Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Princess of the Moon ❯ Chapter 10 ( Chapter 11 )

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

Notes - Well it's been a few months since this was updated last, but I had to take a break before I burned out completely. As I'm doing with all my fics this chapter is considerably smaller than I've been doing lately. For some reason I can do a quick 40 to 60kb in a matter of days, but anything longer than that and I start to slow down. Normally this wasn't a problem, but lately it has been, so I shorted my chapter lengths to post more often. What a lot of people have been wanting anyway.

^_^

**********

Princess of the Moon

Chapter 10

Cory D. Rose

ertle2@msn.com

http://shi_hanna.tripod.com

(c) 2003

**********

Time plays tricks on people when they aren't paying attention; this has been proven time and time again over the ages. They can spend hours working on something and they barely notice the time and yet have the exact opposite happen, making a few minutes seem like hours. This is exactly what Ranma was noticing as she looked at a nearby window and realized that the sun was going down. Somehow she had managed to wander around Juban for most of the day and barely noticed that time was slipping by. There were still cars moving around the streets and she figured she was in one of the newer sections of the district and if she was reading one of the nearby signs correctly, on the opposite side of the district from where she had been heading in the first place. There were cars and tall buildings everywhere she looked, streets filled with people and no sign of some place where she could just sit down and take a few minutes to rest a bit.

Chaotic was a good description for Tokyo, no matter where one went they were always going to find over crowding and urban sprawl, as his old man had called it, when they had passed through Tokyo a few years back. As she looked around to try and figure out exactly where she was, she felt like that jerk Ryoga for a few seconds and shuddered. The moron would cause her problems even when he wasn't around to cause them in the first place. She spotted a bench sitting in front of an old building that looked like it wouldn’t fall apart if she sat down. It only took a few seconds to walk over and sit down with a loud sigh of relief. Her feet hurt from spending the morning running from Nerima to Juban, then most of the day taking care of a few things, only to then have to fight that battle at the tennis courts against the newest Dark Kingdom General and newest king of pet pocket monsters these people seemed to like using.

She stretched out a bit, resting her arms along the back of the bench and recalled the fight once more. Usagi's skill had surprised her. The girl was a hopeless klutz, but that hadn't shown much after she had transformed into Sailor Moon, the girl‘s luck seemed to be legendary even before she became a scout according to some of the girls she‘d talked to at school. That made her think of the transformation itself. Time and again she had analyzed the transformation and continued to be baffled by it and just what happened when she became that other person. The magic was a rush unlike anything Ranma had ever experienced. Like a drug really, feeling as if pure power flowed into her body and set all her nerve endings on fire as she was pulled into a storm of ecstasy that just couldn’t be described. She had only transformed a few times now and Ranma feared the day when she began to look forward to using her magic. Ito still wouldn't explain just why that happened to her when she transformed either. Even more interesting was the fact that the cat seemed to shy away from the subject as if it was something she didn’t want to talk about or was afraid of. From what she had been able to figure out from listening to the other girls at the meetings, they didn't experience that or they just accepted it as part of the job.

Ranma refused to just give in to the alien feelings that filled her when she transformed, but had come to conclusion that she might be going about things in the wrong way. It wouldn’t have been the first. Being a girl gave her the willies ever time she had to use the bathroom. It was a constant reminder of her failure to achieve a sworn promise made between 'him' and 'his' mother. Yet another aspect of her life that brought her nothing but regret and shame. She clenched her teeth in anger and failed to notice as a crescent moon formed on her forehead and a wave of electricity seemed to flow over her body for a second, scaring several admirers that were spying on her from nearby buildings. They all made a quick get away thinking she was going to turn on them. She sighed and focused as she realized that her power was surging again, demanding that she release it in a wave of destruction. Her iron will went to work and within a few seconds the electricity stopped and left a bit of smoke rising off of her clothing as the crescent moon faded from sight

That was one of her main problems at the moment. Her powers were acting up as they grew stronger and stronger. In fact that moron Ryoga had come very close to dying one of the first times it happened. The power surges were infrequent, but strong enough to be noticed when she went into battle and didn't transform and have to experience all that other stuff that bothered her. Her emotions seemed to be what triggered them too and it reminded her of that scroll she had given to Rei's grandfather a few months earlier. The one that described how emotions could affect a persons Ki level, augmenting it. Somehow her emotions were the cause of the surges but she didn't really understand how they were doing it. Ki and Magic were two different forms of energy. She had tons of magic to call on when she transformed enough to blow up cars and slice buildings in half if she put her mind to it. Just like Ami could freeze something and shatter it into a million pieces with a simple kick. Like dipping an object in liquid nitrogen really. Heh, barely any schooling and she could remember facts like that.

Now that she thought about it a little she realized that Ami and Rei hadn't been at the battle against that thing until it was over. That bothered Ranma too. They were a team and the only person Usagi had been able to trust at the beginning of the fight was that dork Tuxedo Mask. The guy ran around like a pansy throwing flowers like he was some kind of weirdo. He had his uses though, Ranma had to admit that, when he was around Usagi tried harder and seemed to be stronger than when he wasn't around. A reaction Ranma had to admit she didn’t understand in the least little bit. That was a bit of a mystery as well. If that wasn't strange enough she now had to deal with something she had been trying to ignore for nearly a year now; her Mother. They had only met once and Ranma hadn't felt like introducing herself at the time, this was the woman that came up with the suicide contract after all. That contract kept her from fully trusting the woman. Something about her just seemed to call out to her on an almost subconscious level though and it told her to give her a chance.

If there was one thing Ranma didn't like to do it was change her mind about something. She couldn't recall the number of times she had seen a guy promise one thing and turn out to be something completely different. Usually when they were trying to get revenge on her old man for stealing something. Be nice, get close, and attack when they weren't expecting it. It was almost a law of nature. She sighed, and leaned forward so that her elbows were on her knees. Feeling sorry for herself wasn't going to get anything done if she continued to think like this. It was a habit she had picked up after getting the curse, before it happened she would never have thought of stuff like this. She would have just fought for the fun of it and ignored everything else. She needed to make a decision about her mother and stick with it to see if there was a chance that she might actually be able to live a decent life. There was no way in hell she would ever have a normal life, she was had pissed off to many people.

