Heir to the
Empire
By Ozzallos
A Fukufics (dotcom) Production
Part 4
"The Enemy lives?"
The crystal ball
sat silent for a moment, its curved face contemplating. "Such a name does
not come up in casual conversation. You will investigate further?"
The Amazon elder
fought to keep the scorn off her face. Just who did the woman take her for?
Some unblooded neophyte? "Of course. There will be ample opportunity to
observe events play out."
The crystal-borne
visage frowned. "We cannot afford to allow events to merely play
out. If the enemy has been reborn, then we must act quickly. A council will be
assembled."
"I would
advise prudence in this matter."
"And as such,
requires urgent attention." The crackled voice countered. "If the boy
and The Enemy are one in the same, we can ill afford to wait."
"We can ill
afford to rush headlong into this."
"We both know
the boy had help, nor was Saffron a god." The crystal image retorted
testily. "Regardless, I will inform the council of your… hesitance
in this matter. Good day."
The old woman
sighed, covering the crystal with a silken blue sheet. It was by no means an
easy choice. Ride the storm out her in
She blinked at the
figure in the doorway as her eyes adjusted to the backlit body and smiled.
"Ah, grand daughter, how are you this day?"
The purple haired
twenty-some inclined her head slightly, taking the greeting as an invitation.
"Very good, grand mother."
"Still waking
us up at all hours of the night." The Amazon admitted, faintly amused.
"Gillete is a good male, though. He has a knack for rocking her to
sleep." She paused, shaking her head. "And the diapers. I don't know
what I'd do without him."
"Indeed."
"Not
exactly," The purple haired woman fingered her strait hair nervously.
"I… I have come to ask permission."
The Elder frowned
and silence reigned. After a few more drawn out moments, the
"You did
promise." Starch pressed quietly. "If I won the tribes
tournament…"
"Yes,
yes…"
If there was one
thing Starch knew about her grandmother, it was that she loathed losing yet
another to the rite. Friends were bad enough. Family was another matter
entirely. But her grandmother was one of the most faithful and loyal she knew.
The fact that she had not ascended was no dishonor in the slightest, having
saved a child and felling two of the guardians in the process. Beryl simply had
another path for the Elder, and now it was time for her to find her own.
She took the tiny
old woman into her arms. "I know grandmother. But it is through your honor
and skill that I may defeat the guardian."
"I would ask
that you look after her…" Starch smiled gently. "While I trust
Gillete implicitly, he's only a male."
"That weapon
alone has slain five of the guardians."
The pair shared
another moment of prolonged silence before Starch nodded and turned down the
path to face her destiny.
It was another two
days before
"Elder
"What is it,
Douche?"
The Warrior handed
her the silk wrapped length. "This was found at The Stones."
"No, Elder.
She has Ascended."
They wouldn't stop
for a long while.
Ranma
stopped at the gates of the temple before her, looking at the structure
curiously. She glanced back at her magical girl escort. "You guys live in
a shrine?"
Michiru shook her
head. "Of course not, your Highness. It is, however, a convenient place
for meetings."
"One that
doesn't raise too many questions." Haruka added, Hotaru nodding in kind.
Made sense, Ranma
thought as the four passed through the gate to the interior courtyard. Can't
have enemies going after your families, right? Ranma paused on that thought.
Speaking of which, how many times has that exact same thing happened to me?
If it wasn't Akane-snatchers, it was always somebody- or something -else. The
pigtailed girl shrugged mentally and followed the frail looking girl into the
shrine.
Hard to believe
she could destroy a planet.
Another mental
pause. Now just how in the hell do I know that? Ranma wondered. Memories of
course, the same memories these girls had baited her with into coming along. It
was all trouble, she thought. Nothing but trouble. No good could come of being
surrounded by magical girls, of that she was certain. Sooner or later, they
would get the genius idea that she was a guy and he was fiancée material. All
the more reason to stay girl-type for just a bit longer. Ranma eyed the slight
girl once more as they led her into the shrine's inner sanctum. She can destroy
a world, huh?
The four walked
through another hallway and to a comfortable room where four girls were happily
chatting away while one sat in silence and the other watched the rest
passively. Chit-chat immediately stopped as Ranma and her escorts and the
red-eyed woman smiled.
"Thank you
for coming, Serenity-chan." Setsuna walked over, lightly hugging the
silver-haired martial artist, who was surprised that it not only felt so
natural, but that the woman somehow managed to bypass her instinctive flinch
reflex concerning female contact. Everything about the green haired woman just
clicked with her at some level. It was so easy that it worried Ranma to no end.
The woman withdrew
and Ranma's nodded, eyes flicked across the room's occupants. "Not much of
a choice if I wanna find out what the heck is goin' on." Her eyes narrowed
at the blonde odango who stared at her with wide eyes. "You done trying to
take the rock?"
The blonde in
question looked down at her feet, avoiding eye contact. "I'm sorry…
mom."
Ranma's cheek
twitched and the Princess of Pluto frowned. The girl wasn't claiming to be
Serenity, but she certainly had all of her mannerisms. That particular one
normally indicated her friend was about to ream somebody up one side and down
the other, and Setsuna moved to intervene before she could get a full head of
stream going.
"How much do
you remember, Serenity-chan?"
She flashed an
edgy look at the green haired woman, but somehow found it impossible to bite
her head off for not calling her Ranma. Anybody else, however… "Look, I
don't know what you're talking about… I'm just seeing things is all. Probably
just got knocked by my fiancées one to many times."
"Fiancées?"
Ami leaned forward, while Haruka and Michiru's attention focused suddenly and
for obvious reasons. They had no idea their queen was like that.
Ranma nodded,
still standing warily despite the seat that had been pulled out for her.
"I think Nab's last count was at seventeen."
"SEVENTEEN!"
Minako blurted. If it hadn't been her, it would have been Rei, followed shortly
thereafter by Makato. Even Hotaru couldn't help but to stare. "You've got
to be kidding me!"
