worse. Akane would switch back and forth from being nice to him then yelling at him and calling him a pervert faster than before. Ranma couldn't understand it; it's like...like she actually thought he enjoyed her yelling at him and being malleted by her. While it was true that Ranma enjoyed a good fight more than other people did, Akane would accuse him of the most ridiculous things! Ranma once thought that they might actually one day be happily married, especially after that time that Nabiki was his fiancée; the two of them had had a great time after the maze incident. But...that was the last time that he could remember that she had smiled at him like she did that first night in the dojo when she ask her if she wanted to be friends.
Sighing again, Ranma turned his thought to Ukyo. To say that he had been shocked when he found out that his old buddy Ucchan was a girl was a major understatement. And when he found out that she was another fiancée...Ranma didn't know what to think. He had really hoped that the two of them could go back to the way they had used to be, just two good friends. At first, he thought that was how things were; he could talk to her about things that he couldn't say to anyone else. It took him a while, though, to realize that she was giving him a sympathetic ear only so she could get closer to him and use what she heard to 'win' him from the others.
With a bitter sigh, his thoughts then turned to Shampoo. The Amazon was a complete mystery to him. He still had a hard time believing that she actually thought that she could win his heart through underhanded tricks, magic, and by threatening to kill anyone who was an 'obstacle' to their 'marriage'. But she had done those things and more in an effort to trick him into declaring his love for her. Why couldn't she see that every time she did those things he lost a little more trust in her? He was honestly worried what she would eventually do to those around him in order to get her 'Airen'.
'They...they think I some sort of prize to be won. An object without any thoughts or feelings.' he thought to himself with resignation, not for the first time. 'Why can't they be more like Her?' While Ranma could remember little about Her from his Dream, he was positive that She respected him as a person.
"Ranma?" he heard Akane said hesitantly from in front of him.
"Oh, waz up, Akane?" He asked, opening his eyes and pulling himself away from thoughts about his Dream.
"I was wondering..." she trailed off as Ranma looked at her closely then felt his blood run cold.
Akane stood before him holding something that caused the pigtailed martial artist to break out in a cold sweat. "I made lunch for you this morning. You took off before I could give it to you." she said as she thrust the bento at him, trying to force him to take hold of it.
'Oh, Goddess! I really don't to die!!' Ranma thought with a silent prayer.
To his surprise, his prayer was answered.
"Hi, Ran-chan! I made a special okonomiyaki just for you!" He heard Ukyo say cheerfully as she appeared before him.
"No, Ranma wants to eat the lunch that I made for him. Right Ranma?" Akane asked sweetly through clenched teeth.
"Why would he want to eat that toxic sludge when he can have real food?" Ukyo countered, holding out the okonomiyaki towards Ranma.
"My food isn't toxic sludge!" Akane said as she rounded on Ukyo before opening the bento and turning back to Ranma. "Prove her wrong, Ranma! Eat the lunch I made for you. Now!"
Ranma felt his stomach rise as he caught a whiff of Akanes cooking. Ukyo was about to unsling her battle spatula and fling the so-called food away when Ranma heard a second answer to his silent prayer.
^Ding. Ding.^
"Airen! Shampoo make too too good ramen for you! You eat now, yes?"
"You stay away from my Ran-chan, you hussy!"
"Aiya! Violent Kitchen Destroyer make new form of life, yes?"
"HEY! I know that I got it right this time! Now if Ranma would just taste it and tell me how good it is..."
"I don't think so, Akane. You're not getting anywhere near Ran-chan with that sludge!"
"Stupid Spatula Girl is right."
"Thanks. Hey! I have a name you know!"
Shaking his head, Ranma stood and slowly walked away from the three girls who were a complete mystery to him. As he moved away, he could sense their battle auras come to life and, for the life of him, he couldn't find a reason to turn around and stop the coming battle. He knew that if he was lucky he would just be beaten into a pulp by the three girls for taking sides (it didn't matter who's side he took, even if he did take one, they would all assume he took someone else's side). Of course, if he were unlucky, he would end up with a mouthful of Akane's cooking.
