Long Long Ago, but not so far away: Pluto knew Ruby was crying and didn't want anyone to see him. She wanted desperately to comfort him; it tore at her to watch him cry. But it would hurt his pride to let him know she knew. Finally, she couldn't hold back any longer and quietly walked to the room where he was slumped down on the bed. They were in her quarters in Charon City on Pluto (the planet. She wasn't recursive). She could hear the Styx racing by outside; the rains had been heavy this year. Ruby was still sobbing; he turned to face the wall when he heard her footsteps. "Go away." She sat down by him. "You're in my quarters, you know." "I know." He was lying. She could tell. "He was in love with me and...and...I left him to die!" Ruby tried to lash out at the wall in grief, but she took his hand. "It was what he wanted, Ruby." She stroked his cheek with her free hand. He started to stop her, but then he relaxed. "You couldn't both get away." She relaxed a little herself, glad to see he wasn't going to panic and flee as her sight had warned her he might do. He needed comfort and...she needed him. "We should have left as soon as we saw Beryl had too many people. Then we both would have had enough power to teleport. We could have both gotten away, but I was too busy beating up Beryl's twits to think about it!" He shook in her arms. "Diamond is dead because of me! Because I was too proud to run away!" "It is not your fault," she told him. "I know you did the best you could. He wouldn't want you to blame yourself." He turned and wrapped his arms around her and cried on her shoulder. "I couldn't even...He told me to...to..." She leaned down and kissed his cheek. "Now you know why I told you we couldn't get married," she said sadly. "I've known something bad was coming, although I didn't realize it would be this bad." It could be the end, the end of their entire civilization. The omens were bad and getting worse. "Are we doomed, Cassandra?" he asked. "Is this how it all ends? What do you see?" She slid a hand down to his waist. "I foresee that we must depart soon, but not so soon that we can't..." She blushed, which was a sight many people would have paid many bronze coins to see. "I love you, Ruby. I can say it now, because the end is so near. We cannot change that... but we can... if you want to...." Her usual cool facade was starting to crack; it always did when certain subjects came up; usually no one was willing to broach such subjects in her forbidding presence. He blushed as well; they had both never been very comfortable expressing their true feelings. "I'm going to feel like...like Diamond is watching me." "Well, Diamond did see me naked before you did, although that was an accident. I still don't know why my future sight didn't warn me, but it works best when it's important," she blushed a little, pulling off his belt. "And I'm sure Diamond wants you to be happy." "We're going to die," he said quietly. "I can feel it. I use my time magic to change its flow, rather to gaze into the future or the past, but I can...I can tell." He was using it now, she could tell. The roar of the Styx became distorted as it slowed. He was speeding up time in the bedroom, so that more time would pass there than in the outside world. She could do that, but it would hurt her badly, possibly kill her. It was a strange aspect of the Guardians and the Senshi, who paralleled each other in many ways, that while every aspect of magic had a Guardian and a Senshi, each would be far better at certain aspects of their particular art. Some surmised this was due to the fact that in most cases, the Senshi and Guardians drew their powers from different planets. Ruby and Pluto both had power over time, but Ruby was the Guardian of Saturn, not Pluto. Others argued it was inherent in the differences between women and men. Since only women were Senshi and only men were Guardians, this question seemed likely to never be resolved. This difference of powers was the reason why he could make time jump through hoops around him, while she could gaze into the distant past and future and even travel through time, but couldn't change its flow without risking death. And he could only see a few seconds into past or future at best, and even that strained him. For him to feel this...it must be a rock certainty. "We may die, but for now, I love you, Ruby." She leaned down and kissed him on the lips. They held the kiss for long moments, then he broke it off, settling back onto the bed. "Will we even know each other in our next life?" he asked. "I do not know. You would have to ask one of the others who has studied such matters more than I. I see bodies, not souls. But for now, we do know each other." They deepened that knowledge in the little time they had left. It was both the happiest and most tragic moment of their lives... and one that would have repercussions that neither could foresee. ***************** Children of Fire A Sailor Moon/Ranma Elseworld Chapter 3: The Dojo of the Four Winds By John Biles ***************** Kasumi stared at the poster. Dojo of the Four Winds, it read. That wouldn't have necessarily gotten her attention, even with the mention that it was a school of 'Anything Goes Martial Arts'. There were a fair number of variants of her family's art. It was the instructor who caught her eye, for she bore a strong resemblance to Kasumi's mother, Michiko, at least as Kasumi remembered her. She was younger, and her eyes were wrong; Michiko had brown eyes, not violet. But it could be...one of her sisters. The authorities had said it was a gas explosion which had destroyed the Tendo Dojo while Kasumi was out playing with a friend. That there must have been a leak and it all exploded. Kasumi knew better. She had seen the evil troll who did it, shriveled, short, bald, and smoking, running away from the site once he had found, or maybe failed to find, whatever had drawn him there. It was his fault; she was sure of it. One day, she would find him and kill him. He had done whatever had happened. But...she had always assumed her family was dead. That whatever had happened, it must have killed them all. Now... someone so much like her mother...she had to see who it was. She had to know. First, take the groceries home and change into a gi. And then it was time to see who the Mistress of the Four Winds truly was. ***************** Rei looked at her unwanted fiancee with more than a little disgust. "Honestly, Ranma, did you HAVE to become a girl to do this?" "Hey, guys can't be seen eating stuff like this!" Ranma-chan retorted, not stopping in her never-ending quest for the bottom of the parfait in front of her. "I sure don't see any guys here," Rei muttered. "Biiiii!" Ranma-chan rejoined, sticking out her tongue and pulling down one eyelid. Then grabbing the attention of a passing waiter, she pointed at a picture of an even bigger parfait. "I'd like to try this next!" she said in as cutesy a voice she could muster. The waiter's eyes widened in shock, but any response he might have made was cut short as the wall next to them exploded inward, sending debris everywhere and filling the ice cream shoppe with a huge cloud of dust. "Wh-what?" Ranma-chan coughed, trying to peer through the new entrance to the shoppe. A slim feminine figure was silhouetted there, a long staff in her hand. Her hair was tied back in a particular hairstyle, with two long ponytails trailing from two buns on top of her head. But she was just silhouetted for a moment. "OwieOwieOwieOwie!" Because she just tripped forward and fell on her face. The dust cleared to show a young, blonde, Japanese girl lying face down on the floor of the ice cream shop. In the hole behind her another girl, an exotic Chinese beauty with long purple hair, poked her head in and sighed. Both girls wore silk Chinese outfits. The blonde's was predominantly white and blue, while the other's was purple. "Usagi!" the second girl said. "Get up! You ruin entrance!" "Owie! It hurt! I'm sorry Shampoo-oneesama! I did everything you said." "Never mind. Find Ranma!" The girl on the floor, Usagi, looked around the ice cream shop. Her eyes lit up on seeing the redhead with the half-eaten parfait in front of her. "Ranma! Wow! I found you again! This is so cool! I mean I didn't think I'd ever do it but it was so cool to be back in Japan again that I didn't really worry because how many girls named Ranma could there be? Did you know that Shampoo didn't know what a phone book was? Not that you're listed--" The second girl prodded Usagi with a bonbori impatiently. "Oh, right... Um, I gotta kill you. Sorry about this." ***** The Dojo of the Four Winds was old, old enough to make Kasumi wonder how she had never heard of it before, standing at the crest of a hill, surrounded by an old fence and a rock garden, built out of wood in the ancient style that needed no nails. It was beautiful, but stark and a little gloomy, all in dark colors, but with wonderful carvings of clouds and winds and kamis of those two aspects of nature. A brand new sign, sloppily painted, stood jarringly over the gateway, proclaiming, 'Dojo of the Four Winds Martial Arts Academy. Home of Anything Goes Martial Arts. We'll make a new woman or man out of you!' Kasumi passed under it and into the dojo itself. Two classes were in progress. One was being taught by a short, squat middle-aged woman with muscles on her muscles, clad in a purple gi. Her hair was clipped short and bright red, her eyes dark brown. She was leading what were clearly the novices. Many of the novices, especially the men, kept trying to goggle at the other woman, who looked half the age of the first woman, and half as strong, but just as healthy. The poster photo was a good likeness of her. She moved fluidly through a kata she was teaching to the more advanced students, who periodically let out great shouts. It was fairly grueling; obviously they were dedicated. The woman finished teaching the kata, then looked over at Kasumi. Their eyes locked, blue gazing at violet at blue. They knew each other, yet neither could recognize the other. Kasumi reached out with her special senses, still feeble, but slowly growing stronger; she sought to feel the woman's chi. It rarely worked; you had to have huge amounts of chi, or be very strong. But for once, it did work. She could see the chi flowing through the room. Flowing into the two instructors. Each of the instructors had a...a knot. A hole. A vortex within them which drew off the chi from those who followed their instructions. She couldn't tell if it was natural or if it was some sort of special maneuver they were following, but their chi...it disturbed Kasumi deeply. It was wrong. She wasn't even sure if they were human. The woman was coming over to her. The students practiced the kata like robots. They were robots. It was, in a sense, a spell, one they could not escape because they had willingly participated in it. A ritual which fed their chi to the woman. They got back a tiny dribble of their own power, processed to make them feel the desire to come back and do it again. The two parasites kept the rest. Kasumi shuddered. Vampires. Something like that. She'd never seen one, but they couldn't be human. And yet...they looked so normal. The woman stood before her now. "You may call me Master Fuu." "You may call me...Akane." Kasumi said. She lied instinctively, not having even originally intended to lie. The woman started. Kasumi wondered if it was because she recognized the name of her missing sister or if there was some other reason. "Nice to meet you. Seeking to study in the Art?" Fuu's voice was tense. "I have traveled to many dojos and studied with many masters. What style do you practice here?" "Four Winds Anything Goes Martial Arts. It is an art of my own design. I too have studied with many masters, some of them very harsh." Fuu smiled grimly. "It is a