A wry grin lapsed
across Ranma's face. Telling people that always did make for an amusing
reaction. "Nope. Thanks to my old man, mostly."
"Your father…
engaged you to seventeen women?" Usagi wallowed in shock.
Ranma nodded.
"Feh. That ain't nothing compared to what he can do if he puts his mind to
it."
"Excuse
me." Setsuna mentioned, then promptly disappeared into thin air. Ranma was
left staring at the space she had just vacated.
"Neat
trick."
"Teleport."
Haruka supplied. "Though where she was off to in such--"
"THAT SON OF
A BITCH!" The green haired woman suddenly popped back into existence,
glowing with power and fury. She balled her fists and stared at Ranma. "He
did THAT to you?"
The martial
artists blinked. What the hell? "Um, which 'that' are you refereeing too?
God knows I can't keep count."
"Pluto?"
Usagi stepped forward tentatively. The woman looked like she was about ready to
murder somebody.
"He sold you
for a bowl of rice and two pickles!" Setsuna fumed and Ranma blinked.
"You know
that?" She asked, disbelieving that the woman could have simply pulled
such a detail out of thin air, let alone be so upset by it. Nobody else ever
was. Hell, Akane never got that upset. Maybe 'that sucked', but never
the outright fury Setsuna was displaying now. "Look, it ain't no
big--"
"Big
deal!" Her rage continued. "Why he even tossed you in--" Setsuna
stopped short and a mask of seriousness fell across her face. "Oh shit."
"Oh
shit?" Ami blinked. Setsuna didn't cuss. Period. Of course, she hardly
ever displayed an emotion beyond that of cool mystery, so today was just a red
letter day.
"Whatever you
do, your Majesty, do not look in the corner." Pluto ordered quietly.
Something told Ranma she should trust the woman and she simply arched an
eyebrow curiously.
"What's in
the corner?" Rei asked, turning around.
Makato shrugged.
"Just the cats as far as I can tell."
Ranma's eyes
widened. "C… c… cats?"
"Girls, SHUT
UP." Setsuna hissed and the winced at her tone, but fell silent. She turned
to Ranma in a softer tone. "Look at me and me only." Ranma's eyes
found hers. "There are no cats in this room."
"But Luna and
Artemis are--"
Setsuna's head
snapped around on Minako. "If you don't SHUT THE HELL UP, I'm going to
hang you by your toes somewhere in the Australian outback, do you
understand?" Minako whimpered an affirmative, and Pluto turned back to
Ranma one more time. The girl's eyes were pooling with terror.
"As I was
saying," she continued, softly. "There are no cats in this room. There
are Moon Court Advisors. They would like to say 'hi'."
"A..Advisors?"
Ranma managed through her fear soaked brain.
"Advisors."
Setsuna soothed. "They're sitting in the corner. Now do cats talk,
Ranma?"
"N…No."
She never took her
eyes off Ranma's. "Luna, Artemis… Say hello to the Queen."
"It is good
to see you again, your Majesty."
"We've missed
you, your Highness."
Ranma blinked. No,
those definitely weren't cats. A male and female voice. Setsuna watched her
neck muscles twitch and spoke. "Don't look at them yet. Do you remember
Luna and Artemis?" Ranma shook her head. The names were familiar, but like
so many of the fragments, the associations hung just out of reach. "Then
let me tell you who they are. They are you’re your foreign and domestic
political advisors. You couldn't ask for a better pair of… souls."
"Then why
can't I look at 'em?" Ranma mouthed nervously. Sure, the initial shock at
the mention of cats had worn away, but there was still the other shoe waiting
to drop. Everybody else looked at her intently, then to the corner and back to
her.
"Because,
well…" Setsuna paused, waffling. There was no real way to sugar coat it.
"Because they only look like cats."
Ranma began to
twitch again. "O… Only?"
Crap, crap, crap…
Setsuna mentally chaste herself. This wasn't working. She was going to need
time and the Queen's memories to break that psychosis. Now wasn't the time for
immersion therapy, and her friend's fears wouldn't care if they were talking
cats or not. She didn't want to banish them, but-- She watched Ranma's eyes
snap over into the corner, finding two innocent moon cats.
"C… c… c…
" Ranma gasped as her worst fears were uncaged in her mind. She took a
step back, jarring a small table and knocking over a lamp. "C… c… c…"
"Setsuna, is
there something we should…?" Artemis asked, clearly taken back by their
Queen's reaction.
Ranma took another
step back, cheek twitching. "N..Nuthin's wrong!"
A deep frown
crossed the Princess of Pluto's face. Tiny flames danced in her eyes. "The
Queen's biological father in this day and age subjected her to torture."
Haruka snarled.
"That fat-ass tortured the Queen!"
Setsuna nodded
grimly. She now had everybody's attention. "I won't detail the exact form
of that torture, but needless to say it involved…"
"Cats."
Ranma hissed, trying to still her trembling. It was all she could do from not
bolting outright, through the fact that these particular cats were forming
coherent sentences did help prevent a full blown anxiety attack. Arms enclosed
her in an embrace and Ranma looked up to find Setsuna's eyes glowing with
concern. Somehow her touch managed to siphon away a fraction of the fear and
trembling. She could stand in the presence of talk cats… She could… She could…
"It's okay,
Senny," She stroke the pigtailed girls hair and the trembling lessened
another fraction. "I'll ask them to leave if you--"
"I think I
may have a solution, Miss Pluto." Luna sat up from the cushion both moon
cats had been sitting on. A pink aura engulfed the black cat. A few second
later it peaked, washing the room out in pink before fading away, leaving a
girl in its wake. The shivering all but died away in Setsuna's hands and Ranma
blinked. The cat just turned into a wavy black haired girl who was wearing a
yellow and black fuku. She looked down at Artemis, who nodded. A soft white
aura engulfed the male moon cat, and he promptly shifted into the form of a
white haired teen in a white business suit and black tie. The trembling stopped
completely and Ranma stared at the pair curiously.
Artemis bowed low
and Luna kneeled at her feet. "We apologize if our natural forms caused
you any anxiety, your Eminence."