Only one person noticed Ranma as he walked away from the developing fight. The three fiancées of Ranma going at it was so commonplace that everyone in the school simply ignored it and assumed that Ranma would stop it by being flattened by the girls. Nabiki watched with narrowed eyes as Ranma almost aimlessly drifted across the schoolyard before he leapt on top of the school.
The middle Tendo sister had noticed that Ranma had seemed almost distracted and listless at times in the past several months, but up until now she hadn't put too much thought into it. She had been making a LOT of money off of Ranma lately and had started to plan what she would do once she left for collage in a year. The attacks by Ranma's fiancées and rivals were at an all time high; and so was the damage to the house. So far she still had a positive cash flow; but if Ranma was about to do something drastic...
'Yea, right. Like Ranma would just up and leave!' Nabiki snorted to herself. 'He doesn't know the first thing about living in the real world.'
Still...he had been seeing Dr. Tofu a lot of late. He had even visited him just before the doctor left for his vacation. Nabiki hadn't been able to bug Tofu's office as of yet and it was starting to get to her. The good doctor had a knack of finding the listening devices she placed around the clinic. She would have given an arm to find out what those two talked about. Whatever it was, she knew that it had something to do with how Ranma has been acting.
Ranma settled down on the roof of the school and relaxed. He knew that he would catch hell from his parents and Mr. Tendo for leaving Akane alone to face Shampoo and Ukyo. And from Akane. And Ryouga, Kuno, Nabiki, and who knew who else. And frankly, Ranma didn't care.
'If they want to fight over me, then let them fight.' Ranma thought with another sigh. 'After all, Akane keeps insisting that she's a martial artist. It's time she proves it.'
Ranma relaxed and closed his eyes. He tried to remember the Dream, to see what it was about it that changed last night, if it had even changed at all. 'It's probably just my imagination.' he thought to himself as he felt a familiar burst of Ki from the school grounds. Apparently, Hinako-sensei decided to put an end to the fight before it got out of hand.
'Oh, well.' Ranma thought to himself as he slowly drifted off into sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~
He slowly moved down the passageway, his senses reaching out to find anything that didn't belong. It was dark down here, as dark as the grave; but that's how most of them liked it. The Sword in his hand was both an aid and a handicap in this place. Its pale green glow pushed back at the inky dark making it easier to see where he was going, however that same light caused shadows without form to flicker here and there. He didn't know how many times since he's been down here he thought that there was something there that wasn't. Of course, there were plenty of things that had struck from the real shadows.
They liked the shadows. They were home in them in this world. Not that it kept Them from going out into the sunlight, however.
The ground shook as he pressed himself against a wall and hoped the ceiling wouldn't cave-in. That had already happened twice before and he'd been forced to take several side-passages to continue on his course. He was almost there, he knew it; he FELT it. Deep in his soul, he knew the one he was looking for was just around the corner ahead of him.
He paused and took stock of himself before he rounded the corner. He felt the familiar weight of the Sword in his hand as it's light soothed his worries and fears. He glanced at his cloths and for the first time realized that they were shredded. He remembered when one of Them had gotten in a lucky shot and embedded it's claws into his left thigh. It was a bloody mess, but he ignored it. He'd been trained to ignore just about any injury to his body as long as he could still fight. Besides, that claw hadn't been poisonous; unlike the one that scratched his face.
He paused and touched his right cheek tenderly. It had only been because of the skills that had been beaten into him by his idiot of a father that the scratch hadn't been any deeper; if it had, he would have been dead. As it was, it was merely a scrape and he had fortunately been able to remove the poison before it had spread through his body.
He shook himself out of his thoughts as the ground rumbled again. Not for the first time he wished he was back on the surface with Her. Truthfully, there wasn't much he could've done to help Her in Her fight; in fact he would probably would've just gotten in the way. He wasn't worried about Her, however, and knew that She could take care of Herself. Just like he was sure She was wishing that She were down here with him. Not that She was worried about him; She knew that he could take care of himself.