style for warriors, to enable you to take out your enemies swiftly, to make the weak strong that they might not be oppressed, using every possible useful technique. I've distilled the best moves of every art and removed all the weak and useless ones." "May I spar with you? I would like to see it in action." Kasumi wanted to learn more; something had to be done about these people, yet she was not sure she was strong enough to be the one. Fuu relaxed slightly. "Certainly." They moved over to a mat and got into their combat stances. Kasumi's was more defensive, while Fuu balanced on the balls of her feet, ready to spring into action. Kasumi had fought others who used that stance, and Fuu reacted in the same manner they had, charging forward after the bow, unleashing a fury of kicks and blows. Kasumi dodged them easily; Fuu looked to have power, and her form was good, but her attacks were not as fast as Kasumi could move. Kasumi focused on the Aikido she had learned. She had used it successfully before against overeager opponents, exhausting them before she attacked. Fuu was soon airborne after overextending herself as Kasumi 'helped' her along, tossing her halfway across the dojo. That got the students' attention. They stopped sparring to watch. Kasumi simply spun and got ready for the answering charge. Fuu got up and grinned. "Finally, a worthy opponent." She charged again, and Kasumi prepared to pull the same trick. Not this time. At the last second, the charge turned into a slide, and now Kasumi was airborne as her feet were knocked out from under her. She landed lithely, cursing herself for expecting Fuu to repeat herself. The woman was not the Master of the Dojo for nothing. The battle was a dance, blow and counter blow. Kasumi let Fuu do most of the attacking at first, trying to get a grip on the style; it was mostly punches and kicks and blocks; Fuu was strong, but not fast. In fact, Fuu was incredibly strong. The few times she had connected with a punch, Kasumi had been surprised none of her ribs broke. Her own punches, on the other hand, Fuu didn't even notice. She must know how to harden herself with all that stolen chi, Kasumi thought. This could get ugly. *********** Once the initial surprise wore off, Ranma-chan was in less danger than she had feared at first. Her opponent was armed, but she wasn't really very enthusiastic, and her purple-haired companion was simply observing; it was Usagi's honor that was at stake, not hers. At least as far as Ranma-chan knew. The real danger was that Rei would get herself hurt, she was sure. Rei confirmed that fear by interposing herself and getting into a combat stance. "Who are you and why are you trying to kill Ranma?" The purple-haired girl answered instead of Usagi. "Red-haired thief stole prize from tournament. Usagi won third place, but Red-haired thief and her panda ate it. Panda ate Shampoo's prize too, but new Amazon Environmental Act forbids hunting Pandas. Then Red- haired Thief beat up Usagi when Usagi try to stop Thief, so now Usagi has to kill Thief to get her honor back. If outsider woman beat Amazon, Amazon must give her Kiss of Death." "She KISSED RANMA?" Rei shouted. "Hey, it's an Amazon custom!" Usagi shouted. "The Kiss of Death, not a marriage proposal or anything." "I didn't know it was your prize!" Ranma-chan said. Time to get Rei to safety, she thought. She ran forward, tossed Rei over one shoulder and sprinted out the door. "Go back to China! Amazon law doesn't apply here!" "Come back here!" Usagi shouted, running after Ranma- chan, but she was already gone. "Wow, she's fast, Shampoo," she said. "We'll find them again," Shampoo said in Mandarin Chinese. "We won't leave until we do find her and restore your honor. I promise you that." "Maybe Shingo will find them," Usagi replied, also in Mandarin, though with a heavy accent. "You really think so?" "Not really, but a girl can dream." ************* Kasumi was pulling out all the stops, but she was starting to fear it wouldn't be enough. Her opponent didn't seem to understand the idea of getting tired, probably because of all her stolen chi. All she could do was fight defensively and get in the occasional counterblow, which didn't seem to hurt Fuu at all. If only I'd had more time to study chi techniques, but Masaki-sama insisted it was time for me to return home, that it would be too chaotic there soon to continue my studies. How am I going to get out of this? Fuu's face was starting to turn red, more from aggravation than exertion; clearly she wasn't used to people being as good at dodging and defense as Kasumi was. "Stop dancing and fight me!" She had been focusing on punches, now she switched to a mix of punches and kicks. She knew quite a few, but as she got aggravated, she was starting to fall into a rhythm, which is a mistake in combat. Kasumi judged the pattern and then grabbed Fuu's foot as it lashed out, pulling her off her feet and flinging her again. Fuu wouldn't fall for that again for a while, Kasumi was sure. The woman learned quickly. Too quickly. Fuu charged again, snarling, moving into a series of spinning kicks and punches with huge amounts of force behind them. One of them connected, sending Kasumi flying across the room, through the wall, and off into the distance. It hurt tremendously, but it did relieve her of the problem of trying to find a way to get out alive. *********** A black cat with a white crescent moon on her forehead sat on top of a tin roof, looking out across a ward of Tokyo. It's good to be back, she thought, but I never thought I'd return to Tokyo like this. While some things had changed, Juuban was much like she had remembered it. Nothing else was. She curled up in a ball and tried to figure out what to do next. Usagi couldn't be allowed to kill the boy; that would be wrong. But if she didn't kill him, they could never return to the Amazon village, and without Amazon help, they would never be able to find the Kaisufuu, and without that, she and her husband would never be human again. They'd tried every other solution the Amazons knew of; even a prolonged dowsing in some of the drowned human pools hadn't done any good. But murder was wrong. Getting her humanity back at the cost of an innocent life...the thought made her shudder. Yet, she couldn't see another way out of it unless Shampoo could be convinced to lie, and Shampoo would never lie to her fellow Amazons. She groomed herself and tried to think of a better way. *********** Dr. Tofu stepped out of his clinic and watched his new assistant sweep the steps. "Strange. No patients at all today." "Perhaps they all finally took your advice and are taking care of themselves," she said. Her name was Setsuna, and she was a deeply tanned sixteen year old girl with green-black hair. Her eyes were a vivid reddish purple, and she was the best assistant he had ever had, and the fastest learner. "I can only wish," he said. Setsuna cocked her head, then turned and peered down the street. "I think that might be our first one of the day," she said. The girl was tall, with long black hair, and she looked like she had been mugged. She wore a torn gi covered with dirt, grime, and tar. Her arms had several nasty looking cuts and bruises, her face was a mess, and one of her shoes had lost half its sole. Dr. Tofu stared in shock, then ran over to her. "I'm a doctor; come with me and I can help you." "Auntie's a doctor...It's just a little way further home. I'll be fine," the girl managed to say, then slumped into his arms. With Setsuna's help, he managed to carry her into the clinic to one of his work beds, and started putting her back together again. *********** Kasumi woke up, most of her body aching. She was lying on a doctor's bed with a nice soft pillow, inside what looked like a doctor's office. She turned her head, and a skeleton offered her a cup of hot tea. She started and nearly fell off the far side of the bed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," a soft voice said. He sounded vaguely familiar. "I'm Doctor Tofu." Tofu. Tofu. "The chiropractor?" He blinked. "You know me?" Now she recognized him. He'd been her family doctor when she was little. "It's me. Tendo Kasumi." His eyes widened and he stared in shock. "You...You've grown up." She tried to sit up, but it hurt. Looking down at herself, she could see she was heavily swathed in bandages. "Not as much as I need to," she whispered to herself. "I've been off training in martial arts." "I wondered where you went. I'll get some tea and you can tell me all about it." Setsuna walked in with a plate of cookies, two teacups, and a pot of hot orange tea. "Here you go, Doctor." "Ahh, Kasumi, this is my assistant, Mei'ou Setsuna. Setsuna, this is Tendo Kasumi. Her family used to live here in Nerima before..." He frowned. "Whatever it was happened." Kasumi tried to decide if they would believe her, and quickly decided that without proof, it was best not to talk about it. "I don't know. I wasn't there." "Well, tell us about your training," Dr. Tofu said. "You need to lie down for a while until the pain eases off and you can go home. And I can tell you about everything that's happened here since then." Kasumi smiled. She'd always liked Dr. Tofu, and it seemed he hadn't changed much. "Well, I started by going to live with my cousins down in Shikoku..." *********** Ami stared in surprise when Kasumi, who now looked rather like a mummy, walked in. "Kasumi? What happened?" "Losing a fight keeps us humble, but..." She grunted and rubbed her leg. "Humility hurts." Ami ran over. "Did someone attack you? Should I get some aspirin?" "I went by a doctor, so I don't need an aspirin. I just need to rest for a few centuries. As for how it happened, technically, it was sparring." She frowned. "Sparring with a chi vampire." Ami stared at her. "A what?" "A dojo where they steal the life force of the students. The master won a sparring match with me. I will need to train a lot before I return. I would call the police, but I can't prove anything." She sighed, then winced. "Sighing hurts too." Time to contact Rei and Eiko, Ami thought. *********** Ranma-chan handed Rei to Grandpa. "You guard her. I've got to go kick this Amazon's butt." "You have students to teach," Grandpa said. "I'll deal with the Amazon." Ranma-chan looked over at the small group of students. I knew I forgot something, she thought. "This is my fight!" "You have a duty to your students! Do you think I can't beat her?" "Yes, I think you'll lose." Grandpa's eyes flashed. "I am the High Master of Hikawa Fire Martial Arts! I can deal with a hyperactive teenage girl!" "She's gonna kick your ass." "Hah! She may scare you, but she doesn't scare me." "Grandpa, you'd better let Ranma handle this," Rei said. "You remember what the doctor said about your heart." "Heart, shmart. I'm going, and you're staying and fulfilling your duties by teaching your students so your father doesn't stay in the zoo forever!" For a moment, Grandpa seemed to grow to three times his original size, and Rei and Ranma-chan both quailed. "Uhh..." Then he shrank back to normal. "Don't worry about me. I'll just convince her to abandon revenge and become an Acolyte of my temple instead!" Grandpa proclaimed. "And a new era of peace and prosperity and cute Acolytes will begin for the Hikawa temple!" He turned and ran off. Ranma-chan watched him go, then turned to Rei. "I can't let him do this!" She turned and stared at the students. "But what about them?" "You think Grandpa's going to beat her?" "No." Ranma-chan sighed. "I'll cancel the class for today, then I'll go chase down Usagi." "I'm coming with you." "Rei, you haven't learned enough to fight her." I'm Sailor Mars! I've beaten monsters, Rei thought. I can take some blonde bimbo. "I am going with you! I can't let you do this alone!" "I'm gonna go change into boy form, then we can finish discussing