Ranma blinked, her
fear all but gone. "Huh. Whattdya know… More transforming cats."
Luna tilted his
head. "More?"
The silver haired
girl pulled away from Setsuna with a weak smile. "Uh, thanks… For
that." The Guardian of Time favored her with an understanding look. The
fact that the older woman was affecting her so was downright unnerving.
Ranma turned to
her captive audience. Dammit, she knew these people! But who the hell were
they? And the girl calling her mom! Somehow she knew that the transforming cats
shouldn't have come as a surprise either. She studied the nearly all girl
audience once more and sighed.
"All right.
I'll tell you my story if you all tell me yours."
"Oh,
you've got to be kidding." Serenity frowned as she stepped into the
room that held half a few dozen easily recognizable faces, as well as a liberal
dose pink and blue party streamers. Glossy ribbons were spread throughout the
room and smiles were plastered on everybody's face, including Setsuna, the
other Senshi, her Advisors, and assorted friends and well-wishers. She found
her best friend's eyes were bubbling with mirth. "Tell me this wasn't your
idea."
"Oh no, your
Highness," Setsuna looked aghast at the suggestion and Serenity couldn't
help but to roll her eyes. "I do believe that honor falls to your
advisors."
The Queen turned
to find both cats on a chair beaming wide smiles. "I should have known.
And what do you have to say for yourselves?"
Luna's smile
widened, if at all possible. "It was Michiru's fault. She coordinated
everything." Their monarch's eyes swiveled onto the Princess of Neptune,
who was affecting a look of absolute innocence.
"Not my
fault, your Highness." She protested. "Makato bought the party
favors."
Makato's face
scrunched in mock irritation. "I'm pretty sure all the blame falls onto
Minako. She chose the theme."
"Huh?"
She blinked, as if totally clueless of the events around her. Serenity would
have bought the act too if she hadn't hand picked the woman to take the mantle
of Venus herself. "I only heard about the party from 'Ruka-chan."
"Wild
accusations and unsubstantiated testimony, your Highness." The Senshi of
Uranus waved the blame aside. "Besides, I'm quite sure the chief architect
of this heinous crime is Hotaru." Everybody looked at Hotaru, nodding.
"Definitely
Hotaru."
"Ru-chan, how could you?"
"Don't you know the Queen doesn't like surprise parties?"
"A horrible thing to do."
"What do you have to say for yourself, Saturn?"
A moment of
silence followed the interrogation, and Hotaru's neutral expression gave way to
a smile. "It was Setsuna's fault."
Serenity simply
stood there, shaking her head. "Mutinous lot, all of you." She cast a
baleful glare across the entire smiling room. "I'll have you all strung up
tomorrow. Where's the cake?"
"Can't hang
people on an empty stomach, can you?" Setsuna stepped up to her best
friend's side with a wicked glint in her eyes. "At least your priorities
are straight."
The pair walked
through the colorfully decorated room, amid the well-wishers and
congratulations. The party guest ensured they gave their queen a wide berth to
accommodate her recently acquired roundness. The monarch's eyes flicked to the
wrapped presents with bows. "A little late for a baby-shower isn't
it?"
"It wouldn't
be if you didn't keep yourself so busy, Serenity-chan." Setsuna sniffed
haughtily. "Besides, didn't La Phoite tell you to take it easy this far
along?"
"Feh."
Serenity snorted and picked up a random present, shaking it. "Shows you
what the Her Majesty's Royal Physician knows."
An older officer
with a graying mane of hair leaned in, his eyes twinkling. "You break it,
you buy it."
Serenity's random
shaking of her presents stopped immediately, and she looked at the thing man
with a perturbed look. "Don't you have some small empire to crush,
Andrew?"
"I thought
that was your job, your Highness?" He grinned and leaned in. "So is
it a boy or a girl?"
"Oh, pah-lease."
Serenity rolled her eyes. "If you don't know by now, I'm obviously paying
you too much."
"True,
true." The Joint Chief of Staff nodded as if her statement were a given.
"Sure, I could have assigned a special op to the task and raided the Omnet
for the information, but I thought some creativity was in order for this
delicate mission."
"You asked La
Phoite."
"I asked La
Phoite."
"That man has
entirely too loose a tongue." The Queen shook her head.
"Cut it
out?" Pluto inquired dryly and Serenity nodded.
"Yes, make a
note of it." The trio stared seriously at one another for a moment before
busting into laughter.
"Say, can I
get that done for Jupiter?" Minako ducked in, having snatched an hors
d'oeuvre from a nearby tray. "She keeps complaining that I'm guy crazy.
I'm sick of it."
Setsuna arched an
eyebrow. "You are."
The Princess of
Venus blinked. "Oh, that's right…" and stalked off after one of the
party attendants.
Chief of Staff
Andrew Kay stared after the Senshi. "Are you sure she's a Champion of the
Realm?"
Serenity shrugged.
"Last I checked." She looked at the mingling party goers. "So
you're telling me you people had nothing better to do than ambush Her
Expectedness today?"
"Ran out of
small empires to crush." The Chief nodded.
"Kids are all
here." Pluto mentioned, motioning to the other Senshi.
"And instead
you decide to torment me with a baby shower." The Queen frowned.
"Yeah."
"Pretty
much."
Haruka and Michiru
wandered over to the trio hand in hand and smiles on their faces. Michiru put a
delicate figure on the Queen's belly, producing a light kick. "Whoops,
felt that one. So what are going to name her, your Roundness?"
"I swear,
somebody is going to burn for this." The Queen's words were at odds with
the smile on her face. "Not sure yet."
"Better get
cracking on that, your Highness." Haruka pointed out. "You're what,
eight months now?"
"As if the
little girl will let me forget." Serenity sighed, rubbing her silk covered
belly. Hotaru offered her a small china plate adorned with a large piece of
cake. The Queen's attention immediately focused and she smiled at the soft
spoken girl. "You know what would go great with--" Rei stepped up and
scooped some chocolate ice cream onto the plate. "Ah, that's the stuff.