She rolled to her feet and stretched a little and looked around to get her bearings, then spotted an alley across the street and a fence running along side it. It was of the normal type a person would find all over Tokyo, standing only six feet high and had a board running along top of it to keep the thing from hurting people if they happened to land on top of it from a fall. She ran a few steps and launched herself over the oncoming traffic in a graceful flip and touched down on top of the fence with one foot, leaned forward at just the right angle and started to run down the fence all in one motion.

Then ignored the sound of crashing cars behind her as she ran and just grinned. This was one of the things she loved to do the most and her new body had a sense of balance that rivaled her male one quite a bit. As she ran she cleared her mind and tried to think of nothing but running as fast as she could. The occasional streets that came along every few minutes was just ignored as she jumped over it to the next section of fence and when that ran out she went to the next best thing, roof hopping with a big grin on her face as she startled a couple making out in a back yard swing as she flew over them in a graceful leap.

**********

Inside Nephlite's mansion, he was sitting in his chair as it floated within the Star Chamber. He crossed his legs and seemed to glare at the very air around him as he tried to think of the best way to change his current plans without upsetting everything he had put in place after he took over from Jedite and his giant debacle. His first try had been a dismal failure in his opinion. All the energy he'd collected had been taken back by that girl once his Youma was defeated and to top that those two Scouts had survived that battle with no injuries to speak of. It was rather irritating really. He was half tempted to punish himself for allowing it to happen in the first place and wasting some of his precious energy. A General did not make mistakes, they learned and they planned their every step until they succeeded. The last ten thousand years within the Dark Kingdom had been one long wait as they all spent years learning how to perfect their powers and hold their positions of power.

Of the four Generals that commanded Queen Beryl's Youma armies he had been considered to be third in command. Over time their rank had stopped meaning anything though and the top General eventually turned out to be the one that the Queen favored the most and until recently Jedite had held that position. His complete and utter failure to achieve his ends had been his downfall. Nephlite was quite sure that the failure had been due to the fact that Jedite had spent so much time at the top that they lost the very skills that had brought him to the top in the first place.

Only there at the end when that red haired Scout had shown up and started challenging him did Jedite begin to take the first steps at becoming his old self once more. He had even gone so far as to open one of the ancient armories and took up one of legendary pain blades. That had been a surprise that even the powerful Kunzite hadn't expected. Jedite had always been a schemer and could talk his way into and out of any situation given enough time, but over the years he'd forgot nearly as much as he had known when they took these positions.

He was positive that the answer to his problem was just within his grasp, there had to be a way to accomplish his plans without wasting more energy than he used or lost if the operation failed. The only problem was that the energy he needed was being siphoned off to feed Queen Metallia within her prison and that left very little for the General's to use. He needed an alternate power source of some kind to fuel his campaign while he sent all the life energies on to Queen Beryl. There had to be a way to do this, he had access to his dark magic abilities and even his Astrological abilities that were always put to good use. He leaned back and his floating chair adjusted its balance to keep him from rolling over backwards and falling to the floor. After using the thing for hundreds of years Nephlite didn't even notice. He just knew that there had to be an answer to the dilemma.

Several ideas flew through his mind in a matter of moments and they were all shot down because they required him to use up more of his dwindling supply of energy. The first one he ruled out was to do what Jedite had been doing, to suck a large number of people dry and use that to fuel his next plan, but if it didn't work for Jedite it certainly wouldn't work for him and Queen Beryl would want most of the energy anyway. The second one was to contact another powerful entity of some kind and get their aid, but he ruled that one out instantly. Those kinds of deals were never one way and he would most likely end up dead because of it. Then another idea popped into his and it seemed to have plenty of merit and he knew it would work. To get to the items he would need would mean finding away to overcome certain obstacles along the way. Power is never free.

Kunzite loved that saying. Over the centuries Nephlite figured the guy had said it a couple hundred thousand times at least. Of all the Generals Kunzite was the strongest in terms of power and ability, but he didn't really play the power games that him and Jedite played with Queen Beryl and hadn't ever taken the lead position in her good graces unless something happened to knock him and Jedite from the position, which is why Jedite had gone first. Zoicite, the flaming weenie, was joined at Kunzite's hip and the two rarely did anything without the other, though Zoi tended to be just a little bit vindictive when a plan failed or he didn't get his way. Nephlite didn't really care though, a few centuries back he had played a series of practical jokes on the fruit and they had been mortal enemies ever since. Even Kunzite had gotten a laugh from some of Zoicite's new and innovative looks. Though he winced as the image of Zoicite dressed in drag flashed across his mind and how the guy had strutted around like that for several days, actually enjoying it. That part of the joke had back fired completely.

He shook his head and tried to get back to his energy problem and stared up at the ceiling of the chamber. He had used his magic to make it show him what the night sky looked like without the atmosphere in the way and the sight of billions of twinkling stars just relaxed him every time he looked at them. Then his chair seemed to spin around, with the night sky shining down on him from every angle, and he got a good look at the place he had though of just a few seconds ago. The Moon. The gray ball of dust was still in the same position as it had been ten thousand years before, give or take a mile or two, and even to this day he knew that some of the protective magic still functioned there. Over the centuries is had begun to fail because there was no one there to keep it maintained, but there was something in the vault below the ancient palace that would give him the power to do what he wanted and so much more.

Standing up Nephlite appeared to float in mid air as he held up his hand and stars started forming a pattern around the room. He held up his hand and narrowed his eyes as he performed his tracking incantation. "All the world is ruled by the stars, from the lowly animal to the greatest of hunters, the stars rule them all and know the tiniest of details!" Nephlite says as he begins to glow, his eyes lose their irises and turn pure black with an unearthly glow. "Now Archer Sagittarius, guide my power and point me to the location of the Kingdom of the Moon!! Show Me NOW!"