this, okay? Can you go tell the students the class is cancelled?" Rei started to retort, then realized it was quite reasonable, so she went and told them. Fifteen minutes later when she couldn't find Ranma anywhere on the temple grounds, she was feeling a lot less reasonable. *********** Grandpa had gotten about two blocks from the temple when he suddenly realized he had absolutely no clue as to where to find the woman looking for Ranma. So, he gave up on that, and started looking for potential cute acolytes for the temple instead. As usual, his search wasn't very fruitful, especially since the streets were mostly empty around here. Eventually, however, his wandering took him to the local business district, where he spotted a young woman who was going down the street asking everyone if they knew where to find Ranma. She had to be the one, he thought. He walked up to her. "Are you the one trying to find Ranma to kill him?" "No, I'm looking for a woman named Ranma," the young lady replied. "Ahh...did I say 'him'? I meant her." "Yes. Have you seen her?" "I'm her grandfather-in-law, and I'm afraid I can't let you kill him before he marries my...grandson." "Well, I'd really rather not kill her, but Shampoo- oneesama says it's the only way to restore my honor." A purple haired girl nearby, who had a grey kitten on her shoulder, turned and said, "Exactly. Law of Amazon Womens says that if an outsider woman beats an Amazon in battle, she must kill the outsider to restore her honor." Grandpa looked intently at the blonde. "You don't look like an Amazon." "The tribe adopted me after my parents were...after I lost my parents," she said. "Well, not exactly lost, but they...uh..." "Turned into cats by Musk Dynasty bucket. Very tragic story," Shampoo said. "We don't want to hurt you, old man, but Usagi HAS to kill Ranma to restore her honor." "Then you'll have to do it over my dead body!" He got into a fighting stance. "Come and get me!" Usagi looked over at Shampoo. "But he's just an old man." In Chinese, Shampoo said, "He's not just any old man. I can recognize he's using the Hikawa Fire Style of unarmed fighting from his stance. I suggest using Water Style Staff- fighting." "I'm better at Air style, though," Usagi replied in Mandarin, pulling a long quarterstaff out of...nowhere Grandpa could see. She twirled the staff and got into a two-handed fighting stance. Shampoo shrugged, and said in Japanese. "You find out hard way." The battle was short and fierce. Grandpa unleashed a barrage of kicks and punches...Usagi put the end of her quarterstaff to his forehead, and held him at length, until he paused to pant. Then she thwacked him in the head. He collapsed. "Well, that was easy." She went over to check if he was okay. As she knelt to take his pulse, he tossed her like a rag doll. She flew down the street, tried to land on her feet, and landed on her butt instead. "OWWWIE!!!!" He sprang to his feet. "The Fire Style is not so easily defeated, girl, for it consumes all it touches!" "So you know where Ranma is?" Shampoo asked. "Yes." "Sack him," Shampoo said. Usagi darted forward, jumped over him, whacked him in the back of the knees, then scooped him up in a sack. "Good, you can take us to her, so I can settle this." "You can't sack me if I'm not working for you!" Grandpa shouted. Usagi and Shampoo stared at each other. "Huh?" Usagi asked Shampoo. "Shampoo not understand weird Japanese saying." Amazons have no sense of humor, Grandpa thought. ********** Ranma-chan wandered the streets of Juuban. You know, I have absolutely no clue where to FIND them, she thought. They could be anywhere. She spotted a cat moping on a tin roof over a noodle stand. The cat was pitch black with a white crescent moon. Luna, she thought. Maybe she's found them. She leaped up onto the roof. "Hey, Luna, wake up." She stopped napping, and blinked at Ranma-chan. "Have you seen Usagi and Shampoo? I've got to find them. They're trying to kill me." She paused. "I suppose you wouldn't know who they are." "The Amazons I saw you fighting earlier?" "Yeah!" "Follow me. I think I know where to find them." She jumped up and started running roof to roof, and Ranma-chan followed her. ********** Ranma-chan followed her cat friend through the streets, back in the direction she came. "So where are they?" "I'm tracking them with my magic cat powers," she replied. "I have enhanced tracking abilities, so once I find a trail, I can't lose it. That's why we went back to the shop." Ranma-chan nodded. That made sense. "So you know the route, but not where they are." "Exactly. We could find them almost anywhere." She paused to swat a bug. "But the trail is getting fresher." They walked a few more minutes, then she paused at the foot of a staircase. "They should be up there, I'm guessing, though why they've gone to a temple..." It wasn't just any temple. It was home. Which meant....Rei. Ranma-chan growled. "Dammit." She sprinted up the stairs five at a time, and her cat companion simply couldn't keep up. At first, she thought the courtyard was empty. Then she saw Rei prone in the courtyard, face down in the dirt, and two cats chasing her ravens around as best they could. Which wasn't very well. There was a squirming sack on the porch. She charged over towards Rei, and knelt to check her pulse. She was still alive, just unconscious. No obvious injuries. Ranma-chan started to pick her up, and then got hit in the head with a discus. Staggering backwards, she dropped Rei, then turned and looked. Usagi stood at the far side of the courtyard, staff in hand. The discus returned to her, and she bowed. "I'm sorry. Let's finish this." "I don't like fighting girls, but you're starting to piss me off!" "I wish it didn't have to be like this." Ranma-chan had never fought anyone who looked as sad as Usagi did. "But I'm stuck." She charged forward, staff in hand, and Ranma-chan charged to intercept her. They both leaped into the air and met high above the courtyard, staff and flesh striking thrice before they each landed. Neither had gotten a blow through at the other. "You're good," Usagi said. "Did you do that to Rei?" Ranma-chan asked. "No, she tried to beat up Oneesama, so Oneesama knocked her out." She charged again, and Ranma-chan dropped low to sweep her. However, at the last moment, she used her staff to pole vault over Ranma-chan, then spun and kicked her from behind, sending her sprawling. Ranma-chan quickly rolled to one side and got to her feet. "She isn't part of this." "She attacked us! So Oneesama took her down with a pressure point. We were just going to wait for you to come home." She tried the pole vaulting trick again, but this time Ranma-chan backflipped right as the pole touched the dirt, and Usagi landed right in front of Ranma-chan's new position. She got a kick in the gut and went tumbling. "Uh huh," Ranma-chan could believe Rei attacking them, but she didn't feel like being reasonable anymore. She pressed her advantage, unleashing a series of blows that Usagi could barely parry, several of which got through to bruise Usagi's arms. She culminated with a mighty kick that sent Usagi's staff flying and knocked Usagi down onto the ground. "Without that staff, you're in trouble." Then Usagi's legs and feet wrapped around hers, and Usagi flipped backwards, legs first, sending Ranma-chan high into the air. One of her arms grabbed one of her two discuses and hurled it at where Ranma-chan would land. It whacked Ranma-chan in the side and knocked her into the storage shed, putting a hole in it. "Every Amazon learns to fight without a weapon too." By the time Ranma-chan crawled out of the wreckage, Usagi had rearmed herself and was closing in, along with both discuses, which were airborne and zooming at Ranma-chan from two different directions. Ranma-chan simply leaped straight up to avoid them, then realized there was one major problem; what goes straight up comes straight down. Usagi used her staff like a baseball bat, nailing Ranma- chan in the gut and throwing her across the courtyard and through the doors right into the temple. Paper doors did nothing to slow her motion, but the large stone statue she slammed into did. Alright, now I get serious, she thought. She reached the porch by the time Usagi crossed the courtyard to her, and she jumped at Usagi, deliberately missing her. Flying past Usagi, she struck a tree and bounced off it, coming in at high speed. Usagi spun and vaulted off the porch, readying her staff. Ranma-chan spun herself in the air, moving to land feet first. Her momentum was too much for Usagi, who blocked the blow but couldn't suck up the inertia. The staff should have broken, but to Ranma-chan's surprise, it didn't. Usagi got tossed into another tree, and a shower of cherry blossoms fell on her head. She was stunned, and Ranma-chan closed in, pelting her grimly with blows. This went on until Ranma-chan took a knee in the groin. She fell backwards, then rolled to her feet, pausing to spit. "Ready to go back to China and forget about this?" Usagi rose to her feet, leaning on her staff. "Amazons...never give up." She stood up, took a deep breath, and looked assessingly at Ranma-chan. "You're the best non- Amazon I've ever fought. I wish it didn't have to be like this. I wish...we could be friends." She sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I ate your prize, but I think trying to chase me all the way here and kill me is pretty stupid." "Well, if a woman beats us, we have to kill them. I wish I didn't have to, but..." She looked pained. A thought struck Ranma. "I'm really a guy. So you don't have to kill me." "What? But you look like a woman!" "Ever heard of Jyusenkyo?" Usagi turned beet red. "Well, uh..." Rei moaned and sat up. "Ranma, what is..." She saw Usagi and growled. "You nutcase!" Shampoo stepped out of the house. "No sign of...oh, no wonder Shampoo thought she heard fighting." She looked at Ranma-chan and Usagi. "Come with me and I'll show you." Rei let Grandpa out of the bag, and they all followed her to the kitchen where she filled a bucket with hot water from the sink. "Watch this." She splashed herself and transformed. "I turn into a girl when I get wet. Hot water makes me a boy." "You fall in at Jyusenkyo," Shampoo said. "Yes." "So you really boy." "Yes." Usagi shuddered. "I guess no one used the bucket on you," she said. "Eh?" Rei asked. "Bucket? He just used a bucket, you nitwit!" "Good news and better news, Ranma," Shampoo said to her. "What's the good news?" "She doesn't have to kill you." Ranma gave a great sigh of relief. "What's the better news?" Rei asked. "She has to marry Ranma. Ranma lucky man" "..." Ranma-chan facefaulted, and Rei nearly fell down. "MARRY HIM?" Rei shouted. "Yep. Only way to keep honor. Don't worry, Ranma, Usagi will make you a good wife." "..." "Don't have to marry immediately, but now you engaged." Usagi nodded. "Hmmm. He is cute both ways...okay, I guess. It is the Amazon way, and I wanna be a good Amazon...can I still date other men?" "Of course. We only beat up men who fool around." "Oh, well, that's fine then." "HEY! Don't I have any say in this?" Ranma-chan demanded. "No," Shampoo said. "Now we have to go save cat family from the ravens." Rei said, "If your cats hurt my ravens, I'll turn them into soup!" Usagi laughed nervously. "They're not my pets, they're my family." "What?" Rei asked. "Whole family except her cursed at Jyusenkyo. As the Guide would say, 'Very Tragic Story'." "What?" Usagi freaked out. "Ididn'tmeantodoit!Therewasthisweird guywithabucketandItrippedanditwentintothepoolandwhenItook itout itsprayedalloverhimandmyfolksandmybrattybrotherand theyallturnedintoCATS!Icouldadied!" She took a deep breath. "I was only eight. So the Amazons raised me and taught me to fight. And we hope to eventually find the kettle thing that can cure my folks. Once we get married, you can help us look!" "Hey, it's