Hotaru and Rei get raises."
Makato blinked.
"What about me!"
"You,"
She pointed at the Senshi of Jupiter with a cake laden fork. "Get the
satisfaction of obediently serving your Queen."
"I'd rather
have had the money." Makato grumbled, but broke into a grin moments later.
The shower began
in earnest, and Serenity was more than happy to put her nose to the task of
unwrapping presents, most of which were, in some way shape or form, for the
baby to be. If the gifts were any indication, she promised to be a damn cute
little girl. The party wore on and one by one, the guests excused themselves
until the only people that were left were Setsuna and Serenity, surrounded by
empty glasses and colorfully ripped wrapping paper. The Princess of Pluto
tipped her own beverage back and finished it off.
"For somebody
who doesn't like parties…"
"Yeah,
yeah." Serenity waved the accusation aside as she rested on a chair. She
certainly didn't have the social endurance she had eight months ago.
"Mainly it's the next day's gossip I hate. I'll probably have slept with
you if you listen to The Exquirer headlines tomorrow."
"I say orgy
with the Senshi." Setsuna challenged, holding out her hand. Setsuna took
it and shook.
"I'll take
that bet."
Both women laughed
at one another for another few minutes until Serenity grew silent with a
slightly pained expression on her face. Her best friend waited patiently.
"I was
thinking about naming her Usagi."
Pluto nodded
gravely. That was his name. His family name. "I think it's…
appropriate. And cute."
The last comment
managed to cute through the somber nature of their discussion.
"Cute?"
Setsuna smiled.
"Your daughter will be the rabbit in the moon. Very appropriate for a Moon
Princess."
Ranma
sat on the padded chair, clutching her head. She took a deep breath and looked
into those blue eyes. It looks as if I'm looking into a mirror, the martial
artist noted, then chopped that line of thought off abruptly. No! I'm not that
girl's mom!
"I know… It's
hard to accept." Setsuna let her hand rest on the silver haired girl's
shoulder gently. "Every one of these girls are still coping with the fact
they are the reincarnated guardians from a kingdom fourteen thousand years
dust."
Ranma stared up
incredulously at the green haired woman and her patience expired abruptly.
"Do you even realize what you're saying! Okay, so they're the guardians of
a dead empire. Fine! I have no trouble believing that! I meet stranger things
on a daily basis! But you're saying I was pregnant! With HER!" Ranma shook
her head violently. "No! Uh-uh! Didn't happen!"
Setsuna watched
the girl deny everything, and marveled how her foreign frame so closely
mimicked the behaviors of the friend she used to know. She knew Serenity's
idiosyncrasies like the back of her hand and recognized one in particular
playing across the girl's body language even as she fumed… It wasn't just a
denial born from ignorance. It was a denial of not wanting to face the truth.
After nearly a millennia of friendship with the woman, the Princess of Pluto
didn't have a doubt…
"You remember
Usagi, don't you?"
The anger
instantly began to transform into something else and Setsuna watched fear pool
in her monarch's eyes. "No… They're just visions… Hallucinations! I don't…
I can't…"
"How do you
know so much about me, Ranma?" She deliberately used her reincarnated
name, hoping to prevent the total mental collapse that was waiting in the wind.
"Look at the girls. You know them too. Hallucinations don't do that."
"B... but I'm
a guy…" Her voice cracked, and only somebody with Setsuna's lifetime of
experience could tell there was something more within those words. There was
the tiniest hint of defeat. "I… I'm Ranma Saotome, ruler of the Silver
Millenium--" Her eyes widened as the words slipped from her mouth
involuntarily. "No! I didn't mean--!" Setsuna and the girls simply
watched silently as the martial artist sorted herself out. "Dammit, this
sucks." Usagi couldn't help but to chuckle and Ranma shot her a look.
"What?"
"Just
remembering how I was told by a cat that I was the Princess of the Silver
Millennium for first time." She smiled warmly and the pig-tailed girl's
irritation faded into a simple frown.
"What I want
to know is how the Queen of the Silver Millennium was reincarnated a boy."
Ami leaned forward, staring at Ranma and remembering yesterday's
transformation.
"Yeah,"
Minako chimed in. "We came through it just fine."
"The Queen
intervened on your behalf." Pluto emphasized the silver haired martial
artist at her side. "She had no such intervention. I imagine
there's a huge difference between shot toward your destiny and drifting there,
metaphysically speaking."
Michiru nodded.
"In that case, it's a miracle she's even here at all."
"That was
her, not me." Ranma retorted, though with considerably less edge than
before. "I didn’t get pregnant and I ain't no mom."
"But… You
remember me?"
Ranma studied the
blonde with a critical eye. Those blue orbs eyed her back and continued to
unnerve her. "Yeah… I… she remembers you."
"So how is
she a girl?" Ami boggled, calculating variables. "I can see the
coming back through an uncontrolled reincarnation event… But to stumble across
a magical girl spring? The odds are… Staggering."
"Tell me
about it…" Ranma grumbled, remembering the most pivotal day of her life
quite clearly.
"The only
thing I can figure is that magic attracts magic." Rei commented, familiar
with the domain she was speaking on. "Maybe her inborn magic sought to
correct the imbalance it saw in her gender." Ami eyed the shrine maiden
skeptically and the Senshi shrugged. "Okay, so it's only a theory."
Setsuna watched
her friend as theories were thrown back and forth as to her reincarnation and
improbable existence, to which even she admitted were damn long odds. But at
least she was accepting the memories, if not the identity, the Princess of
Pluto thought. The rest would come, and all she had to do was worry about
keeping her sane in the mean time. Being reborn the guardian of a long dead
empire more or less as you were was one thing. Being completely reshaped in the
process would tend to screw up one's perspective, Setsuna imagined.
She was just about
to cut through the wild speculation when Ami's Mercury link did it for her with
a couple of polite chirps. The cobalt blue-haired girl flipped it open and
studied it with a frown.