It's just that he felt...whole with Her.
He pushed his thoughts aside. She would win Her fight like he would win his. After all, they had no choice.
With a deep, calming breath, he gripped the hilt of his Sword and rounded the corner. He entered a large cavern like room and saw the one he was searching for sitting on a dais on a throne made of skulls.
"How typical." he muttered under his breath as he walked forward.
The figure stood up and walked down the dais to meet him. He stood at about 6'2" and looked human. If humans had red skin, that is. But he knew better, he knew exactly what the creature before him was.
"So, I see you could finally make it." the creature said, trying to stifle a yawn. "I thought perhaps you had gotten lost. It’s been so bored just waiting for you."
He let himself grin slightly and replied, "Well, ya didn't exactly give me a map ya know. If ya wanted me here sooner, ya shoulda' put out the red carpet. But don't worry, there's one now."
The creatures' eyes flashed in anger briefly as another tremor shook the room. It then smiled and said "Too bad. It seems that that mongrel slut of yours won't be here to see you die."
He ground his teeth together and gripped the hilt of his Sword tightly for a moment before he relaxed. "That ain't gonna' ta work, ya know. I know your kinds tricks and I ain't gonna' fall for them." He pointed his Sword at the creature and said, "With this Bless Blade I'll defeat ya in the name of my Goddess." He then brought the Sword back and, keeping it parallel to the ground, he raised the Sword to head level and shifted his right foot back. "Let's dance."
The creature looked at him in anger before it...shifted. Once in its true form, it brought a clawed hand back, ready to strike. The two stood still as once again the room shook as another tremor rocked the surface above.
Then, as one, they moved. Clawed hand extended forward to meet glowing Sword.
**********
Juuban
**********
In another part of Tokyo, something was happening that left the residents of that ward as indifferent as the residents of Nerima were to a martial arts fight. A creature had appeared and began destroying buildings and attack poor, innocent people. No big deal, really. After all, the Sailor Senshi had just arrived. They would defeat the creature like they always did and life would continue on as normal.
However, like the residents of Nerima, those who lived in Juuban were about to find out that the rules had just changed.
Sailor's Mercury, Venus, Moon, and Jupiter were the first to arrive, having heard the commotion as they were walking home from school. After they transformed, the four of them moved into position on a nearby rooftop to assess the situation.
"Man, that thing must have cut in line several times when they passed out 'ugly'!" Jupiter stated as she looked at it.
All of the Senshi agreed. It stood at about eight and a half feet tall and had giant bat-like wings. On top of its head were two horns that curled back like a rams. It had long fang-like teeth and large clawed hands and was a sickly green in color. Overall, it looked rather fearsome and nothing like what they had normally fought in the past. Most of the time, the things they fought against were either female in form or were some sort of possessed object, person, or animal. Whatever the creature was, it appeared to be natural, if such a thing could be called 'natural'.
Mercury retracted her visor with a thought and snapped her computer shut. "Well, what ever it is, it isn't very powerful. I put it on the same level as one of Jedite's Youma."
The rest of the Senshi looked at Mercury before Moon said, "You’re kidding, right?"
Mercury shook her head and looked at the others. "No. So...who gets to do the honors?"
"Oh, me! Me!" Venus said as she raised her hand. She had seen several cute boys that had fled the creature as she had leapt to the rooftop and she hoped that they would stick around to see the Senshi cream the latest monster and she figured that it was her duty as Sailor V to give them a good show. Seeing that no one else volunteered, Venus hopped onto the ledge of the building and began her speech.
"Ugly creatures like you shouldn't be allowed to roam around terrorizing the public! In the name of the Moon, I; Sailor Venus; will punish you!
"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM!!"