not like you ain't cute or nothing, but I'm like, already engaged and stuff. And I ain't under no Amazon law." Ranma frowned. Things just kept getting weirder. "You beat her in Amazon village, where Amazon law apply. So now you get to marry Shampoo's little sister." "He can't marry HER!" Rei shouted. "Why?" "Because...uh...he turns into a girl!" "Better than a cat," Usagi said. "And we can share clothing that way." "..." "And I gotta do it to keep my honor. Isn't honor important to you?" "I gotta get my pop out of the zoo before I can even THINK about the fiancee I already got!" "Yeah!" Rei said. "It isn't like we want to marry each other, given he's a macho idiot who eats too much ice cream, but we gotta convince our parents that this engagement is wrong before we can even think about anyone else, especially some blonde who just fell off the turnip truck!" "Hey! I did not fall off the turnip truck! Down a few staircases, but..." "Ranma needs someone smart, because he hasn't got any brains of his own!" "HEY!!!!" "I am not stupid! Don't be mean to me!" She stuck out her tongue at Rei, who stuck her tongue back, and a hail of incomprehensible insults rained back and forth. Ranma stepped back with Shampoo. "This happen often?" "Shampoo think you should dump big mouth girl and make her little sister Usagi happy by marrying her." "Man, I can't just marry someone I just met." "Give Usagi a chance. She's very sweet, and tries hard." "But doesn't succeed?" "Shampoo not say that." She paused. "Usagi work very hard when it important, not so hard at other times. Shampoo very pleased with how hard Usagi tried to find you. And glad she didn't have to really kill you. Shampoo thinks it would have broken Usagi's heart. She really liked you when she met you before." "I like her too, but I mean...I can't just marry her." "Give Usagi a chance, okay? We stay a while, let you get to know each other." "Uh...okay. Oh...and don't tell no one about my curse, okay?" Ranma leaned against the refrigerator. "Mashed potatoes head!" Usagi shouted. "My hair does NOT look like mashed potatoes! You can't just make up insults!" Rei shouted back. "Then stop insulting me!" Shampoo shook her head. "Don't let her beat you, little sister!" She turned to Ranma. "Shampoo not tell anyone." "Thanks." Usagi ran over to Ranma. "Tell her to stop insulting me! She's mean!" "Lay off, Rei," Ranma said. "Oh, now you're on her side!" Rei shouted. "Hah! Go ahead and marry her! See if I care!" She stormed off. "Is she always like this?" Usagi asked nervously. "Only when she's awake," Ranma replied. *********** "You'll be working heavily with my sister," Kunou said to Mamoru, "much as I regret inflicting that on anyone. But she does have quite a knack with plants." As Mamoru looked at the black roses, black chrysanthemums, black daffodils, and black ivy that made up a large component of the Kunou family garden, he had to agree with Kunou. "I take it black is a family color." He sighed. "She is obsessed with it. One reason I want to hire a gardener is that if I leave it all to Kodachi, everything will be black. I'd like to have some normal plants around." Mamoru nodded. "This is rather gloomy." "Exactly. Even if you can only work part-time, that will be good enough. And since I've recently become engaged, I want everything to be beautiful for my lady fair. Black gloom does not suit the fair mistress of music. She needs green growing life to match her hair." "Well, I'll have to tear some of this up to make room, buy some plants...when do you want me to start?" "As soon as possible. Sasuke will negotiate terms of payment, working hours and the like with you, and assist you with any necessary antivenoms." Mamoru blinked. "What?" "Or other medical needs. And he can help you purchase the needed plants through an expense account." Mamoru nodded, and started thinking about how to turn the Kunou estate into a green and pleasant land. *********** Naru came running up the steps as they came out of the house into the yard. She ran across the yard to Ranma. "Are you okay? Rei said you had to go fight someone and I..." She stared nervously at the ground. "I had a bad feeling like something awful was going to happen to you, so I came back to look for you and...uh..." She began to fidget as well, then noticed Usagi. She stared at her. "Do I know you?" Ranma said, "Usagi, this is Naru." Naru and Usagi both started, and Naru said, "Usagi...Tsukino Usagi? We all thought you died!" Usagi laughed nervously. "No, I've just been in China, learning to be an Amazon." Naru boggled. "I thought your family was just going on vacation." Usagi came over and sat down, sighing. A little grey kitten ran across the yard and jumped into her lap, with one of Rei's ravens in pursuit, while the other sparred with two larger cats. "This is my brother Shingo. My parents got turned into cats too. That's them over there." "..." Hey, one of those cats looks like Luna, Ranma realized. In fact, I bet that was her who brought me here. "I know it sounds crazy," Usagi said. "But we went to see the Cursed Springs of Jyusenkyo, and they all got turned into cats by this magic bucket I...uh..." She laughed nervously. "I sort of knocked it into the spring and it splashed everyone but me and they all got stuck as cats." "Oh, come on, Usagi, that's even sillier than the stories you used to tell me when you were little about how you were really a princess from another planet." "That was just dreams, but this is real! Say hello to Naru, Shingo." "Hello to Naru," the young cat said, then laughed. "It really is me. I can't recognize you either." Naru jumped back in shock. "You're a ventriloquist?" Wait...Usagi had a younger brother, but... he's a cat now? "She's just an idiot," Shingo-neko said. "HEY! I am a fully fledged Amazon warrior!" "It only took you two years longer than it does most women," Shingo said. "I didn't want to rush myself!" Usagi replied. Soon she and the cat were in the throes of a fight, while Ranma, Rei, Grandpa, Shampoo, and Naru watched. "You know her?" Rei asked Naru. "Yeah, we were best friends before she vanished on a trip to China eight years ago. She hasn't changed much, except for being in a lot better shape." Shampoo said, "Usagi did a good job of catching up, considering most Amazon Womens start learning to fight at age 2. She still has long way to go to match most Amazons her age, but she has spirit. She make good wife for Ranma." Naru twitched. "Wife?" Ranma laughed nervously. "They say I have to marry her because of this stupid Amazon law about marrying an outsider male who beats you in combat." "You attacked Usagi?" Naru boggled. "I...uh...ate the prize at the tournament, and so she... challenged me to a duel. I won, of course. So they followed me here." "You're not REALLY going to marry her?" Naru asked. "I'm already engaged to Rei, so I ain't marrying no one until I can get Pop to let us out of that." "You're engaged to REI?" "Engagement to Usagi comes first," Shampoo said. "He's marrying Rei," Grandpa said flatly. "I'd never marry that macho idiot!" Rei said. "You can have your Amazon bimbo!" "Usagi is not a bimbo!" Naru said. "Well...she didn't used to be, anyway." "I am not a bimbo!" Usagi said. "Stop insulting me! You don't even hardly know me!" "Alright, you're just crazy, thinking you can walk in here and run off with my fiancee!" "Oh, NOW you want him?" Usagi demanded. Shampoo said, "How about you have a duel? Winner gets Ranma. We specify loser doesn't have to kill winner, so no blood feud if Usagi loses." "I'm not gonna lose." "Dueling over a man is stupid!" Rei said. "Oh, so you think you'll lose?" Shampoo replied. "I am not a prize!" Ranma shouted. Everyone ignored him but Naru. Naru asked him, "You're not really...I mean...do you want to marry Rei?" "Hell no!" Rei shouted at Shampoo. "I could kick her butt from here to the moon! Then she could go pound some rice cakes!" "Then why you afraid to fight her?" Shampoo asked. "Nyaah! Coward!" Usagi shouted, sticking her tongue out. "Me and Rei would kill each other if we got married," Ranma said nervously to Naru. "Assuming she and Usagi don't kill each other first." "Fine! In one week, we'll fight to see who gets to marry Ranma!" Rei shouted. "That'll give you time to write your will and stock up on painkillers!" "I will preside over the duel," Grandpa said. "Hey, don't I get any input on this?" Ranma asked. "No," everyone said. "C'mon, Naru, I'll walk you home while they all plan my future for me," Ranma said, dragging her off by the arm. Slowly, the shouts and threats and planning faded behind them as they walked down the steps from the temple. "So you don't want to marry either of them?" Naru asked. "Well, if I gotta marry someone, I could do a lot worse," Ranma said, "But I don't know either of them well enough to get married, and I ain't gonna let Pop or some stupid law push me into marriage. And I want a girl who isn't a violent maniac." Naru perked up a bit, feeling relieved. "So what are you going to do about the duel?" "I ain't gonna let them choose who I marry. I dunno. I'll think of something." "I can't believe the way she and Rei were going at it...I guess they must both really like you a lot." "Rei? Like me? She puts up with me, but..." "Why else would she fight a duel to marry you if she didn't like you?" "Cause they insulted her into it. She's got a temper, you know, though she can be kinda sweet when she's in a good mood. I think Usagi's gonna kick her ass, though." He shook his head. "Let's not tell anyone about this, okay? I don't want a lot of people showing up to see Rei lose if I can't talk her out of this." Naru nodded. "My lips are sealed." *********** 'Duel of Honor for the hand of Ranma Saotome scheduled for May 6. Come see beautiful Chinese Amazon woman crush creepy raven girl for the right to marry this strong warrior. At the Hikawa Temple, at 6pm.' The banner included two fairly good pictures of Usagi and Rei, respectively. Ranma was somewhat nonplused to see this strung over the front gate of his school. He became more so when he saw more of them liberally swathed over everything in the school, and the instant he stepped into his class, every guy surrounded him. "You're really gonna marry whoever wins?" "Marry the blonde, she's cute!" "So did they discover you were shagging both of them or something?" "Five hundred yen on the brunette!" "I say marry both of them!" "What about Naru? Everyone's been seeing you two together." "Can I have the one who loses?" "I ain't marrying nobody! And who put up all these damn banners?" Everyone pointed at Umino, who was busy talking to a girl named Sayuri. "Right now, I'm giving odds of 2 to 1 in favor of the Amazon," he said to Sayuri, then realized Ranma was staring at him. "Uh...hi." Ranma stormed over. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" "I only helped her make the banners, it was her idea, please don't kill me!" Umino said, instinctively crumpling. "Her who?" "The purple haired girl!" Umino said. "Called herself Shampoo." I should have guessed. "I can't believe you..." He sighed. "Take them ALL down." "But she'll get mad!" "Not as mad as I will!" ********** Ukyou blinked at the banner over the front door of her school. "What the..." Haruka looked up. "Hmm. Could that be the Ranma you're looking for? Although Ranma is a woman, right?" "Well, it'll be worth looking into," Ukyou replied. A week. I've got a week to train to rip him to tiny bits. "I wonder why they put it on our school, though...none of these people go here," Haruka pondered. "Probably it's on all the local schools." ********** Ryouga Hibiki stared at the banner. Why did someone put this on the front of my house? Unless maybe they knew I need to kill Saotome. His house looked sort of strange, too, as if his parents had remodeled it to look like his school. No, wait, this WAS his school. He tried to remember if he was supposed to be at home or at school. He was at school! He'd actually made it to Blue Sky Academy in one trip! Ryouga did a little dance of victory. Then the late bell rang, and he ended up spending his first hour in the hallway. But he didn't care, since it was better than spending the first hour wandering the back streets of Shinjuku, like he usually did. Once again, he wondered what his first period class would be if he ever actually got to attend it. He didn't mind today, though; he could spend the time planning how to find and annihilate Saotome. And he had a whole week to reach the temple, so he was sure he would make it this time. *********** Rei was already home when Ranma got back from school, busily working out in the yard. He stood for a few minutes and watched her run through the katas, including one he had taught her. She's really determined to win this, he thought. Does that mean she really likes me, or is she just trying to get even for being insulted? "Hey, Rei, did they put up banners at your school too?" "Yes," she said, sighing. "That crazy purple haired Amazon has been busy." "You really sure you want to do this, Rei?" "I'm gonna show that blonde bimbo her place!" "I hate to say it, but she's got about six or seven more years of training than you. You're just gonna get hurt." She came over to him. "Do you WANT to have to marry her?" "No, but..." "Even if she crushes me, at least I'll know I gave it my all." She stared at him with fire in her eyes, and he stepped back, impressed and a little scared. She certainly had fighting spirit. "Well, would you like some help preparing?" Rei blinked and the fires banked. "You're gonna help me?" "Ain't no other way you're gonna get out of this without being maimed. The girl may not look very bright, but she's a good fighter. Can't hold a candle to me, of course, but she'll mangle you." Rei scowled for a moment, then sighed. "I'll take any help you can give me. But first...I need to tell you two things." "Uh...okay." "I'm Sailor Mars." "..." "And we have a meeting later tonight with Ami to discuss this Dojo of the Four Winds. Kasumi told Ami it had chi vampires living in it." "And they claim to practice my fighting style..." He frowned. "Okay, I'm in." Pause. "You're Sailor Mars?" "Yes." "Why didn't you tell me before?" "Had to talk to Ami about it. She's Sailor Mercury. You're not mad at me, are you?" "Just kinda surprised. Sailor Mars was a lot cuter than you. She was kinda sexy and cool, too. So how do you hide it so well?" *Wham!* Ranma went sprawling. "Don't call me uncute!" Rei shouted. "Now THAT is what you need to do to Usagi," Ranma said, deciding to lie on the ground for a while. ********** They were over at Ami's house, up in the upstairs parlor. Kasumi was out at the grocery store, and Ami's mom was off at work. Luna said, "I did some scouting. It looked like a normal dojo, except for all the students being so exhausted afterwards. I could feel some negative energy, but I couldn't pinpoint it." "Take a look at this," Ami said, holding open a photo album in front of Luna. "Anyone look familiar?" Luna pointed at a woman. "She does. The instructor looks sort of like her." "That's Kasumi's mother," Ami said. "Kasumi's mom is working for the Dark Kingdom?" Rei asked in disbelief. "Could be," Luna said. "Although the instructor looked younger than the woman in the photo. Close, though." "Maybe that's what happened to Kasumi's family," Ami said. "Here's my plan. You two will sign up for lessons. I'll hide and use my visor and computer to scan a lesson session. If they really are youma, I'll fill the place with fog, and that will be your signal to transform and attack." "What if there's too many of them for us to fight them all?" Rei asked. "Then I'll come talk to you after the lessons and we make a new plan," Ami said. "Maybe we should recruit Kasumi," Rei said. "If they really are her family..." "No way I'm working with that violent maniac," Ranma said. "She'd try to kick my head in instead of the youma." "Anyway, it's too late to do this today, but tomorrow after school we can go. You guys wanna stay for dinner?" "Sure thing," Ranma said. "I never say no to free food. Then I gotta get back in time to do one of my classes; the people who I had to bail out on last time are coming back tonight." "Okay. I'll start cooking dinner; you guys can come down to the living room and listen to some music or something." "Hey, Rei, let's go in the backyard and I can show you some stuff for your fight while we wait." She nodded. "Good idea." *********** Rei struggled, trying to escape Ranma's grip on her wrists. "Leggo!" "This is a wrist lock," he said. "Now, you do that to me, and I'll show you how to break out." Kasumi stuck her head out the door at this moment. "If you're done taking each other prisoner, supper is ready." She popped back out of sight. "Hey, no one told me she was gonna eat with us!" Ranma said. "She does live here, baka," Rei said. "Great, I'm dead." ************ Ranma was glad to be home after dinner. Kasumi had given him hell about his manners, lineage, and everything else about him, until finally Ami had gotten them both to be quiet. He glanced over at Rei, who was trudging up the steps with him; she looked contemplative. "Whatcha thinking about?" "You're an only child like me, right?" "Uh huh." "Just wondering what I would be like if I had had a family and lost them." "You lost your parents, though, right?" "I was too young to really remember them," she said. "So where's your mom?" "I dunno. Pop won't talk about her; I dunno if she's alive or dead. I ain't got no family but him, and I always had to leave my friends until I got here. Pop will probably put us on the road again once he gets back, even if he does expect me to marry you." "I guess it must get lonely sometimes," Rei said softly. "Yeah. I wanna make some friends, but all the guys in my class ain't got much in common with me. If your cousin was a little older, I'd hang with him, he's really dedicated, but he's just a little too much of a kid, ya know?" "Yeah. I've always had a hard time finding people who shared my interests and weren't scared of me because I'm a shrine maiden who could talk to fires and so on." "Really? Why would that scare them?" Rei blinked and stared into his eyes, then smiled faintly. "It doesn't bother you at all." "My pop gets furry and plays with tires. Talking to fires that talk back ain't too weird." "Yeah, you did hear it," she said. She stepped a little closer to Ranma. "You can be a nice guy, sometimes, Ranma." "You can be pretty nice yourself too," Ranma said, also stepping a little closer. "When you try." Before further words could be said, the word "RRRRAAANNNMMMAAA!!!!" drifted happily down the stairs, along with the person shouting it, Usagi, who was coming down three steps at a time. They could see Shampoo and three cats at the top of the stairs. Usagi tripped eight steps above them and flew into the air, landing on Ranma, and sending both of them tumbling down the stairs. Rei said, "You Amazon idiot! What are you DOING?" "I'm hungry! Let's go out to dinner!" Usagi said to Ranma as they tumbled. He soon stopped the tumble and sprang to his feet. "Already had dinner." "Well, you can just watch me eat and we can get to know each other better!" Usagi said brightly. "I need to do my homework." "Well, I can order out and eat while you work, then we can talk." Ranma felt like a man trying to dam a river with a toothpick. While a boulder named Rei came for his head. Rei came running down the stairs. "Get out of here! This is our house!" Then she realized what Usagi was wearing...a temple uniform. "You stole that!" Usagi shook her head. "Grandpa hired us for the week to work for him so we'd have somewhere to stay until the duel. And we can work all day while you're in school. Also, we have to repair all the damage Ranma and I caused in our fight" She looked a little embarrassed at that. "..." "I'll be in the guest room with Ranma, while Shampoo stays with you." "..." "WHAT?" Ranma said. "Well, I could stay with Rei, but if we're going to fight a duel, it wouldn't be proper." "..." I'll just sleep on the roof, Ranma thought. *********** Ranma demonstrated the kata again, then began to circulate among the students, correcting them. I'm really enjoying this, he thought. He'd always wondered if he would like to teach martial arts as much as he wanted to learn them. It was frustrating at times that people learned so much more slowly than he did, but every time they finally mastered something, it gave him a good feeling. Still, at this rate, it was going to take years to get them up to speed to learn anything really advanced. A few of them would learn faster than that. Naru was really pushing herself--though she was still a novice and would be for months--and a pair of thirteen year old sisters, the Kasugas, learned remarkably quickly. A boy who had come with them already had some training, and impressed Ranma with his strength--he was Rei's cousin, Yusaku. His best student, however, was a woman named Madoka. She wasn't in this class, though; the Kasugas, Yusaku, and Madoka were in a different one of the four Ranma and Grandpa had set up, forming the core of the 'advanced' class, though even the advanced students weren't that far along by Ranma's standards. Madoka, however, he was sure would be the best of his students; the woman could already outfight everyone else he was teaching...despite having no formal training. She'd entirely learned by doing, although she'd done some gymnastics. She was strong and tough as well, impressively so. "Okay, Hideo, now you need to twist more at the waist when you throw the punch, and step straight forward, not at an angle." Hideo nodded and tried again, the right way this time. "Better?" "Definitely. Now, the next..." Ranma was cut off by Usagi suddenly glomping onto him. "Can I help teach?" she asked. "Ask Grandpa." "He said to ask you." "Uh, well..." This was not the time or place for Ranma to express his opinion of women fighting. On the other hand, he could use some help with the large class. "Uh...sure, I guess. Tonight." "Right. I'll work on the other side, okay?" "Uh, okay." Ranma felt another one of his minor certainties in life fray away and snap. *********** "Are you INSANE?" Rei asked Grandpa once she managed to corner him. "I need daytime help, and I can't make them sleep outside. Would you rather Shampoo stays in Ranma's room?" "Hell yes! She isn't trying to marry him!" Grandpa shook his head. "Two people who are going to duel each other shouldn't sleep in the same room. Hmm...there is another option." "What?" "We could give them the guest room, and Ranma could sleep with you." Rei's eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and her mind blew a fuse. "What?" "Well, I'm too old to share a room, but since you're engaged to Ranma anyway..." "I...but it wouldn't be proper!" "I give you the blessing of the kamis." "..." ************* "I can't believe Grandpa's done this!" Rei told Ranma. "I'll just sleep outside," Ranma said. "They ought to sleep outside!" Rei said. "No one invited them!" "Grandpa did," Ranma said, sighing. "Anyway you slice it, either I sleep with a girl, or I sleep outside. If I sleep outside, you get your room, I sleep alone, they get a room, everyone's happy. Mostly." "I guess it is the best solution," Rei said. "I'm sorry." "I'm used to sleeping outside. Beds make you soft, anyway." "You're saying I'm soft?" Rei frowned. "And cranky. But that's another story." "I am NOT cranky!" Usagi came around the corner and ran over to Ranma. "C'mon, it's time for bed." She gave a great sigh. "Finally, a real bed again. I hate sleeping on hard ground." "Soft, eh? Hrmph," Rei said, turned on one foot, and marched off crankily. "What's with her?" "You and Shampoo can have