"Youma
attack, near the market district."
Ranma arched an
eyebrow. "Just how do ya know that?"
"Well, we
couldn't have Rei erect detection wards across the entire city," She
explained, smiling at her own cleverness. "So I rigged the computer to
scan police and military traffic for the words like 'monster' and
'demon'."
"Alright
then, let's kick its ass!" Ranma smiled too, happy to finally be back on
familiar ground; that being the strangeness whose ass she could kick, as oppose
to the intangible sort she couldn't.
"I don't
think…" Haruka started with a concerned look on her face
"You really
shouldn't…" Michiru continued with a similarly pained look.
Hotaru simply
shook her head. "The Queen shouldn't be involved in frontline warfare,
your Eminence."
Ranma scowled and
Setsuna couldn't help but to chuckle. "Look, I'm being told I'm the Queen
of magical girls, the ruler of an empire and a mother. You better damn well bet
I'm gonna pound on something."
Ranma
watched from a rooftop overlooking the youma beatdown occurring on the street
below. On her left was Setsuna Meiou, Princess of Pluto, while her ever-present
Outer body guards had taken up positions around her. The silver haired martial
artist watched the spectacle critically as the younger Inners danced around their
pinkish grey opponent, lobbing magical attacks in a semi-coordinated assault.
"Moon
Tiara Action!"
Setsuna watched
her Queen carefully and noted the frown that was developing. "They're
really a lot better than they first appear, your Highness." She inserted,
addressing what she knew were her friend's concerns directly. "We just
haven't had a lot of time to concentrate on formal training."
"Venus
Love-Me Chain!"
Ranma nodded,
dismissing yet another 'your highness' comment from the only person that didn't
outright grate against her. The ease at which she had grown used to Setsuna's
company was frightening in itself, as if her presence were as expected as her
own shadow. That, and she had accurately addressed her worries concerning the
girls below. Two youma had already gone down under the Inner's magical fire,
but the third was proving to be a nimble nuisance. The only thing that made
sure it was nothing more than a nuisance was the number of magical girls
attacking it simultaneously, ensuring that the creature couldn't press any one
individual for any length of time. Still, it was fast and seemed to have enough
intelligence to stay inside the myriad of ranged attacks that made up the bulk
of the Senshi's arsenal.
"Earth
Shaker!"
"So they've
taken out this barrel woman, you say?" Ranma commented skeptically. Now
why did that name in particular sound familiar? Regardless, the level of skill
they were displaying was pretty mediocre.
"Beryl."
Setsuna correct. "And several other opponents that would have otherwise
destroyed the world as we know it." Ranma arched an eyebrow and the Senshi
smiled. "Let's just say they tend to rise to the occasion."
Ranma simply
nodded and watched another sloppily coordinated attack take place, accompanied
by the call of magical attacks. "If you say so."
Setsuna smiled at
her best friend's reservations. Her concerns were valid ones, at least for now.
Every last one of the girls had been skilled fighters in the Silver Millennium,
and once they recovered their full memories, would be once again. Still, she
couldn't expect the Queen to remember that at the moment, could she? The girl
herself watched the fight unfold and cocked her head curiously, as if noting
something. "Senny?"
Ranma stared into
the fray a moment longer before taking a step to the ledge. Sailor Uranus' eyes
widened. "Your Highness?"
Pluto restrained
the Senshi and Ranma dismissed her with a non-chalant wave. "Relax. My
turn to take a crack at it."
Michiru mirrored
her partners gaping as the silver pigtailed girl took the six story drop like
she was wearing armor, only that she wasn't and should have been severely
injured. Instead, they watched as she landed gracefully and walked over to the
melee already in progress.
Sailor Moon was
about ready to launch another tiara moon into the nimble demon when she caught
the girl- her mother -out of the corner of her eye smiling coldly. She took a
step back and moved to her side.
"Um, are you
sure you should be out here?" Worry sparkled in the blonde's eyes and
Ranma simply shrugged.
"I was
bored." She stated and watched another go at the youma. "Call 'em
back."
"Are you sure
that's a wise--"
Ranma frowned.
"Who's the Queen again?"
Sailor Moon
twitched at the pointed remainder and Ranma's mental aspect took on a wide
smile. If she was going to get all this crap heaped on her, no reason she
couldn't have fun with it. Moon gave the teen that was supposively her mother
another skeptical look before jumping back to the melee and recalling the
Senshi around her.
"Hey, what
gives?" Sailor Venus bristled at the order to withdraw, as did the other
Senshi. They gathered around Moon expectantly, only to watch her point to a
knuckle cracking Ranma. The silver haired girl's entire focus was on the youma.
"You mean she's
gonna take it on!" Mars blurted as the martial artist turned Queen of the
Silver Millennium stepped toward the youma. "She'll--!"
"Probably
kick some butt and take names." Ami inserted. "Don't forget who
she is." Usagi nodded with that statement, causing the remaining Senshi
shut up and watch round two of the youma beat-down.
Ranma sized up the
ugly pink beast with a smile. It was good to be back on familiar ground, even
if that familiar ground consisted of demonic smack down. Not that there was
really much of a difference. The line between Phoenix people, Amazon assassins,
hybrid Musk and ugly pink beasties was getting pretty thin these days.
The demon paused
with the change in players, casting a wary sidelong glance after the retreating
Senshi, then to the diminutive girl who took their place. Its limited intellect
simply couldn't comprehend why the enemy would sacrifice the tactical advantage
in favor of… this. It looked the silver haired female over and was disgusted.
Her life force would barely make for a good--
PHoooMMP!
A hot wind blasted
across the youma's psyche as the girls power spiked abruptly, its potential
translating into the visible spectrum in the form of soft white glow flowing
around the woman. The waves of power crashed against the demons probe and it
staggered back on reflex. Had it any choice in the matter, the pink scaled
beast would have turned tail and ran for the hills. Hard. Unfortunately, there
was programming to consider and that programming left only one option available
to it.
RWoooWL!