The creature looked up at the Senshi of Love just before the Crescent Beam struck and the ground exploded. On the roof, the Senshi looked at each other and shrugged before they jumped to the ground. As they approached the crater where the creature stood a moment ago, Mercury re-activated her visor and scanned for a moment before retracting it again.
"Well, whatever it was, it's gone now." the blue haired Senshi said with conviction.
"Damn! And it's been a long time since I've had a chance to pound something!" Jupiter said as she slammed a fist into her palm.
"Jupiter...sometimes you worry me." Mercury muttered as she shook her head.
Venus looked around, hopping to catch sight of those cute boys she had seen before. Not seeing them she said, "Ok...so, what now?"
"Ice cream!" Moon said excitedly, glad that this was apparently just a random monster and not the signal that something bad was about to start. Saving the world from Evil was a full time job and it cut into her ‘snuggle’ time with her Mamo-chan.
The other Senshi sighed and shrugged. "Might as well." Mercury reluctantly agreed.
They turned to leave, secure in the knowledge that they had once again saved Tokyo from Evil in the name of Love and Justice. That's when things went horribly wrong. Just before they leapt to the rooftops, a ball of blood-red energy slammed into the back of Venus and sent her flying into a wall. The other three Senshi whipped around to see the creature they had just defeated standing there with an arm extended.
"Ohhhh, the famous Sailor Senshi! I'm so scared! Ha! And here we thought that you would be an actual threat to us! Please!"
Mercury summoned her visor and had pulled out the Mercury Computer; trying to figure out what had happened as she activated the emergency frequency. Moon rushed over to Venus to make sure that she was all right as Jupiter strode forward angrily.
"I'll show you something that'll threaten you! JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"
Mercury let out a gasp of shock as she saw the creature disappear completely from all of her scans the moment before the Oak Evolution would have struck it. "Well, that wasn't hard..." Jupiter said hesitantly as she turned to Mercury.
"No!" Mercury exclaimed as she franticly typed on her Computer. "You didn't kill it! It just disappeared!"
"Where did it go?" Jupiter said as she dropped into a defensive stance.
"I don't know!" Mercury said, not understanding why she couldn't see where, or even how, it had disappeared. She was still trying to figure out what had happened when her world was suddenly filled with pain.
Jupiter was looking at Mercury when she saw the air 'twist' behind the Ice Senshi. She started to call out a warning but was too late as could only watch as Mercury was struck from behind and thrown across the street.
"You Bastard!" Jupiter yelled as she launched herself at the creature, figuring to fight it hand to hand and thus not give it time to disappear.
Jupiter was fast. Jupiter was tough. Jupiter was strong. Jupiter was not prepared for the creatures' arm to stretch nearly three times its length and she was swatted into a nearby car, smashing its front end in.
"STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY KISS!!"
Sailor Moon had helped Venus back to her feet only to see both Mercury and Jupiter knocked around as if it were nothing. Not wanting to take any chances, she called on one the strongest attacks she had. The creature looked over to see the pure healing energy heading for him; she didn’t want to see anymore of her friends hurt anymore.
The creature looked over to see the pure healing energy heading for him.
"EEEP!" it eeped as it vanished well before the attack could hit it.
"That's it!" Mercury yelled as she unsteadily got back onto her feet. "Moon! You're the only one that can stop it!" It was a guess on Mercury's part, but a good one she felt; after all, it had fled well before the attack had come near it; unlike either Jupiter’s or Venus’s attacks.
"Yea, like I'm stupid enough to just stand around and wait for her to hit me." a voice said from behind Moon.
Acting on instinct, Venus shoulder-rammed Moon; both narrowly missing a swipe by the creature's claws. Looking up from the ground, they both saw the creature standing above them with its arm poised to strike.
"WORLD SHAKING!!"
"DEEP SUBMERGE!!"
Sailor's Neptune and Uranus announced their arrival with their usual flair as they both launched into action to save their princess.
"Are you alright?" both Moon and Venus heard the quite voice of Sailor Saturn from behind them.