His voice echoes throughout the chamber as the whole place lights up and for a moment it appears as if the stars themselves are moving. The illusion seems to gain even more detail as the moon began to grow bigger and bigger as he watched, until it filled over half the room and took on a three dimensional detail. Nephlite stared at the moon's surface with his cruel eyes, waiting until the illusion begins to show the ruins of what was once the most powerful kingdom in the last fifty thousand years. He was surprised and a bit delighted to find that the palace is still intact, though everything else around it seems to have collapsed into rubble. Fallen columns litter the landscape and he briefly recalls when wave after wave of Youma stomped their way through the small city that had surrounded the Palace. Crushing everything in their path, toppling columns and desecrating the most beautiful city ever created by magic alone.

Good memories indeed, the seven shadows had been the most devastating as they managed to kill everything in their path as they swept across the city in a rain of destruction. Reaching out he tapped the image of the palace and it grew still more until it filled the room and it appeared as if he was hovering in the air above the Moon's surface. The level of detail was astounding, even to him, but he ignored that as he maneuvered the image to one spot within the palace. Slowly manipulating the picture to move down dust filled hallways and court yards full of rubble. Something about the image bothered him, but he couldn't tell what it was. Everything seemed to look just like he remembered from the last time he had walked the cursed grounds. Even in death the place still glittered here and there. After a few seconds he maneuvered the image into the throne room where Queen Serenity had ruled over them all and focused in on the east wall. His memory was dim, but he would never forget about the East Wall Room where the entrance to the Moon Kingdom Vault was located.

Getting there would be a challenge, but a Youma or two placed in the correct positions and he would be able to get what he wanted. He grinned as the picture focused in on a crystal door that looked as impressive now as it did the day it was put up. The glowing crescent moon that covered the top half of the door proved that there was still working magic within the palace. He would have to be careful when he got there though, if the magic still worked then the wards and magical protections did as well. Queen Serenity had been the one to imprison him and the rest of the Dark Kingdom with the Silver Crystal right when they were on the verge of a total victory.

There was no way he could just teleport up there, like he used to do, and grab what he wanted. Serenity had placed them within a pocket dimension where getting the energy to get out would be nearly impossible, but she knew it would have to happen eventually and he figured there might be some unexpected magical defenses waiting for him if he tried. After ten thousand years of imprisonment every living thing within the Dark Kingdom had adjusted to the pocket dimension and were now far too dependent on it for their very survival. Just to enter into Tokyo used up a lot of energy that they could use for other things. Heck most of the energy was dolled out to them in small weekly rations that had to be horded like gold.

Over the centuries he and the other Generals had slowly saved up a huge cache of energy. They had all set it up to make it work for them in the form of wards to protect them from each other. While in Tokyo those wards didn't work as well as they should have, which is why Mars’ paper wards had worked on Jedite at the airport. Most of their energy was devoted to keeping them from dying the instant they crossed over into this dimension. There was a high level of energy in certain parts of Tokyo and if he was to leave these areas he would die within minutes. Teleporting to the moon was easy; surviving once he arrived with no extra energy to call on would be fatal. Then there would be whatever magical protection Queen Serenity set up in those last minutes of the battle. Or were to activate if she died of unnatural causes.

There had to be a way for him to leave the area, if he could figure that out then he could go and get the energy he needed from outside Tokyo where there would be no Scouts to disrupt his plans. A bit of movement seemed to catch his eye and he looked up and noticed that the image he was looking at was moving out of the throne room and down a hallway he had been avoiding earlier, for it held secrets he did not want to relive. Moving faster than he could stop it, the image flew across the palace in the blink of an eye and stopped at the one place he didn't want to see in all the universe. His old quarters from when he had been a guest of the court ten millennia before. He growled as he tried to get the image to leave the room, but it wouldn't budge as he glared around the room and started to get very angry.

"WHO IS DOING THIS?! ZOICITE! I KNOW YOU ARE DOING THIS!" He screamed. "COME HERE AND SHOW YOURSELF!!"

After a few seconds Zoicite didn't show up to gloat like the little fairy would have done under normal circumstances just for riling him up like this and letting off that piercing shriek laugh of his. He turned back to the scene and gasped as it moved further into the room and appeared to look around for a second. Then suddenly, as real as if he was actually there, he shuddered violently as he spotted a painting on the wall of the Princess of Jupiter herself wearing a light green dress and the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. For just and instantly he remembered what it was like to hold her in his arms, what she felt like, even what she had smelled like in those last moments.

He groaned as he recalled his last act of love, disemboweling her during the battle as if she was a horse that had to be put down. Then spending several hours laughing about it with Jedite a few days later after they had started to realize they had been exiled to hell by Serenity the Bitch Queen. He staggered forward to try and touch the picture, to rip it from the wall, and never have to remember those actions ever again. But the scene suddenly shifted just as his hand was about to grasp the picture frame and seemed to pull him across the room where his dresser appeared to have stood for the last ten thousand years. There were a couple of pictures sitting on top of it with a very fine coating of dust touching their frames. His mother and father smiled up at him as they sat upon their horses. He recalled in a flash of memory that the picture had been taken during the after math of a chariot race where they had won the right to have him trained in magic. The first member of their family to have that right in close to ten generations at least.

"STOP THIS NOW! I DON'T WANT TO REMEMBER!" He screamed and fell to his knees with a growl of frustration.

The scene shifted once again and he was forced to stand as the scene shifted to the closed and was given a glimpse of his old uniform. The one that proclaimed him as a master of Astrology Magic and the red shoulder tassels that told everyone that saw it that he had graduated first in his class from the university of magic. He staggered around as if punched in the gut when a thousand memories and emotions hit him all at the same time. No longer seeing the illusion that he had created or that it was shattering all around him as he struggled to keep control, breaking into billions of little glowing crescent moon shaped bits of light that seemed to vanish on a nonexistent gust of wind after only a couple of seconds.

With his hands pressed to his eyes he tried to flee the chamber at a dead run, but in mid step he tripped over his own feet and slammed head first onto the floor with a loud splat. He just lay there as his mind seemed too suddenly call up the image of a red haired girl in a black gown with diamond covered hair attachments that sparkled as she moved about the room as the two of them danced and laughed. Then the scene changed and she was kicking him in the nuts for some reason and the fire in her eyes as the blow landed was almost familiar as he remembered the incident from so long ago. It made him shudder a little as he lay there.

Then the incident seemed to slip from the grasp of his mind, leaving behind only the look of almost manic glee in the girl's bright blue eyes, glowing with power and excitment.