my room; I'll sleep outside," Ranma said. Usagi shook her head. "I can't kick you out of your bed!" "Well, I've only really got room for one person in my bed, anyway." "Then Shampoo can have it, and I'll come sleep outside with you. Big sister always lets me have the better sleeping place, anyway. She deserves a decent bed for once." "..." "We can set up my tent and use sleeping bags and it'll be great! Maybe toast some marshmallows and...." Usagi rambled on, and Ranma felt the hand of doom grip him relentlessly. ********** "So, then I finish tying my end of the rope to the big tree at my end of the waterfall. Shampoo-oneesama had a harder time on her end; she's not good with knots. So, then Cologne tells us we have to walk out on the rope and fight with each other with our staves." Usagi lay on her stomach tucked inside her blue sleeping bag, next to Ranma, who was in a green one, lying on his back. "I've fought in a waterfall, but not over one," Ranma said. "Done both," Usagi said. "So, I am just scared out of my mind. I can swim, and I'm not scared of heights, but falling off a waterfall..." She shuddered. "So, for a couple of minutes, I had to stand there and steel myself to get on the rope. Shampoo's already out there, waiting for me; she always makes everything look so easy!" Ranma nodded. "So does Pop when he does something. He looks like an idiot, but he's a really good martial artist." "So, I finally manage to screw up my courage and step out on it, then ran along it. It really was easy! Starting with a leg sweep which Shampoo jumped to avoid, I then followed up with several chest level blows from the right and the left. She blocked them, and around then I realized the really hard part about what we were doing." "That the rope moves, especially if your opponent jumps to avoid a blow." "Yeah!" Usagi said. "So, Shampoo does this triple feint, followed by a blow to my right side, and I start to fall. But I manage to grab the rope, and that makes the rope shake. Oneesama loses her grip and falls off, and she doesn't catch the rope. The current grabs her. So, I have to reach out with my staff, which I still had, and she grabs the end." Ranma nodded, listening intently. "I felt like my arm was going to pull out of my socket, and I could just barely keep a grip on the staff. I started yelling for Cologne, but I couldn't tell if she heard me or not. All sorts of floating debris are drifting by, bumping into Shampoo, and I'm just howling incoherently, and my arms hurt and Shampoo's trying to tell me something, but she's lapsed into Cantonese, but I only speak Mandarin, so I can't tell what she's talking about." "You speak two languages?" "Three. Japanese well, Mandarin passably, and Greek badly. I like the letters, though." "Greek?" "Yeah, the Amazons use it as a secret lore language. But I don't know much lore yet. Anyway, so I'm shouting and crying, and about to lose my grip. Then I get this crazy idea. I can bring my arm around and fling Oneesama out of the river, then climb back up." "Without any leverage? That would be just about impossible. At least at either of our skill levels." "I still don't know how I did it. I just prayed for help, and brought my arm around, and this wind started blowing. And then it was like Shampoo didn't weigh hardly anything, and she just flew a hundred feet across the river and onto the shore. I managed to get back up onto the rope, and I ran over to her. She had some bruises, and cut herself landing on a rock, but basically, she was okay." "You don't look that strong." "I'm not. I guess God did help me. Cologne thinks I managed to tap my chi and create the wind, and it did most of the work. But I haven't been able to do it again; maybe I just haven't wanted it enough. Sometimes, though, I feel like I can control the wind a little. Cologne can control ice and snow and water with her chi." "I guess she must be really skillful, then," Ranma said. "She's two or three hundred years old. And butt ugly." Ranma laughed. "So that was your test of adulthood?" "And I had to camp in the woods by myself for a week with only a knife and some clothing. Which I lost on the second day when this old pervert stole it! So I had to go naked for five days. It was AWFUL." "Yeesh." "I managed to make myself some fur clothing before the end, but still, it wasn't much fun." "At least she didn't throw you in no cat pit." Ranma shuddered. "My family doesn't bother you, do they?" Usagi asked hesitantly. "Naah, the Sacred Fire cured that, even if it couldn't fix my curse." "I wish it could help my parents. Shingo can stay a cat," Usagi said. "Yeah, being a cat full time would suck," Ranma said, then yawned. "I gotta get to sleep. Goodnight, Usagi." "Goodnight, Ranma." *************** Usagi hammered away, wishing she had a few extra arms. Once she got the last board in place, she sat down and wiped her brow; fixing the shed was hard work. "We'd better move the duel somewhere I won't have to fix afterwards," she muttered to herself. "Probably a good idea," her father said from behind her. She turned and waved him over to come sit by her. "What's up, Dad?" she asked. The white cat with a yellow crescent moon on his forehead sat down on his haunches, looking up at the repair work. "That last board is too short." Usagi sighed. "I know, but it's all we have. Grandpa told us to fix it all with the boards they already have, if we could." Kenji-neko frowned. "Given the amount of damage you did, that's not going to be easy." "I know, but Shampoo-oneesama and I have hardly any money left to buy any." Kenji-neko looked across the courtyard to where Shampoo was fixing the temple doors, then turned back to Usagi. "Eating out at every town probably didn't help." "Walking thousands of miles and swimming the Sea of Japan makes you hungry! I seem to remember a certain white kitty gorging himself after riding on MY back all the way across." Kenji-neko turned and stared off at a tree for a while, then said, "Did you really sleep in Ranma's tent last night?" "Yeah, it was a lot of fun." Kenji fluffed himself out as much as he could to try to look as big and scary as possible, but it just didn't work very well. "You're too young to go around sleeping with men!" "He's my fiancee!" "Not until you're married!" "We didn't do anything! We just traded stories until we fell asleep!" "Young lady, I'm your father, and I don't want you doing that!" "But...but..." "You won't do it again, and that's final!" Usagi sighed. "Okay, I won't sleep in a tent with a boy again." "Much better." He turned and walked off, his job done. Next time, I'll get Ranma to go to his girl form first, Usagi thought. *************** Ranma walked up the steps, his school bag slung over one arm. Kenji-neko was waiting for him at the top of the steps. "We need to talk." "Uh, okay," Ranma said, sitting down. "About what?" "Your intentions towards my daughter." Ranma blinked, then reminded himself Usagi's father was now a cat. "I ain't got no intentions towards her." "You slept with her last night! Are you some kind of playboy?" "We didn't even kiss each other!" "Liar. No one could possibly sleep in the same tent with my lovely daughter and not try something." Kenji-neko's eyes narrowed. "Or are you gay?" "I AM NOT GAY!" Ranma screamed. "I just ain't the kinda guy who takes advantage of a girl! And I ain't gonna let nobody force me into doing nothing! I ain't marrying Rei or Usagi or Naru or Shampoo or Ami or no one!" Kenji-neko stared. "You're stringing five women along? But you won't marry them?" "Ranma! Hi!" Usagi shouted, spotting them and starting to run over. "Can you help me finish the wall?" "I am not stringing anyone along! I'm not marrying anyone! I'm not sleeping with anyone! I'll go live in Tokyo Bay if I have to!" Ranma got up. "And right now, I have to get changed." Usagi looked crushed. "Aren't you going to help me?" "I gotta go run some errands. I guess I can help you when I get back." Usagi hugged him. "Thanks!" "SAOTOME!" Kenji-neko bellowed and charged him. Despite no longer fearing cats in general, Ranma ran for fear of this cat in specific. *************** Ranma-chan and Rei walked into the Dojo of the Four Winds, dressed in gis. A girl only slightly older than themselves was manning a sign-up desk by the door, while groups of students milled about in the large chamber, warming up. There was no sign of the instructors. The girl said, "Hi, I'm Jiko. Here to sign up for a class?" "Yeah, we thought we'd check it out," Ranma-chan said. "Where's the teachers?" Rei asked. "I'm sure they'll be back in time for the classes to start. If you'll just wait here, I'll signal one of them when they come out. So what's your names?" "Eiko," Ranma-chan said. Rei hesitated a moment, then said, "Biiko." The girl blinked, then nodded. Turning, she hailed a woman who had just entered the large practice room from the back. Barely taller than Ranma-chan, the woman was compactly built and heavily muscled, wearing a purple gi. She seemed to be in a cheery mood, and her dark brown eyes glistened in the light. Her hair matched Ranma- chan's shade, but was cut very short, not even reaching her shoulders. "Hey, Mariko!" the girl at the desk said. "New students you need to test." Mariko came over and looked them up and down. "Had any training before?" "About a years' worth," Rei said. "Mostly karate variants." "A couple of years' worth," Ranma-chan said. "A mixture of hard and soft styles, with a little pressure point work." She nodded, and pointed to Rei. "What's your name?" "Biiko." "Come with me, I'll test you out." The resulting duel was rather repetitive. Rei would launch an attack on Mariko, who would grab her arm or leg and slam her to the ground. Ranma-chan was rather surprised to see someone who looked as strong as Mariko specializing in holds and throws rather than a harder style. Rei, on the other hand, was too busy getting slammed to worry about such things. This went on for about five minutes, then Mariko grunted, turned to Ranma- chan and said, "Your turn." Ranma-chan got onto the mat, assumed a fighting stance, and prepared for battle. *********** [YOUMA LORD IDENTIFIED. CLASS THREE YOUMA ALSO PRESENT. CLASS ONE YOUMA PRESENT. SECONDARY SCAN REVEALS PRESENCE OF TWO SENSHI AND ONE GUARDIAN] Mercury's breath caught. So Ranma is one of the Guardians? Then again, it could be one of the other students, but... >Map and Identify all Targets A map of the Dojo appeared before her on her visor, then zoomed in on the large practice chamber. Each of the people was a swirling heat signature. One by one, they were all tagged with names and classifications, from normal human to Youma Lord. The Youma Lord had just entered the practice room, while the First Class Youma sat by the door and the Third Class Youma was apparently sparring with the Guardian, who was indeed Ranma. Rei was standing near them. >Identify Guardian Identity of Ranma. [PRELIMINARY SCAN SUGGESTS IDENTITY IS GUARDIAN SATURN OR GUARDIAN NEPTUNE. INSUFFICIENT DATA TO PROPERLY IDENTIFY WHETHER FIRE OR WATER IS PRIMARY ELEMENTAL AFFINITY OF THIS GUARDIAN, AND TARGET HAS YET TO DEMONSTRATE WHETHER TIME OR SPIRIT IS THEIR PRIMARY MAGICAL AFFINITY. ] A thought struck Mercury. >What are my primary affinities? [WATER AND ICE ARE YOUR PRIMARY ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES, WHILE YOUR PRIMARY MAGICAL AFFINITY IS CORRESPONDENCE] >As in writing letters? [AS IN THE ARTS OF TRACING AND CONTROLLING THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THINGS, WHETHER THEY BE SPATIAL OR MAGICAL. CHIEFLY USED TO FIND THINGS, TO VIEW THINGS FROM A DISTANCE, TO BRIDGE THOSE DISTANCES IN AN INSTANT, OR TO BEND SPACE BY MICROMANIPULATION OF THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN EVERY POINT] >Such as how I'm observing the room? [EXACTLY] >Well, I can ask you about this later. I'd better go set