Pinkish-black
claws racked in and Ranma bobbed just out of reach, having clearly expected the
attack. Wind ruffled the girl's silver bangs and another claw swiped at her
with much the same results as the last. It clearly didn't have it's full
attention on task, the martial artist realized quickly as she found its slitted
eyes darting from her to the numerically superior Senshi across the street.
Still worried about a second front, eh? Ranma thought with mild annoyance.
"Fight's
here, asshole."
The silver haired
girl stepped in between the youma's third and forth strike, landing a hard palm
to the chest and blowing the demon fifteen feet into the street. The thing
tumbled across the ground before regaing some semblance of balance, flipping
upright with nothing worse than a few scrapes. The demon snarled and Ranma
smiled. That got its attention.
Fanged teeth
snapped at her and the youma charged, totally disregarding its former magical
girl opponents in favor of bringing the cocky little pigtailed girl down. There
was a small portion in the primitive difference engine it called intellect that
knew the chances of that actually happening were slim, but that just made her
all the more a priority target. The segmented bone tail punched in first at
high speed, rapidly followed by two claws that threatened to shred any flesh
the spiked barb manage to miss. In Ranma's case, the lethal attacks perforated
the air around the martial artist but failed to touch her. To the untrained
eye, it looked like each attempt missed the Saotome by the narrowest margin,
but looks were deceiving. The Youma was putting everything it had into offense,
only to managing a hit ratio to rival a certain Akane Tendo's.
From the top of
the building, Haruka Tenoh's mood was brightening considerably. Her first
encounter with her would-be monarch ended with her ass getting handed to her so
fast it made her head spin. Literally. It was a blow to her ego, especially
considering the fact that she was probably the best martial artist of the
entire group. But now she was watching her Queen engage a youma, unarmed, at
knife range and at blinding speed.
Nope, she didn't
feel bad anymore. Not at all.
Setsuna was in
much the same condition, only just managing to keep her mouth from hanging in
the breeze. She was certain that the woman below her was Serenity. One hundred
percent so. But this… It was almost frightening. She had never known her friend
to be so… Physical. Not just physical, but her skills at hand to hand combat
now seemed to rival her past ability to manipulate magic. She watched her best
friend dodge attack after attack with frightening ease. It was simply…
"Sugoi…."
Usagi whispered breathlessly as the person that was her mother effortlessly
danced with the youma they had been trying to put away for the last ten
minutes, and suddenly understood why she had been so confident in her ability
to stand against it alone. It was a sentiment shared by the rest of the Senshi,
who could do nothing but gwak at the display of martial arts prowess. Had there
been another youma hiding in the bushes behind them, the magical girls would
have been powerless to stop it.
Ranma was in high
spirits now, as it was probably the best workout she had received in a while.
Fun as it may have been, she was actually down here for more than a round of
sparring. She had seen something from the rooftop and now it was time to put
that something to the test. The pigtailed girl stepped out of the youma's
attack arc momentarily and switched stances on the fly into one that favored Amazon-shu.
She stepped back inside the monster's circle and made a big production of her
attacks, delivering them in such a way that would have been impossible not
to read. She even delivered them at half her normal speed and the youma
responded in kind, attempting a hasty defense as its prey pressed it back meter
by meter down the street.
"Come on,
ugly, I know you're in there somewhere…" Ranma growled and continued the
purposely sloppy offense. Any halfway competent martial artist would have
spotted the holes in her form and she frowned mentally as the demon failed to
notice them. She slowed her attacks and loosened her form even further,
bombarding it with technique after technique of Amazon origin in an attempt to
elicit some response. Finally it came as her fist blazed in from below. A spark
of inspiration jumped the gap somewhere in the youma's brain and it brought its
claw down on instinct, cutting off the attack and deflecting it sidewise. Ranma
smiled ferally as the demon moved to exploit the opening in the only way the
form allowed, only find its scaled arm seized and jerked right, spinning it
violently in preparation for the savage kick that was already inbound. What
passed as the youma's ribcage collapsed violently and the demon was skidding
across the concrete once more.
"Gotcha."
Ranma smirked, relaxing her stance as the youma tumbled to a halt.
Rei blinked,
shaking her head as the demon tried to gain its footing unsuccessfully.
"You mean she was just playing with it?"
"Your Mom's so
cool!" Sailor Jupiter blurted at Moon, causing a giant sweat drop to run
down the side of the blonde's head.
Pluto, Uranus,
Neptune and Saturn took the six story hop from their perch with the intention
on joining their monarch, when the beast stirred once more, righting itself
with a flip and charging Ranma suddenly. The girl's attention was turning back
to the youma in an almost lazy manner when a rose floated in from out of
nowhere and detonated in the creature's face, turning the immediate area around
it into explosive sheet of fire and molten concrete. All eyes turned down the
vector of the rose to find a young masked man clad in a black tuxedo and top
hat.
"Fear not,
fair maiden… For as long as there is justice in this world, I, Tuxedo Kamen
will be there to defend the flowers of innocence such as yourself."
Sailor Moon
instantly developed a starry eyed stare for the young man while the other
Inners developed similarly glazed-over expressions. The outers simply rolled
their eyes while Ranma had an entirely different reaction.
Her eye was
twitching.
The last thing she
needed in life was another goddamned Kuno, and it took every bit of effort not
to launch a low yield Moko Takabisha downrange into the tuxedoed interloper.
Instead, she turned her attention to the blast zone where the smoke was
clearing, only to find… Nothing. Ranma blinked, her eyes frantically searching
the scorched crater for anything resembling the demon. It was gone, which left
only two possibilities. Either the Tuxedo fool's rose had been sufficiently
powerful to vap her youma outright or… The twitch gained intensity.
"YOU
ASSHOLE!"
"Uh, excuse
me, miss?" Tuxedo Kamen blinked, having expected the young woman's praises
to fill his ears at any moment. His surprise was rather understandable,
however. Most victims of a youma attack were happy for his intervention on
average. Across the street, the Senshi were jolted from their lust induced
stupor, staring at their monarch as if she had grown a second head. She just
called Kamen a…?