**********

With a rather large book sitting on her knees, Ami sat back on the park bench and enjoyed the slight breeze as it ruffled her school uniform. The sun was glinting off her glasses as she occasionally turned a page and enjoyed the sounds of the animals and kids as they played around in the background. She loved to study here and took the opportunity to do so whenever she could because it had been constructed in such away to be as peaceful as possible. She had to strain to hear the sounds of the city all around her, the honking of horns, the wail of a siren, or even a loud motorcycle or two as they passed by. She checked her watch and noticed that it was about time for her friends to start showing up. Then glanced behind her just as Rei dragged a yawning Usagi into the park by the bow on the front of her uniform.

They still hadn't had a chance to talk about the fight that had happened the day before because Ranma had ran off and Usagi had been to tired to explain anything after the battle. She'd just went home and went straight to bed before anyone could say anything, much to Rei's annoyance. Ami hadn't minded all that much at the time; she'd been right in the middle of a good book when Usagi had called for her. Getting from her apartment to the school could take close to forty five minutes if she didn’t take the bus like she normally did. Even transformed into Sailor Mercury it hat taken her close to ten minutes to get there running at full speed. Rei lived even further away than that and they had both managed to get there at the end of the battle and see the destruction of the whole tennis court.

It still amazed her just how much damage Ranma seemed to do when she fought someone. Walls were shattered; the ground caved in, and blast craters all of the place with rubble piled shoulder high in places. Rei had commented on the fact that Ranma had left her signature all over the place and if she wasn't careful she would start to develop a reputation. The comment had been meant as an insult, but Ranma had just laughed it off before she left. Which kind of worried them. On top of that Rei was starting to complain about Usagi for some reason, it was just weird. Ami was beginning to think it was just a quirk of Rei's personality because she had always been complaining about Ranma as well. That thought brought up something that had been bothering the three of them for a few days now.

All they had to do was mention Ranma's name and Rei would start cussing up a storm. It seemed that with Ranma kicked out of the shrine Rei was being forced to do all the normal chores and a number of extras because her grandfather had grounded her. Rei’s grandfather’s reaction was another subject they had all learned not to mention around the dark haired shrine maiden. He had been acting really strange lately and no one could figure out what was on his mind. Rei finally arrived as she finished pulling Usagi over by the bow on the front of her uniform and pushed the blond towards the bench. Ami scooted over as they sat down. She knew they wouldn't want to study while they were here so she started to put her things away. Luckily it was only her chemistry homework; she was ahead in the class and didn't want to fall behind. Her recent activities had really made her rethink her study schedule.

"Are you studying again?!" Usagi asked in shock as she adjusted her bow and glared at Rei, who was smirking innocently.

"Of course." Ami said with a nod. “I was just waiting for everyone to show up.”

"I can't understand how you can do that when there is a clear sky out and a park to explore." Usagi muttered.

"I enjoy it."

Now Rei was giving her and incredulous look.

"I do."

"Humph!" Usagi muttered and yawned again.

"I've never been to this park before." Rei said as she looked around. "This place is incredible."

"It's my favorite place to study." Ami explained.

"Just how big is this park?" Usagi asked as she tried to see through the nearby trees and suddenly jumped to her feet. "Is that a LAKE?!"

Ami nodded. "Yeah, they rent boats to couples."

"What a great idea!" Usagi squealed and bounced around a little.

Rei just rolled her eyes. "Are we going to talk about what we really came her for?"

"I was hoping to know what happened yesterday as well, I didn't get a chance to enter it into my computer like I did with all the other battles." Ami said as she reached into her bag and pulled out the Mercury computer and flipped it open.

Usagi slumped and glowered at them. "I won, isn't that good enough?"

"MEATBALL BRAIN! WE WEREN'T THERE, WE HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED, IT MIGHT BE IMPORTANT! THE NEWEST GENERAL WAS THERE AND YOU SAW HIM!" Rei screeched.

"Calm down Rei, there's no need to yell." Ami muttered. "Should we wait for Ranma to get here? She said she would stop by and talk to us."

"Yep." Ranma said from right behind Rei.

The dark haired girl screamed and jumped up off the bench gasping for breath. "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU COME FROM!? I'M GONNA..."

Ranma smirked as she gave Rei a look. "You know screaming about the newest General at the top of your lungs could cause a few problems."

Rei gaped for a few seconds before blushing and looking away.

Taking a deep breath Ranma gave each of them a look before muttering. "I have to say I'm sorry for the way I've been acting lately. I've been acting like a real jerk for the last couple of weeks and I don't want it cause any problems between us."

By now Rei was gaping at Ranma.

"That's quite alright Ranma." Ami said with a smile and hoped things would work out after all.

Usagi just dove forward and hugged Ranma with a death grip and sniffled a bit. "That was so perfect!"

A shiver went up Ranma's back as she tried to crawl up the back of the bench to get away, but no one could get away from the Usagi over emotional grip of death. "Eh!"

Rei just snorted. "So just why were you being such a jerk?"

"Well a couple of reasons really, the biggest one is that none of you are trained like I am."

"You've said that before and I still think its total BS." Rei snapped. "When we transform we gain a powerful weapon and the speed and skill to use it."

Ranma nodded. "Yes you do and to be blunt you don't know how to use even that correctly."

"WHY YOU LITTLE..." Rei growled out and went to choke Ranma.

"Calm down Rei." Ami said, playing peace maker again.

Rei turned her glare on Ami.

"Now if you will let me finish?" Ranma growled back. "Rei you use fire, but you have to focus so much to fire it off that you leave yourself open to attack for a almost three to four seconds, long enough for someone fast to get close and really hurt you. I don't want that to happen to any of you.

Usagi sniffled again and Ranma took a couple of seconds to pry her hands off her waist and sat Usagi down beside her.

"It's a weakness that can be exploited Rei. You completely stop and take up an unguarded position and leave yourself open to attack. It could get you killed." Ranma said as she looked at her friend.

"I'm the same way." Ami muttered as she considered what Ranma was saying. The red head just nodded.