Moon and Venus both nodded in relief as Mercury and Jupiter (who had to literally pull herself out of the hood of the car she landed on) joined them and helped the two blondes to their feet.
Uranus was about ask what the hell was going on when the creature suddenly appeared between her and Neptune and back-handed both of them in the face, sending them flying. The creature then looked directly at Moon and launched itself at her before any of the other Senshi could react.
Well...all except one of them.
"Silence Wall." Saturn said as she placed herself before Moon.
The smirk on the creature's face was evident as it approached Saturn just before it once again disappeared. A split second later, Saturn felt something slam hard into her barrier. The creature reappeared the instant it hit the Silence Wall and hung there a moment before it slid to the ground.
"What the???" the creature said in confusion before it was suddenly forced to dodge the swipes that Saturn took at it with the Silence Glaive. It was finally able to back away from Saturn and it once again disappear.
For the next several minutes, the Senshi were forced to fight a defensive battle. The creature kept disappearing and reappearing at random, doing massive amounts of property damage as it knocked the Senshi around like rag dolls and effortlessly avoiding their attacks. All except Saturn that is, who he avoided like the plague. During these attacks, it would keep trying to get at Moon, who was being protected by her ever-vigilant Saturn.
The Senshi were in trouble, and they knew it. The creature was too quick for them, and Mercury was at a loss as to how it kept disappearing and reappearing at will. They were getting tired and they were hurting. They knew that unless something changed, and soon, they would lose.
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!!"
The creature disappeared again as a flaming arrow sailed through the space it had just vacated. Sailor Mars leapt down from a nearby roof as she finally arrived.
"What's going on?" she asked, as she approached the other Senshi.
"Where the hell have you've been!" Jupiter snapped out, definitely not having a good day.
"I'll tell you later." Mars said, not wanting to explain how she, of all people, had gotten detention.
Before anyone could take exception to her dodging the question, they all saw Mars suddenly stiffen and spin around to face Moon. "LOOK OUT! FIRE SOUL!"
Moon trusted her friends completely; so when Mars launched a gout of flame at her, she knew there had to be a good reason and she dodged (well, she fell on her butt, but it amounted to the same thing). Moon felt the intense heat streak above her and heard as it impacted something behind her. Turing around she saw the creature take the Fire Soul in the chest and was send into a wall. It got back to its feet and once again disappeared
"How did you...?" Mercury started to ask before she was silenced with a wave from the Senshi of Fire.
"Shush..." Mars commanded as she slowly spun around in a circle with slightly glazed eyes. "Can't you FEEL it? It's...it's like an open cesspool! There! FIRE SOUL!"
The rest of the Senshi fired off their quickest attacks at where Mars had indicated. They looked back at her and saw her looking around intently. "OVER THERE!"
Once again they opened fire to no effect. Before Mars could say anything else, she threw herself to one side to dodge a strike she felt coming from behind. After that, the creature changed its tactics. Making sure to keep its prey between itself and Mars, it continued in its struggle to attack Moon by taking out the rest of the Senshi.
Mars was starting to get annoyed at being forced to curb her attacks for fear of hitting one of her friends. She suddenly paused and slapped her forehead as she realized WHY she seemed to know where the creature was going to attack. It wasn't a Youma/Cardian/Phage/whatever. It was an Akuma. A ‘true’ demon; not some creature created by someone or something to help their plans. And as a Shinto Priestess, an Akuma was something she had been trained on how to defeat since she had begun learning her faith.
Her realization almost came too late. The Akuma had just grabbed Jupiter by her hair and slammed her repeatedly into the ground. Stepping over her, it raised its clawed hand and was about to strike at the dazed Senshi of Lightning.
Mars quickly slipped a ward out of her elbow length glove and held it before her. "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryou taisan." she muttered, charging the ward.
With a practiced flip of her wrist, she sent it flying through the air with deadly accuracy. The ward landed square between the Akuma's eyes and fluttered there for a moment before it seemed to paste itself over its face. Jupiter looked up with relief as she saw its eyes go wide as it suddenly stopped moving.