off the signal. ************ Sliding between Mariko's legs, Ranma-chan then spun and used the floor as leverage to kick her in the butt, sending her airborne. Many of the students watching this applauded. Mariko snarled, having apparently lost track of the friendliness of this match and began to charge towards Ranma, only to be stopped by running into the mistress of the Dojo's outstretched palm. She fell to the ground, and Fuu said, "That's enough, Mariko." She turned to face Ranma-chan. "You're good." Ranma-chan rubbed a sore spot on her arm. "She ain't bad either." "Mariko, go start your class. I'll see to testing this one. I've only had one other person come here as good as you look to be," Fuu said to Ranma-chan. "You wouldn't happen to know a girl named Akane, would you?" The named sounded vaguely familiar to Ranma-chan, but she couldn't place it. Maybe one of my students, Ranma-chan thought. Or someone from school? "Not really." He looked at Fuu again, and suddenly realized this was probably the woman who had beaten Kasumi. Considering what Kasumi had done to Ranma-chan in their last fight, this made Ranma-chan a little nervous. Fuu got into a fighting stance. "Give me everything you've got." Ranma-chan got into a similar stance. "Come and get me." They both stared at each other for about thirty seconds, and Rei laughed. "Is this Martial Staring?" Ranma-chan laughed, and her concentration broke briefly. That was enough for Fuu to close in and land one of the hardest blows Ranma-chan had ever felt on her chest. Ranma-chan went sprawling, then back-flipped, got into a stance again, and charged. Just before she reached the arm's length range from Fuu, Ranma-chan leaped into the air, springing over Fuu. Much to her surprise, Fuu simply leaped straight up, grabbing Ranma-chan's legs and tossing her to the ground, then landed and aimed a kick at Ranma-chan's prostrate head. Ranma-chan rolled away from her, leaped up, and decided to just try some simple attacks that wouldn't leave her so open. This worked rather better, and they settled down to a steady beat of blow and counter-blow. She soon figured out that she was slightly faster than Fuu, but Fuu had a serious strength advantage. Also, punching her was like striking stone. This had gone on for some time, when suddenly a fine mist settled over the room, obscuring everything. Mercury shouted, "The instructors are youma! I'll take the one by the door." Rei quickly backed up and transformed, then went in search of Mariko. She quickly found her. Mariko frowned at her. "I was hoping to crush that red-haired brat, but...Students, KILL!" A horde of zombified students poured forward, and Mars ran; she couldn't use her fire without hurting them, and she didn't want to risk killing any of them. Mariko cackled as Mars sprinted off with thirty students in hot pursuit. The girl at the desk had become an eight foot tall clawed and scaled monstrosity. Unfortunately for her, seeing through thick fog was not one of her powers. Mercury slipped up behind her and whacked her in the head with her own folding chair. She staggered, and Mercury kept pounding on her until she collapsed. No wonder she was only a Class One youma, Mercury thought. There was a flash, and the girl turned back to normal, lying face down on the floor. Mercury quickly checked to make sure she was okay, then went to help Mars. Meanwhile, Ranma-chan was having the worse of it. Fuu had managed to grapple her, and now she could feel her life force being sucked out of her. "So which one are you?" Fuu demanded. "And why didn't you transform?" "I am transformed," Ranma-chan spluttered out. "And I'm the one who's gonna kick your ass." It was bravado, not truth; she was trying every trick she knew, but Fuu's grip was too strong for her. Fear and anger swirled round each other in her mind, and dim memories of a previous death swirled to the surface. He had been aboard a great crystalline ship, crewed by constantly changing black pillar-like beings, made of an impossibly cohesive oily fluid. They had swarmed him, trying to drown him, to crawl inside his mouth, and into his brain, to eat it and take his place, driving his body like a puppet. But he had wanted that, for the more of them that got close to him, the more he could affect with his death stroke. He had exploded in a great ball of fire, burning them to ash, and their ship with them. With the puppet masters slain, the entire fleet had collapsed into chaos...he had seen it in his death vision, the last thing he saw in that life. She didn't want to die. Not this time. Not to no purpose. Her last death had had meaning, this would not. And so anger replaced fear, and the fire inside her began to rage. "No! I'M NOT GOING TO DIE THIS TIME!!!!" Fuu shook her head. "If you don't tell me what I need to know, you will surely die. You cannot hope to escape me. Ahh, I know you now. You must be the girl that Father told me about." "Father?" "My Father, Major Diamond." "No! Diamond would NEVER serve the Dark Kingdom! NEVER!" It was the final straw. The fire inside her surged, and it spoke to her, words of power. 'GUARDIAN OF SATURN POWER, TRANSFORM!' She shouted them at the top of her lungs, and Fuu's eyes widened more than should have been possible. She became a volcano of energy that started at the base of her spine and ran up it to her skull, then exploded outwards through her eyes, nose, and mouth, spilling flames down over her body. Limned in flame, her clothing burned away. Fuu was thrown back by the force of the fire, screaming in pain. The fire aura expanded, and her eyes closed, lost in bliss. Some of the flame compacted and became clothing, a double breasted black jacket trimmed with red and a golden hour glass embossed over her left breast, each button a tiny ringed Saturn, and a knee-length black skirt with three red stripes along the bottom. Her shoes became sturdy black hiking boots, and her hair came undone, hanging down freely. The epiphany ceased, and the aura of fire faded away. "Let's rumble," Guardian Saturn said, grinning. Across the room, Mercury said to Mars, "I'll handle them, you go take care of Mariko. Just jump over them." "Right!" Mars spun and leaped, just barely clearing the horde, wondering what Mercury planned to do. She had other things on her mind when Mariko grabbed her and body slammed her, then leaped into the air to land on her back. Mars rolled out of the way and shouted, "MARS FIRE SOUL!" A bolt of flame erupted, slamming into Mariko, who went tumbling. Further away, Mercury shouted, "SHABON SPRAY!" and further hosed down the zombies with mist. They moaned and sank to the floor, since they'd already had enough life force drained to be pretty weak. She then watched the two fights in progress, trying to figure out who needed more help. As she watched, Guardian Saturn slammed 'Fuu' across the room with a single punch. Fuu got up, stretched, then a storm of violet energy washed across her. Now she was dressed in an outfit similar to that of Guardian Saturn, except for being grey with violet trim and having four swirling clouds embossed in gold over the left breast. "Ever studied the circle of elements, Saturn?" she asked. "You...you're dressed like one of the Guardians!" Saturn said, although some part of her mind was pretty sure none of the guardians had ever worn skirts. "Who are you?" "I am Captain Feldspar, daughter of Major Diamond and Major Moonstone, sister to General Tourmaline. I have two major powers. The first is my strength. And the second...is wind." The mist swirled about her, and then seventy mile an hour winds erupted through the Dojo, blowing the mats off the floor and onto the walls, dissipating the mist, knocking over the table by the door, and sending Saturn, Mars, Mariko, and Mercury off their feet. "I was trying to remain subtle, but I suspect this operation is going to have to be abandoned even if I win, so the kid gloves are off," Feldspar said, stalking towards the trio of heroines. Mariko got up and stomped towards them as well. Mars and Saturn got into fighting stances facing the duo. Mars said to Mercury, "See if you can find a weakness or something!" "Wind defeats water. And water defeats flame," Feldspar said. "Hose them down, Aquamarine." Mariko grinned, and transformed. Sort of. About all that happened was that her hair turned blue-green, as did her skin. And now she had a long tube strapped to one arm. "You get to drink from the fire hose!" she announced, and opened fire, driving all three of them back. Rei had it the worst, Mercury barely moved, and Saturn managed to stay on her feet, though she was pushed back. Now Feldspar raised her hands and grinned. "You're next, Mercury." "Mars! Saturn! Wood defeats Wind!" Feldspar stopped for a moment. "You don't have any wood creating powers." Saturn blinked in confusion. Mars laughed. "Right. FIRE SOUL!" The gout of flames went very high, wildly missing Feldspar, who laughed. "Your aim is pathetic." "I wasn't aiming at you," Mars said, then grabbed Saturn and leaped back, along with Mercury. A second later, a large chunk of the wooden ceiling collapsed, raining down on Feldspar and Aquamarine, burying them under debris. "Yeah, we got 'em!" Mars shouted. Feldspar dug herself out of the debris. "I think not." Aquamarine began to stir, but Saturn sprinted forward, hefted her, and punted her through the hole in the ceiling off out of sight into the distance. She then turned to Feldspar. "You're next." "Feh." She gestured and a blast of wind flung Saturn up against the wall. A second blast pinned Mars against a second wall, and a third blast trapped Mercury, pushing her away from her computer. The winds were like living things, swirling about them and holding them trapped, unable to even lift their arms. They could see a fourth one swirling about her in a small vortex. "I can't believe you people have caused Father so much trouble. He must have been going easy on you. Probably that idiot Turquoise was holding him back. Of course, it does help that I have the ideal power to crush you. Ready to die?" "Stop cheating!" Saturn shouted. "All's fair in love and war. I don't practice 'anything goes' for nothing, you know. Hmm. Who to kill first..." Her decision was interrupted by a discus whacking her in the head and knocking her for a loop. Feldspar fell to the ground stunned, and the discus kept going, then arced around back to the front door, where its owner stood. She was silhouetted by the street light, but there was no mistaking her. It was Usagi. Shampoo stood next to her, armed with a shortbow and a quiver of arrows. "Surrender or die," Shampoo said. "Let Ranma and the others go!" Usagi shouted. "Or I'll do that again!" Her staff was strapped to her back, and she had a discus in each hand. "Go away!" Feldspar shouted, unleashing her fourth wind. It rushed across the room, scattering debris and finishing off the unfortunate table. Usagi shrieked in panic, hurling both disci, which arced around and smacked Feldspar in the head. She then tried to shield her face with her arms. The wind blew past her, sending Shampoo flying, but didn't move her an inch. She slowly lowered her arms, just in time for her discuses to come back and crash into her. She fell down. "OWWIEEEE!!!" Feldspar laid on the ground for a few seconds, then got back up as her fourth wind returned to her. She frowned. "That hurt." "That general idea," Shampoo said, grabbing two arrows and firing both of them at once. The heads ignited as they flew, but both glanced aside when they struck the fourth wind, which had resumed gyring about Feldspar. "Fighting not supposed to feel good, unless you sick in head." Feldspar pointed at Shampoo, and soon the fourth wind had her pinned in place. She then began to approach Usagi, who hurled her two disci again. This time, Feldspar parried them, being ready. "We'll settle this