"You all are. Usagi here has the quickest attack of the three of you and she still has to take a few seconds to power up her tiara and throw it. That's my biggest problem and why I got mad. As your leader I'm responsible for your safety when we fight as a group, and I want to see if we can train to make the attacks faster and more powerful. I don't think we have even come close to achieving our full strength attacks yet. I can feel that my own attack has gotten stronger over the last few weeks. I think all of you can do the same with a bit of training."

"We were talking about doing just that at the last meeting Ranma." Ami said. "We discussed starting small and learning some hand signals and how to work better as a team."

"Good idea, the team practice will keep you from shooting each other."

"Hey! We aren't that bad!" Rei snapped.

"Zzzz..." Usagi said as she started to snore.

Ranma give her a weird look. "I see she's still the same."

Rei and Ami just sighed loudly.

"When do you guys want to start practicing?"

"Can we do it on weekends? Say once a week for three or four hours?" Ami suggested.

"I don't know, I was thinking more along the lines of an hour or two per day." Ranma muttered.

"OUT OF THE QUESTION!" Rei snapped. "We will practice on Sundays from noon till around three or four."

"Alright, but I want you all too at least spend an hour a day going over anything you learn in the once a week sessions."

"I can do that." Ami said. "We meet at the shrine all the time; we can turn it into a game to get Usagi to play along."

"That sound fine." Ranma agreed with a nod.

"Have you found a place to stay yet Ranma?" Rei asked and looked away.

The red head just raised her eyebrows a little; she could never read other peoples moods unless they were pissed off beyond all reason. "Sorta."

"What's that mean?" Rei snapped again and glared. She hated these half assed answers that didn't give any detail at all.

They glared at each other for a second.

"Well last night I was heading back to where I've been camping out when I ran across this old fart. He stole my bra."

"WHAT?!" Rei yelled again.

"Rei would you stop yelling, half the people in the park are giving you the eye." Ranma said with a smirk and pointed to several people looking at them. Rei blushed again and tried to ignore them. Usagi just muttered in her sleep, something about a horse, after that Ranma didn't want to know anymore. She leaned back and continued her story...

**********

Nerima by night looked like any other district of Tokyo, though there were a larger number of old family homes scattered about. Ranma had used fences and roof hopped all the way here, taking just over half an hour to make her way from the opposite side of Juban to the edges of Nerima. As she was entering the city she felt something and slid to a stop on top of the fence and looked about. Her danger senses was trying to warn her of something and she could feel that someone was watching her, but whoever it was seemed to be able to hide quite well as she couldn't tell just where they were. Then she turned to jump off the fence and froze as she came face to face with a very old man sitting on the fence smoking a pipe. He had look of concentration on his old face as he studied her. Ranma stepped back a couple of steps in shock as she tried to figure out why she hadn't sensed him when he was this close.

"Who are you?" She demanded a couple seconds later.

"Call me Happosai." He eyed her from head to toe.

"Never heard of you." She snapped.

He cackled, letting out little puffs of smoke as he laughed. "It took me several hours to find you and that was only because I wasn't looking in the right place. I need to confirm my suspicions about you first."

Ranma growled. "What are you talking about?"

"Are you Ranma Saotome?"

She blinked in shock as he used the one name she wanted to forget and backed up a couple of steps. "N-no..."

"Yeah right 'boy'." He snapped and narrowed his eyes. "Your aura has the mark of Jusenkyo about it and you are the only curse victim I've seen in the whole district today. You are Ranma Saotome, son of Genma Saotome and Nodoka Saotome."

"My name is Mazaki, y-you have me mistaken for someone else old man, so scram before I have to beat you into the ground!" Ranma yelled and jumped to the nearest roof to get away from the guy.

He moved faster than Ranma expected, jumping from the fence to right in front of her in a blink of an eye. "No listen here boy..."

She was tired and more than a little irritated and now she had to deal with this crap on top of everything else, he was going to pay. Her jump turned into a kick and slammed into the roof tiles, shattering them like they were made of rice paper. Ranma had half a second to realize that the old guy had simply hopped forward, a weird glint in his eye as his hand flashed for her chest. In the next instant he planted his feet on her forehead and used his momentum to send her flying off the roof. She yelled as she was sent flying into the yard below and crash to the ground and rolled for several feet. The old man gave a hoot of glee as he landed on the edge of the roof and sat down to continue smoking his pipe. He had something in his hand, but she was too dazed to see what it was.

"You ready to listen boy?" Happosai asked.

Sitting up proved to be quite hard, but nothing she couldn’t handle. "You hit a pressure point didn't you?"

The old man cackled and for a brief second it reminded her of Cologne. "Yep, just something to keep you from running away until we have had our little chat."

"The old man is staying at the Tendo’s place, go and beat him up if you want, but leave me out of it." She growled.

"No need for that." Happosai sneered. "I have already punished Genma for his pitiful failure at life."

Now she was confused. "If you didn't want the old man then why are you attacking me?"

"You attacked me boy, all I wanted to do was talk." Happosai said mildly, though the look in his eye was giving Ranma the creeps. "I'm here because of your mother."

"My mother." She said flatly.

"What's with that tone?" He snapped back and took a long draw on his pipe. "Are you angry with her?"

"That is none of your business!" Ranma yelled as she rolled to her feet and looked down at her chest. "What the..."

Happosai held up a sports bra and cackled. "It's not a very pretty one, but I have some that you can use in place of these useless things."

Ranma's eyes widened as she saw her bra glow with life energy. The old man was smirking at her as he seemed to absorb from the sports bra for several seconds. "What the hell are you?"

"Boy, I am the Grand Master of Anything Goes Martial Arts and compared to me you are a pathetic little infant that has barely learned his first kick." Happosai explained as he put the bra inside his shirt. "You and I are going to have a discussion now. Will I have to beat you unconscious to get you to cooperate or will you listen to me like a boy should?"

She growled. "What exactly is it you want?"

"You seem to have some rather odd ideas about certain people and I plan to set things straight. First we need to find a better place to talk than someone else’s back yard; strangers don't need to hear this."

"Fine, lead the way old man, I'll follow." She said. "And give me back my bra!"