"HIT IT NOW!" Rei yelled out. "MARS FLAME SNIPER!"
"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"
"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!"
"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"
"SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE!"
"SPACE SWORD BLASTER!"
"SUBMARINE REFLECTION!"
"STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY KISS!"
Several blocks away, someone stood on the edge of a tall building watching the fight. She saw the energies of all eight attacks slam into the creature and the area explode in a cloud of dust. The watcher had been observing the entire battle with a mix curiosity, humor, surprise, and then finally disappointment. With a sigh, the watcher stretched her arms up to relieve the tension in its shoulders.
Which was a neat trick; considering the fact that the watcher didn't Have shoulders.
"How...disappointing." The watcher said with a surprising feminine voice.
Her voice wasn't the only feminine thing about her. She had a shapely body and was well endowed. Although the fact that she was purple in color with green hair and no apparent mouth would distract quite a few people from her assists.
Oh, yea. Her arms. How they seemed to float by where they should've been connected to her body also would have distracted most people from admiring her body.
Her name was Auswei, and she was a Greater Mazoku. She had come with poor, little lamented Dargo to asses any threats her kind would have here in this place that would effect their plans. She had been selected for this task because she was intelligent and very good at strategy; something that Auswei knew many of her fellow Mazoku weren't good at. Dargo had come because he was...expendable.
"They're not much of a threat." She said to herself as she assessed what she had just seen. "That stupid blonde in blue could be a problem; but only if we were dumb enough to stand in one place. The one in red, however, THAT was a little bit of a surprise. I didn't think anyone these days practiced the old forms of Shamanistic Magic. Still...she obviously isn't well trained. Now...how in the name of Shabranigdu did that small one stop Dargo from killing the blonde?"
"You will never know, gutter trash!" A voice spat from behind Auswei.
The Mazoku spun around to see a Senshi who hadn’t been present at the battle. She was dressed in black and dark red and held her hands together before her and her eyes were closed. Auswei raised her eyebrows in surprise, and then smirked (which was another good trick, since she didn't have a mouth).
"So...you think that You can stop me all by your lonesome? It took all of your little friends to beat Dargo and I am by far much stronger than he was." Auswei said with mirth as she strode forward.
The Senshi in front of her suddenly opened her eyes and her crimson orbs glowed with power. Auswei was surprised when she suddenly found she couldn't move. She looked puzzled for a moment before she decided to retreat back into the Astral Plane. After all, if it had worked for a pitiful Brass Demon like Dargo it should work for her.
The Mazoku was shocked when she discovered she couldn't move to the Astral Plane. She narrowed her eyes as she 'studied' the magic that held her, then gasped loudly.
"Holy Magic!?" She exclaimed. "How did you learn Holy Magic?"
"I had a good teacher." The Senshi said in a cold voice as she began to slowly walk forward.
Auswei panicked for a moment before she smiled a small, private smile (again, a really good trick). It had been a very long time since she had encountered Holy Magic, but she recognized the spell that had been cast on her. It would only take her a moment or two to dispel it; then she would rip the heart out of this human. After all, some secrets are best left in the past. All she had to do was distract the human for a few seconds.
"Oh...so what are you going to do? Flash me? Oh I know! You're going to repeat a corny speech about love and justice over and over until I die of boredom, right?"
The Senshi stopped before the trapped Mazoku and spoke in a voice devoid of emotion. "No gutter trash, I'm going to do this."
Auswei gasped as the Senshi...shifted. Suddenly she knew Who; knew What; stood before her. "You!!" she cried out in panic and anger just before pain blossomed through her chest.
A few moments later Sailor Pluto stood alone on the rooftop, rubbing her arms and shoulders as she looked at the dust that had once been a Greater Mazoku. "I HATE doing that!" she muttered to herself, trying to massage her aching muscles.