"You let the
thing escape, dammit!" The pigtailed girl fumed, burning a hole into the
man with her leaded glare. "I wasn't done with it!"
"Wasn't
done…?" Tux shook his head, as if trying to make sense of the outlandish
situation. Girls in her situation were normally worshipping the ground he
walked on by now, not cursing his name. Sadly, he had absolutely no proper
grasp of exactly what sort of situation this particular girl was entangled. Had
he known, the masked defender of justice probably would have given the fight a
wide berth.
Sailor Moon took a
tentative step over to her rather irate mother. "You can't…! He's…
That's…!"
Ranma barely
registered the girl stumbling over her words until Sailor Pluto joined the
pair, Outer body guards in tow. "He's an ally, your Highness." She
supplied, gaining a skeptical look from Ranma. "He's also your daughter's
fiancé."
The silver haired
girl's head swiveled onto to Moon. "That pompus ass is your fiancée?"
Moon's mouth fell open while the remaining Inners were aghast. "God, and I
thought I had it bad. You're engaged to a Kuno."
In that time,
Tuxedo Kamen joined the group, eyeing the new girl carefully. "Excuse me,
I'm not sure I--"
Ranma's focus
immediate snapped from the Senshi back to the source of her irritation.
"Back off, rose-boy. I ain't too happy with you right now."
Sailor Moon
visibly flinched at the insult and the Inners simply couldn't believe that
somebody was verbally assaulting not only Usagi's future husband, but such a
fine specimen of manhood. It was also all Setsuna could do not to collapse into
a fit of insane laughter.
"I, ah, that
is to say… but I just saved your--!" Kamen stumbled over his next words.
"You let my
youma get away!" Ranma bit back sharply, then turned to her supposive
daughter with an evil thought that made her smile. The smile wasn't a pleasant
one. "You say you're engaged to this idiot?" Usagi nodded her head in
slow shock. Something wasn't right here….
"Not
anymore."
"WHAT!"
The word came from every direction at once and the evil grin grew in intensity
"But you
can't! He's… I'm…! MOM!" The blonde wailed plaintively. Tuxedo Kamen
simply blinked with confusion
Ranma Saotome
savored the chaos of the moment. If they were going to saddle her with this
queen thing and the mother bit, she was damn well going to have fun with it.
"Nope. No way am I letting my daughter marry a Kuno."
"Mom?"
Tux was thoroughly confused as he studied the rude girl he now regretted
saving. "Would somebody care to…"
Pluto stepped
forward with a grin that mirrored her friend's eerily. She took a sidelong
glance over at Ranma who met her eyes. The smile widened as a mutual
understanding passed between them. "Tuxedo Mask, I would like you to meet
Ranma Saotome-Serenity, reincarnated queen of the Silver Millenium. Moon's mother."
It took another
minute for the masked man to digest the information, and another to comprehend
the full ramifications. "She's… You… The Queen!"
"Oh, for
shame! What ever did I do to be cursed with an ungrateful daughter of loose
morals?" The smile vanished from Ranma's face with the overly dramatic
scene and Setsuna couldn't help but to snicker now.
Usagi's face
pitched a deep pink as her eyes widened, while Kamen gibbered wildly. Finally,
a coherent thought formed in the odango-atama's brain. "But you can't do
this!"
"Hush,
child." Ranma admonished, pulling out the best Nodoka impression she could
muster. "I'll only have my daughter engaged to a man among men, several if
necessary."
The blush deepened
and it took Kamen a moment to perceive the insult. "Man among… Wait! HEY!
I AM a man among men!"
Ranma arched an
eyebrow, dropping all pretense. "And what kinda man chucks roses at his
opponents?"
Tuxedo Kamen was
speechless for a moment but recovered quickly. "Those are very POWERFUL
roses, I'll have you know!"
The martial artist
simply rolled her eyes, and turned her back on the Tuxedoed avenger. "Come
on, Set-chan. We got an old mummy to visit."
Setsuna
chuckled again as she, Ranma and the Outers made their way into the heart of
Nerima. In reality, it was probably the most fun she had had in nearly two
millennia. She looked down at her best friend and smiled. "You're not
seriously going to dissolve their relationship, are you?"
The martial artist
snorted with amusement. "Nah, what do I care? I'm not exactly one to go
talkin' anyway."
Setsuna nodded
thoughtfully, remembering the redhead's life being played out before her in
compressed time via the Gates. The smile disappeared and she mentally resolved
once more to skin the hide of a certain Panda. But that could wait. "Even
so, Tuxedo Kamen is formidable. More so during the Silver
Millennium."
"Ya keep
saying that." Ranma commented as they rounded a corner and the Cat Café
came into view down the street. "But none of 'em are exactly overflowin'
with skill."
If the trailing
Outers heard, they kept their opinions to themselves, regardless of how right
or wrong she was. The Senshi of Time simply nodded. "True, but they lost a
lot when you shot them forward." That gained Ranma's undivided attention. "Their
memories are fragmented just as yours are. The only difference is that they've
had a bit more time to adjust."
Ranma held her
silence, and for a moment, could almost believe the green haired Senshi that
was fast becoming her friend. Not only was it nice to have a sympathetic ear
that wasn’t trying to marry her at the same time, but one that seemed to
know her and her problems so intimately. All that, and it was an eerily natural
condition to be in. She paused and cursed herself for even thinking such a thing,
though it was getting harder to deny the situation, just as it was getting
harder to explain away the flashes of memories as being produced by a knock on
the head.
Ranma sighed
mentally. Some days it just really didn't pay to roll out of bed.
"If I may,
your Highness…" Hotaru cut in politely, "Why are we going to see the
disciple of Beryl?"
Ranma gave the
frail looking girl a queer look, as that wasn't how she'd normally described
the old ghoul. "Cuz of the youma."
Michiru's eyes
widened. "She created the youma!"
"Nah."