Happosai cackled as he rolled off the roof, bounced off the ground, and back onto the fence. From there he started running for the commercial district of Nerima at an incredible rate of speed. Ranma considered letting him run off on his own and going in a different direction, but the old far had managed to arouse her curiosity. She could see a high level of skill when she saw it, but she wasn't sure if she believed that bit about being a Grand Master of her school. The old man had never mentioned this character and she was under the impression that there were only three people left in the world that knew their family martial arts. Her, Genma, and Soun Tendo. That was enough to make her follow him a few seconds later, after she discovered he'd taken her underwear as well. Though she wasn't as saddened by losing her boxers as she was the bra. Bouncing breasts hurt.

"Come back here you old freak!" Ranma yelled.

"You gotta do better than that, boy!"

She screamed in rage. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"You can try!" Happosai yelled back as he bounced along with a laugh.

Half an hour later Ranma flipped over a fence and landed in a crouch and glanced around. The old man had been playing her for a fool for most of the run, letting her get just close enough to touch him before he would vanish. Only to reappear a few seconds to attack her from some blind spot she even suspected was there. Though to be fair she had gotten in a couple of good hits that sent him flying through a wall or two, but the freak just bounced back with a laugh and continued to lead her around the district like a hyperactive flee on cocaine. She slowly stood, her senses running at maximum as she scanned for any and all threats. If she hadn't see it with her own eyes she would never have believed it, but the old fart was using training techniques that her father had used to train her. The old geezer was good. Better than she would have ever given him credit for, but there was no way she was going to let him win.

"You going to stand there all day?" Happosai asked mildly.

She spun around at his voice and gaped at the old man sitting at one of those all night ramen stands that littered Tokyo these days. The old bastard was on what looked like his second bowl of ramen and giving her the eye. She snarled. "Why you!"

"Just a bit of fun before dinner. Now pull up a seat and let’s have that talk we were going to have."

"I should kill you where you stand." She growled and stalked forward. "You will give those back to me now."

The cook of the stand ignored the both of them as he edged behind a rather solid looking wall that divided the tiny kitchen from public view.

Happosai held up his pipe and pointed to a chair. "Sit Boy!"

Ranma yelled as she threw a lightning fast punch at the guy and gaped as he just sighed, twirled his pipe and sent her flying twenty feet in the air with a negligent flip of the pipe when it caught her wrist. She spun around in the air about a dozen times before she crashed down beside him with a loud clatter as several of the bowls fell off the counter and shattered on the ground beside her. The cook winced.

"Now get up and take a seat." Happosai snapped.

Groaning in pain Ranma pulled herself up into a nearby chair and glowered at the old man with quite a bit of hatred. "I thought you said you didn't want anyone to over hear us talking?"

Happosai's hand flashed out and sent one of his chop sticks at the wall. It bounced and ricocheted around the corner and hit the cook right between the eyes and instantly knocked him out. Ranma stared at the unconscious body and sighed.

"Fine, lets talk."

"Me and you have a few things to discus boy and the first of them is why you haven't gone to meet your mother."

"She will kill me because of this!" Ranma snapped and pointed at her breasts.

Happosai gave her a weird look before he shook his head. "What makes you think that?"

"She had me and the old man sign this contract that said if I wasn't a man amongst men when I returned she would have us commit suicide."

"Anything else?"

"I don't know who she is or where she lives." She lied.

Happosai just snorted. "I doubt that, your aura says you are lying."

"Huh?"

"Your aura is the energy pattern that surrounds you at all times. I know how to see it when I need to and I can tell you're lying. Now tell me the truth."

She looked away. "Fine. I haven't gone to her because I'm not a man nor can I live up to that contract. Most of all how can I trust that she's different than the old man, after all she married the man and allowed the training trip to happen."

"You jump to conclusions to easily boy; I have known your mother for close to thirty years now and she has always been very level headed about things. The only time that changed was when your father abandoned her for your ten year trip."

"Just how do you know that?" Ranma asked.

"Easy, I asked her. We spent most of the afternoon talking about the last few years and what Genma has put her through."

"I know a little, but I don't believe it at all." Ranma muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"A friend of mine found this Internet site that supposedly showed that my mom was looking for me, but when I went to look at it again a few days later it was gone. I figured it was a hoax."

"Boy do you have any idea how to use your brain or has Genma made you so stupid that you need to be led around by the nose just to make your way across the street?" Happosai snapped.

"She abandoned me! That is what I understand!" Ranma yelled and energy began to spark across her body as she sprang to her feet.

"You idiot moron, Genma took you away from your mother on his own. The last ten years has been his way to make sure you would do what he told you to do!"

"I know that too!" Ranma yelled and suddenly understood what was going on. She grabbed her head as the energy she was emitting started to arc around her body, giving her a corona of lighting.

Happosai's eyes widened in shock as he spotted the crescent moon symbol forming on Ranma's forehead and several pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. "Calm down Ranma, you will level the area if you do not!"

Her eyes snapped open and for an instant Happosai could see electricity arcing from them as well.

Ranma started to growl and mutter to herself as she struggled to regain her control. "I am tired of being used like an unwanted toy that is disposed of as soon as a person is through with it. My father dragged me through hell and back in the name of training and what did I get out of it? I lost my manhood and he refuses to even acknowledge what he did to me in the first place. Instead he blames me for his mistakes, uses me to pay his bills, and to live his life for him!"

The old man steeled himself and took a deep breath to calm himself. He had to be careful, if he said the wrong thing he would be in a world of hurt and several people were going to die when Ranma released all the pent up energy she was holding at bay. He calmed his mind and steadied his voice. "Ranma, you need to talk to your mother, she is as much a victim as you are. Genma has been on the run for the last ten years, using his brother to do something, training you for that something, and if you don't vent all the anger you are feeling at this moment in a controlled way you will kill yourself and everybody in a two block radius when you release all that pent up energy you are holding back by will power alone."

Ranma shuddered and an arc of energy slammed into the roof of the portable stand and cut a rather large hole. She carefully eyed the destruction out of the corner of her eye as she fought against the urge to let all burst out of her in one large wave. "How do I release this?"

"How much Ki training have you had? To even produce this effect you have to know something of the Art of Ki Manipulation."

"Just the basics. I've been working on forming the energy into shapes between my hands with my mind, but I haven't been able to get past more than five shapes and be able to hold them longer than five minutes."