Pluto reflected on the events that just occurred as she walked over to the edge of the building to see her fellow Senshi begin to recover from their fight. She really hated to do what she had just done. Not killing the Mazoku; oh no, she would happily kill any of Them she came across; but she hated how she had to kill it. Since Mazoku weren't affected by the passage of Time, she couldn't use the power granted to her as the Senshi of Time to kill the filthy...thing. However, she wasn't yet ready to let the others know certain...things about her, so her options were limited. Yes, she could have killed it in a half a dozen ways that were more effective and less painful to her; but the other Senshi would have noticed what happened and would have rushed to the scene. And she wasn't ready for the questions they would've asked her.
So, she had used her ‘alternate method’ for dealing with 'problems', even tough the pain it caused her would bother her for days. The pain was worth it however; it left one less of Them.
Seeing that the rest of the Senshi were fine, Pluto turned back to the remains of the Mazoku. "Why were you here?" she asked, obviously not expecting answers. "Were the two of you just a random occurrence? Or...is it time? But it's too soon..."
Pluto shook her head as she continued to massage her aching muscles. Knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to find any answers just standing around she, decided that she had enough time to go home and take a relaxing bubble bath before she went to amazed and frustrated her fellow Senshi.
Pluto disappeared from the rooftop, thoughts of warm water and bubbles and someone she wished could join her to rub her sore back her filling her thoughts. Perhaps in the long run it was good that she left when she did. If she hadn't, she would have seen what happened next. If she had stayed, then things would have been much more...frustrating for her and caused her countless headaches.
Not that she wouldn't get frustrated and headaches later, mind you. But at least this way, she would be able to enjoy her bubble bath in peace.
Back on the ground, the Senshi all looked with surprise at the dust cloud that was the result of their combined powers. Mars let out a sigh of relief as she could no longer sense the Akuma. She had felt the thing 'die' when their attacks hit the thing.
"Got it!" the Fire Senshi said with conviction, but was surprised when she saw twin blonde ponytails streak past her.
"What?" she said in confusion.
"Jupiter!" Moon cried out as she dived into the dust cloud.
The rest of the Senshi eyes went wide as they remembered that the creature had been standing above their fellow Senshi. They were about to rush in and follow there future Queen when they heard the sound of coughing and saw two figures coming out of the cloud.
They all sighed in relief as they saw Jupiter walking out supporting Moon as she favored one foot. "What happened?" Uranus asked, concern in her voice at seeing the blonde of the pair leaning against the taller girl.
"He, he, he...I tripped." Moon said with embarrassment, causing the others to sweat-drop.
They then looked closely at Jupiter and several of them gasped. Her hair was singed, her face, arms, and legs were blackened with soot and her fuku was shredded; leaving her practically naked.
"<Cough, cough> Next time, make sure I’m out of the way. Alright?" the brunette said evenly as she favored one arm.
Without even being asked to help, Saturn moved forward and used her healing powers on the two injured Senshi. "Mars?" Mercury asked as they all watched Moon test her now healed ankle, and almost fall over again. "How were you able to stop, let alone find that thing?"
"I'll explain later back at my place." Mars said as she looked around to see the others nod in acknowledge (some more reluctantly that others).
The eight Pretty Sailor Solders of Love and Justice were about to go their separate ways to meet up later at the Hikawa Shrine when they all heard something that made them pause.
^Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.^
**********
Author's Notes:
He, he, he. Ain't I a stinker?
I LOVE doing that! Setting something up and then just
just leaving it hanging.
Well, you'll find out this and more in chapter 2. Whenever
I get around to writing it, that is.
If you want to give me any C&C, flames, praise and/or
comments just drop me a line at whiteb100@hotmail.com
This fic and others can be found at my FF.Net account, which is
www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=266642
Also, you can link to my FF.Net account from Thermopyle's website
http://thermopyle.anifics.com
And (although I still need to get them updated) at
http://tannim.anifics.com
11/27/03