Ranma waved her off. "She may be a tough old ghoul, but she ain't gonna go
around draining people's life force. No, that youma had elements of Amazon-shu
imbedded in its combat style and she's the best person to ask about it."
"You're kidding."
Haruka stated flatly and Ranma shook her head.
"Nope. Sloppy
as hell, but it's there." She confirmed. "I purposely set it up and
it responded to the form, alright."
"So you're
saying it's Amazon?" Setsuna cocked her head, following her friend's logic.
It also explained her irritation toward Usagi's fiancé quite handily.
"Kinda doubt
it." Ranma replied. "They're homicidal fruitcakes at times, but using
demons to do their dirty work ain't their style."
The group stepped
up to the establishment and Ranma paused before pushing open the door, turning
back to her entourage. "Don't care what she says about me, don't go
pickin' fights. The prune is so far out of your league it ain't funny."
She paused and considered the green haired Senshi. "Cept for Set-chan,
maybe."
"Your
confidence in my abilities is positively heartening." The Senshi
deadpanned, causing both to grin at the mutually shared humor. The remaining
three outers looked at one another, finding the normally barren Setsuna's
display of emotion positively creepy. With that, they entered the restaurant
which was bustling with lunchtime activity. That didn't stop a certain black
haired Amazon male from noticing their presence.
"May I
help--" Mousse stopped, adjusting his coke bottle thick glasses with a
scowl. "Oh. It's you."
"Yeah, just
me," Ranma grunted to nobody in particular. "Good ol' queen of the
Silver Millennium." Mousse's open salvo of hostility was promptly derailed
by the enigmatic comment. "Old ghoul in?"
He leaned in
closer to the martial artist as if to scrutinize her further. "You're not
here to see Shampoo?"
"Not unless
she aged a few hundred years and dried up into an--"
ThwaWP!
"OW!"
Ranma's sharp
retort was cut off as a cane dipped from behind Haruka and Michiru, cracking
the martial artist and would-be queen over the head painfully. Her four escorts
spun around suddenly, finding the old ghoul in question standing on a table.
"You should know better than to bad mouth your elders, son in-law."
Haruka forgot her
Queen's warning and lunged, only to watch as the elder retracted the gnarled
cane and push its tip into her torso. Only Ranma was able to make out the blur
of the attack and watched as the tension melted from the dishwater blonde's
body, sending her stumbling to the floor. The lunchtime crowd around them
gasped and clapped enthusiastically at the performance. Cologne gave them a
curt bow while Ranma simply shook her head, staring at Haruka's limp body.
"Told ya
so."
Cologne looked
from Ranma, down to the limp magical girl and back to Ranma. "It would
appear that your magical girl escort is in need of some skill, son
in-law."
"Tell me
about it." Ranma sighed.
"But I'm
assuming you didn't come by to enlist my aid in polishing their
technique." Cologne smiled mischievously. "What brings you here
today?"
"Youma."
The elder cocked
her head in curiosity. "While my knowledge on the matter is extensive, I'm
not sure what you're asking in particular."
"There was an
attack in the Juuban ward today." Setsuna inserted. "While that isn't
exactly unusual…"
"…The fact
that it was using Amazon-shu was." Ranma finished naturally, causing the
old woman to stare at the pair with an arched eyebrow. That exchange was far
too natural for two people who had only just met. Regardless, the information
was interesting.
"Are you
certain?" She queried skeptically. "The Amazon do not traffic demons,
son in-law. If anything, it sounds like the antics of your school's
master."
Ranma blinked. She
was right. She would sooner suspect Happosai than the old ghoul here any day of
the week. Haruka's pressure points wore off and Michiru helped the disgruntled
bodyguard to her feet. "Ok, you got me there, but the ugly thing knew your
moves. No doubt about it."
Cologne's eyes
slitted as she concentrated on the dilemma. The Amazon's didn't use demons to
do anything, period. How one would come across them was positively beyond her,
but that didn't cause her to doubt the Saotome's words. If she said it knew
Amazon-shu, then it knew Amazon-shu. "Perhaps you can describe it for
me?"
"It stood
six-eight, had a long tail with a spike grafted to the tip." The Senshi of
Time explained. Normally Cologne would have ignored her in favor of Ranma's
testimony, but the bond between the two was obvious. "Its exterior is
primarily pink scaling, two arms topped off with three razor-sharp
talons." Cologne froze with the new information as an ill wind blew the
dust off an old memory. "The demons are invariably humanoid female in
nature."
Ranma noticed the
stillness and called the elder out on it. "You know something, dontcha Old
Ghoul?"
"I…"
Cologne paused, stroking a lock of her long white mane. "Do you have a
picture of this beast?"
The Senshi of Time
turned to Michiru, who pulled an intricately designed mirror from behind her
back, and both Ranma and Cologne recognized the move as something akin to
Mousse's hidden weapons technique. The woman held it out flat and closed her
eyes. "Deep Aqua Mirror, show us the form of our queen's foe…"
"Which
one?" Ranma whispered, and Setsuna nearly choked with laughter while
Cologne couldn't help but to chuckle herself. Regardless, the mirror seemed to
divine which foe from intent and cast a faint image of the pink youma above the
mirror's surface. Any humor Cologne may have held died in that moment. She
leveled a grave gaze onto Ranma, who stared back curiously as Michiru returned
the mirror to safe storage.
"Come, son
in-law. We have much to discuss."
Author's
notes:
Ok, so I'm estimating six parts at the moment, but no guarantees. You all
know how tBoT went. Mot much in the way of comments this time around. Still
developing story and still thanking the crew at fukufics. The site is down at
the moment, but that's life. I know I should update my own site as well, but
I'm just lazy like that.
It's my
birthday today, so Part 4 here is my present to all yas. Enjoy.
Я
знаю я имеет
больше чем
немного
русских читателей
вне там,
настолько
здесь kricat-vne к вам.
Спасибо за
чтение и меня
надеются вы
имеет как
много потеху
по мере того
как я!
Of course, the
above probably came out to translate into something like "Chickens! Purple
underwear stoled Utah's carborator!"