The old man's eyes widened. "I see, well we need to get you out of here before you do any more damage."

"I don't know if I can move and not release all this energy." Ranma muttered.

"Calm down boy, that is what you need to do first and once you do that you will regain some control. I think I know a temporary way to fix the problem, but I need you to calm down first."

She gave a bitter laugh. "That's the whole problem isn't it?"

"Don't talk back to me boy, now calm down so I can redirect the energy before it KILLS you. Or are you to much of a coward to even try? You have been running from yourself, your mother, father, even your life as far as I can tell. If that isn't the definition of a coward, what is?" Happosai hissed out in anger.

Ranma froze in mid shudder and her eyes turned as white as the electricity arcing from her body and they focused right on Happosai. For a second the old man wondered if he had said to much in his anger, then was astonished to see the electricity form a kind of barrier around the girl as she slowly stood straight and glared at him. He had to keep a look of shock off his face as he watched the girl's aura shift into yet a new pattern as she stood there. Happosai had never seen anything like it, but the aura coming off the girl was humming slightly even as it nearly blew him off the stool he was sitting in. The curtain that surrounded the front part of the car was blowing about as if caught in a giant gust of wind. On her forehead the little crescent moon was shining with enough light to light up the whole street. She was seriously pissed off, but very much in control for the first time in the last several minutes.

"Excellent work boy, I knew you could do it." Happosai said with what confidence he could muster. His hand lashed out and his pipe hit her right between the eyes and sent her flying back into the wall of the out door ramen shop with loud bang. She slid down and collapsed to the ground with a groan of pain. "Now that you are occupied with something else, let's get to work."

"Wha-what are you d-doing?" Ranma slurred as she tried to use her arms to stand up, but there were to many stars whirling around her head.

"Genma seems to have used some pressure points on you when you were a kid; they are affecting how much Ki you are using as well as limiting your ability to learn how to use Ki. I need to give you the counter to the points he used."

"Why?"

"I made a promise to a pretty lady." Happosai quipped with a smirk. He hopped off the stool and walked over Ranma. His hand flashed out and tapped her several times along her spine and shoulder blades.

The feeling that went through her an instant later was indescribable, as if every nerve ending in her body had just given a massive surge of energy. She stopped trying to get up and just lay there shuddering as Happosai continued to tap points along her back and down her legs. After poking her about a hundred times he finally stopped and moved back over to the stool and sat down. Ranma continued to shudder for a few more seconds as whatever had gripped her finally wore off and she was dripping sweat onto the ground. Her hair was matted to her head and her clothes were soiled completely, but she could instantly tell that he had fixed something. She felt a relaxed for the first time in years. It was as if something vital had been returned to her, only that she had no idea it was missing in the first place. "What did you just do?"

"Made you bleed off a the built up energy in a controlled burst and unblocked some of your Ki pathways."

"How long will this last? How fast with the energy build up again?" Ranma asked as she staggered to her feet and had to grab the side of the counter to steady herself.

"Well you should be fine for a few days, perhaps a week before you start to feel the build up again. As for the pathways, that shouldn't bother you anymore and you should have more control of the energy when it begins to build up again. Just practice using it and you will begin to understand how they work. It seems Genma had blocked your Ki pathways with a trick I taught him some time ago. It's supposed to be used in the middle of a fight against an enemy that is trying to kill you and has you over powered. Using it on a young child like you might have killed you, but you survived it. I'm quite surprised really. It's supposed to be fatal."

"Fatal?!" Ranma gasped.

"Yep, it's a desperation move that will leave your opponent powerless to defeat you when you are about to die against a superior foe."

Ranma collapsed into a nearby chair with a groan. Every muscle in her body hurt and there wasn't a thing she could do about it until she got back to where she was staying with Shampoo and Perfume. "Can't anything in my life ever be normal?"

The old man snorted as he hopped of his stool and started walking down the street. "Come along boy, you have someone to meet."

She rushed to catch up and had to use what little will power she had left to keep from falling over after about half a block. "I don't think doing this tonight is going to work."

"Why not?"

"I can't even stand."

"Don't be a wimp."

"This has been a very active day and even if I had the energy to meet with her I wouldn't do it today."

Happosai glared at her.

"I need a day or so to get ready for it."

The old man was quiet for several second, and then he nodded. "Alright, but I want a promise from you. One that you mean to keep, to meet with your mother at her house within the next couple of days."

"Alright. I'll meet her."

"Good, then I'll leave you here. I want to get back to her house and let her know that you promised. Got me?"

"Yes sir."

"Oh, and one more thing. I won't permit you to run around with that pathetic level of skill you showed earlier. You and me are going to be training every day until I say otherwise, understand me?" Happosai said as he poked Ranma in the chest a couple of times with his pipe, well more like her stomach.

"You are not my master." She growled.

"I am the Grand Master of Anything Goes, you will obey me in this or I will strip away you right to practice the Art completely. You will never be able to practice your art ever again and I can make sure there isn't a dojo in all of Japan that will take you on as a student." Happosai threatened.

"How dare you?!"

"I never gave Genma the right to teach you in the first place, he isn't a licensed Master of Anything Goes. By the time we are done I expect you to be better than him, but you have to practice. You have a natural skill that your father does not have, but he never trained that side of you. I on the other hand will."

Gritting her teeth in anger Ranma nodded. "Alright."

"You will address me as Master."

"I refuse, earn the right and I'll call you that, but not until then." Ranma countered.

Happosai laughed after looking in her eyes for a couple of seconds. "Good, you seem to be able to use your brain a little bit. Better than that fool that fathered you. He never did understand what my training was meant to do and he failed every test I gave him."

Ranma shrugged. "He can rot for all I care."

Happosai reached into his Gi and pulled out a scroll. "Good, when I'll see you at your mother's house in two days I expect two things. You will demonstrate the prime technique of the Anything Goes Devil's Fist and form a ball of Ki between your hands and hold it in place for at least an hour. The technique is on the scroll and you have already told me that you can form energy between your hands so I expect you to do both with ease. The ball should be easy now that I have unblocked what Genma's tampering did to you, but you will need a bit of practice with the technique."

She nodded and Happosai jumped forward, right towards her and bounced off her breasts. He cackled as he rebounded off, landed on the fence, and ran down the street faster than she could keep up with him. Ranma staggered a bit before she caught her balance and noticed something was off. Then growled as she realized that the old freak had just made off with her undershirt. She shuddered and wondered what the old fart would do to her the next time they met. He obviously seemed to know a lot about Martial Arts and practiced the Saotome Style. On top of that he was a pervert, but she would have to think of a way to pay him back for stealing her things. There was no way he would get away with that so long as she had to be this way. With a flick of her wrist she put the scroll in her subspace pocket with her transformation pen and wearily trudged down the street. It would be another hour before she got back to camp and she was barely able to keep her eyes open as she walked.

**********

"Interesting story and all, but just where have you been staying though?" Rei asked. Pretending not to be worried about her former house guest.

Ranma leaned back against the bench. "Well there's this house on the far side of Nerima that has a large park like area in the back. Full of trees, walkways, even a couple of fountains that look like they haven't worked in years. Me and those two girls you met a few nights back, when we met Pink and Link, have been camping there for the last few days."

"You can't stay there Ranma, it's not right." Ami said.

"I know that's why I talked to Ito this morning and she said she would look into finding me a more permanent place to live."

"Did she say where?" Usagi asked, having miraculously woken up when the story began. Much to Rei's displeasure.

Ranma shook her head. "Nope, just said that she had some favors she could call in."

"How the heck can a cat have a favor to call in?"

"I have no idea." Ranma said with a shrug, trying to recall if Ito really had said that or not. "I'll worry about it when I have to, but for now I'm going to see what she can come up with."

They all nodded as Ranma stood up and looked around. "So what kind of park is this anyway?"

"Well its been here for close to fifty years according to the Caretaker." Ami explained. "I've talked with him several times and he's a nice old man who likes flowers."

"Really?" Usagi asked in an odd tone of voice.

"Oh grow up Usagi!" Rei snapped and glared at Usagi.

"What was that Pyro?!" The blond snapped back and they glared at each other.

"You sounded a bit sad when you mentioned this caretaker Ami." Ranma said, trying to steer the conversation in a direction that might distract Rei and Usagi from yet another fight.

Ami nodded. "The park is going to be leveled in about week to make way for a twenty story office building."

"What?!" Usagi gasped. "They can't level this beautiful park!"

"For once I agree." Rei said. She looked kind of surprised.

Ranma just nodded. "Figures they would ruin this place to make room for more useless buildings."

"We have to stop them!" Usagi growled. "Where are they, I'll yell at them until they leave!"

Rei rolled her eyes.

"There really isn't much we can do. According to my mom the city people have been planning this build for close to two years now. They have everything set up to start next week and keep over a five hundred men in work for the next year at least." Ami explained. She understood progress, though it didn't mean she had to accept it.

"Then the Scouts will stop them! I want to ride one of those boats!" Usagi yelled as she jumped up and started jogging towards the lake. Rei quickly followed.

Ranma eyes Amy and shrugged. "While we're here we might as well stick together I guess."

The genius giggled quietly. "Sure."

"You know Usagi is going to fall in the lake the instant she tries to get in the boat." Ranma said as they followed the other two.

"She's not that bad Ranma."

SPLASH!

"See?" Ranma said with a smirk.

When they got closer though, they found that Usagi was totally dry as she sat on the edge of the dock laughing at Rei as she bobbed in the water. "HAHAHAHAHA!"

Rei just growled, grabbed Usagi's foot and gave a mighty yank and an evil grin as she pulled the blond in with her. The blond shrieked loud enough to draw people's attention as she fell in the lake, dragging both her and Rei under water. The instant they surface the fight was on and they spent the next few minutes trying to dunk each other under water and get on the dock before the other could come back up. Ranma just sat in the grass nearby and watched. Her and water were not the best of friends at the moment. Ami sat next to her and pulled out a couple of books, then turned to Ranma.

"You mentioned a martial arts technique, the one that old man wanted you to learn last night. Have you had a chance to look at it?"

Ranma blinked and nodded. "It's a high level technique taught only to the best of the school. I've never even heard of it before so I'm not sure if my old man knew it or not. There is some kind of history between my father and the old man beyond the teacher and student thing, but I'm not sure what it is."

"Can you do the technique yet?"

She shook her head. "No, but I've been thinking about it all morning. I have a pretty good idea what I need to do, but it's one of those things you have to practice in private. Kind of like a secret technique."

Ami nodded as she pulled out her computer and started typing. "What does it do? If you master it I want to added it to your list of known attacks."

"Ah...well, it's a special kind of punch. It involves a special way to use your Ki so that you can do massive amounts of damage. It also has some side benifits to it as well."

"What does the punch itself do?" Ami inquired.

"Well the scroll says that if I use my Ki right I can strike at an opponent through their armor or any protections they might have."

"You're kidding!?" She muttered.

"Nope."

"Any idea what kind of effect it would have on our Senshi forms?"

"From the description of the technique I don't think the magical defenses of the transformation would work." Rama said slowly as she went over it in her mind. "If I was to use it I think I could get in close enough and cause some damage to any of us while we were transformed."

"While you are transformed into Starfire surely."

"Nope, just plain normal me. It'll surprise the heck out of whoever we are fighting don't you think." Ranma bragged.

"That's amazing and it doesn't even use magic to do it?"

"Not that I know of."

"I want to see this in action some time so I can record it." Ami muttered happily.

**********

To Be Continued...

End Notes - Several days after I posted this chapter originally I was reminded that Ranma already knew of several techniques that I was saying he didn't know. I had spaced them out during my break from the story and in some cases over a year had passed since I had looked at some of these chapters. I apologise for the confusion and offer up this instead, giving a description of a technique that Happosai uses in a way that Ranma isn't describing here. Now that I have confiremed my mistake Ranma's fighitng abilities are going to be increasing quite a bit as well the direction of the story as the next few chapters continue. I still haven't decided if I'll continue to follow along with the basic Sailor Moon story line for the first season because Ranma is making such a massive change in the way things are going. Even with Zoicite coming up here pretty soon I have to wonder if his part will even take place except as a single chapter. I'm not sure, but I'll decide that when I get there.