mano a mano, then." Usagi quickly drew her staff. "Don't worry, I'll save you." Her brave words were belied by the fact that she was visibly shaking. Saturn felt humiliated, and Mars didn't feel much better. Neither of them liked being saved by someone else. If she wins this, Mars thought, I might as well give up on fighting that duel with her. No way I could beat someone who could beat someone who beat two Senshi and a Guardian at the same time. Mercury, on the other hand, was trying to figure out why such a powerful Youma Lord was only a captain. Unless maybe they use an odd ranking system, she thought. She studied them as they circled round each other, occasionally lashing out with staff or fist at each other. Unfortunately, she couldn't fine tune what she was seeing, since her computer was out of reach. Her usual combat program was good enough to give her some information. Feldspar had no particular physical weak points, however, Usagi was faster than her, but not nearly as strong. Usagi could only bench around eight hundred pounds, while Feldspar could manage several tons. Mercury blinked. Eight hundred pounds? That was on the level of an Olympic weight lifter. No way someone as skinny as Usagi could manage that. It had to be magic or chi or something. Or a computer glitch. She could conclude one thing, though. If Feldspar ever got her hands on Usagi, Usagi was toast. "Don't let her grapple you!" Mercury shouted. "Eh?" While Usagi tried to figure out what Mercury had said, she nearly got grappled. "Don't let her grab you! She's too strong." "Oh!" Slowly, Feldspar began to press Usagi harder, driving her round and round the room in a spiral, ever outwards. Usagi found herself harder and harder pressed to fend off Feldspar's attacks. Feldspar was silent as she sped up her assaults. Usagi got a few blows in, but Feldspar didn't seem to feel them. Finally, Feldspar got in a solid blow and knocked Usagi's staff out of her hands. Usagi yelped and ran. Feldspar chased her around the room for a while, but Usagi was an expert at running for her life. Finally, Feldspar fell to her knees, breathing hard. "Damn you." Usagi went and leaned against the wall, tired herself. "Hah! I run ten miles a day, so I can always get away if I have to." Feldspar laughed faintly. "Soon as I...get my breath back...I'll crush you." For a while, they simply panted, getting their strength back. Usagi staggered over and recovered her staff. "Come and get me." Feldspar thought a moment. "I'm an idiot..." She staggered towards Sailor Mars, who was closest to her. "I can just drain their energy. Then I don't need to keep them pinned and I can use my winds." Mars struggled impotently as Feldspar closed in, and Saturn shouted, "DAMN YOU!" but that didn't help either. Usagi gulped, and charged her. "I won't let you hurt...uh... whoever she is! Keep them out of this!" She wasn't fast enough to keep Feldspar from draining much of Mars' energy, but when she shoved her staff in Feldspar's gut and lifted her into the air, she saved Mars from losing all of it. She fell to her knees. I need more rest, Usagi thought. "Get back! I won't...gasp...let you hurt them!" Mars said, "Get out of here, Usagi. You can't beat her by yourself." "You know my name?" Usagi peered at her. "Do I know you?" Feldspar charged at them, and Usagi staggered into a fighting stance. To her surprise, Feldspar went right past her...to Saturn. Soon, Saturn was howling as her energy was being drained. For a moment, Usagi's face went utterly blank from shock, and then anger took its place. "YOU'RE EVIL! I WON'T FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS!" "I do what I have to," Feldspar said. "I prefer a fair fight, but I can't afford to let the Senshi get away." Mars cursed loudly. Damn her for what she'd done to Ranma! "You'll pay for that!" "I don't think so," Feldspar said. She cracked her knuckles as Saturn collapsed. "I'll fill up on little Mercury next, then finish you off and take everyone back to the Dark Kingdom." "Mars! The winds are spirits! Use one of your exorcism strips!" Mercury shouted. Mars blinked. Ahah. She managed to wiggle one out of...she suddenly realized she wasn't sure WHERE she'd pulled this out of. No time to worry. Quickly reciting a prayer, she slapped it on the wind, which uncoiled, fleeing from the prayer strip, back to Feldspar. "Now...we have you," Mars said. She hurled two more, chanting, and Mercury and Shampoo got back up. "The legends were true, I see," Feldspar said. "Power over spirits and fire." She sighed. "Jadeite will not be pleased with me, but I know when not to fight to the death." She vanished in a purple whirlwind. Shampoo began picking up her arrows. "Stupid demons. Shampoo hates fighting demons. Shampoo REALLY hates fighting demons." Mars and Usagi both went over to Saturn. "Ranma, is that you?" Usagi asked. Saturn stirred faintly. "Did I kick her ass?" "She's gone, Saturn," Mercury said, coming over as well after recovering her computer. Saturn sat up and looked down at herself. "I'm the Guardian of Saturn." "Welcome to the club," Mercury said, laughing. "But I keep thinking I used to wear pants when I did this." Mars rolled her eyes. "I want to know why Feldspar was wearing a uniform like yours." "Beryl corrupted four of the Guardians," Saturn said. "I remember that much now. I guess all her troops decided to take after them." "And Diamond was one of the ones corrupted? So that was his daughter?" "No! It can't be!" Saturn said. "There was no way in hell Diamond would serve Beryl. It has to be some kind of trick." "Maybe they just have the same name," Usagi suggested. "So what brought you here?" Mercury asked Usagi. "Rei's ravens told Mom that Rei and Ranma were in danger. But I don't see Rei anywhere." She jumped to her feet, looking around. "Oh man, did she carry Rei off with her? We've got to find her!" Controlling her voice, Mars asked, "I thought you were going to fight a duel with her or something." "It'd be stupid for two women to hate each other over a man," Usagi said. "That's just a way to settle it once and for all so we can be friends." "..." Saturn stood up shakily and looked over at Mars. "You wanna tell her?" Mars stared at Usagi in silence. "C'mon, we'd better start looking for her," Usagi said. "You're really worried about her?" Mars asked faintly. "Yeah, with the way the ceiling collapsed, she might be pinned under some of this rubble or something...and what happened to all these people lying around here, anyway?" "Zombified," Shampoo said. "Most of them will be fine with rest, though." Mars detransformed into Rei. "I'm right here, Usagi," she said. Usagi turned around and blinked. "Where did...whoever that was...go?" Mercury laughed and detransformed. "We're the Sailor Senshi. She's Mars, and I'm Mercury. And that's Ranma." "Uh...how do I turn back?" Saturn asked. ********** Ranma soon enough learned where his pants went. A little experimentation showed that he got pants if he became Guardian Saturn in his boy form, and a skirt in his girl form. They all went back to the temple in normal form, and explained what was going on to Usagi and Shampoo. Later, Rei took Usagi aside, out in the courtyard. "What you said earlier...You're right. It is kinda dumb to fight a duel over a guy. I don't think he wants to marry either of us, anyway." "I can change his mind," Usagi said, smiling. "I've got plenty of time." "But why do you want to marry him? You just met him!" "Well, I wanna get to know him first, but...he's handsome and brave and strong and everything I always dreamed of. Well, he's not too graceful, but I can fix that." "He's rude and violent and macho! He's got a big mouth, and he thinks he's the greatest fighter in the universe. And despite turning into a woman, he has some weird ideas about what women should and shouldn't do." "If you think that, why were you willing to fight a duel with me over him?" Usagi asked. Rei turned beet red. "You challenged me and called me a coward!" "So you'd marry someone you didn't like, just to not look like a coward?" "I...I..." Rei tried to think about why she'd been willing to accept the challenge. "I wasn't going to make him marry me if I won! But you would!" "I can't make him marry me, but I can try to make him want to." She gave a happy sigh. "We had a really great talk about some of the weirder parts of our training last night. It's so cool having a man I can actually talk to, who doesn't run away from Amazons." "..." "I mean, Mousse doesn't run away, but he's kinda weird, ya know? Anyway, so if you don't want him, why do you care if I want to?" "He...he's my fiancee!" "But you don't want him to be because you dislike him so much. So why fight it?" Rei spluttered more as suppressed truths fought to get to the surface. She backed up. "I...I don't have to explain myself to you!" "Because you're hiding from yourself," Usagi said. "I think you do love him." "I'm not hiding from myself!" Rei shouted. "I know exactly how I feel!" Usagi advanced on her. "You love him." "Don't put words in my mouth!" Usagi was now about a foot away from her. "Tell me you don't love him." "I...I...I know he doesn't love me. Or he could never be so mean!" "Maybe he just doesn't know how to say what he feels, just like you," Usagi said. "When you got hurt, he got really mad." Ranma came outside. "Shampoo just finished cooking us some dinner. C'mon and eat." Rei ran inside like all the demons of hell were after her. Ranma watched her go. "You two have a fight or something?" Usagi came over to him. "Just girl talk." "I didn't think girls tried to scare each other like that." "Do you like Rei, Ranma?" Usagi asked, reaching out to take his hand, then panicking at the last moment, and failing to do so. "Huh? She can be a violent macho chick, but she's pretty nice sometimes. And she's kinda sexy when she...uh..." He shut up. "When she?" Usagi asked. "Nothing. Just sometimes. Let's go eat." *********** Feldspar laid on her back on her bed and cursed all of space and time. She had failed, and Feldspar wasn't used to failure. She wanted to blame it all on her youma minions, but she knew better. It was all the fault of that accursed blonde woman. She would have had all of the Sailor Senshi and the Guardian as well. With Mercury's computer, Mother could have finished her research easily, Feldspar thought. There was a knock on the door. "Go away," Feldspar said. The door opened; it was Moonstone, Feldspar's mother. She looked much like Feldspar, but about twenty years older, and with long purple hair. She wore an elaborate black, red, and blue dress better suited for Shakespearean drama than for combat, and a matching hairpiece with a moonstone set in the silver frame. Because she was a researcher, rather than a warrior, she could indulge her extravagant tastes in clothing. She came over and sat down on the end of the bed. "I heard that you were defeated." "Dammit, if they hadn't kept getting reinforcements, I would have won. I had them beat before that air mage showed up." "Did she look like this?" Moonstone held up a long banner. "Exactly!" Feldspar said, quickly reading the banner. "A duel, eh? Well, this should be worth attending." She sat up and started thinking. "If she's there, then the Senshi will likely be around. Perfect." "Now that's the daughter I know and love, not the sulky one," Moonstone said, smiling. "How did Papa's latest raid go?" Feldspar asked. "He picked on the wrong eight year old boy," she said, sighing. "Your father has the most horrible luck." "..." "His next raid should be more successful, though. He and Turquoise are going out to a countryside shrine to see about this legend about a demon imprisoned in a cave. They hope to free her and gain her aid." "I thought our forces couldn't go very far from Tokyo yet. Or did you make a breakthrough?" "I've discovered that those of us recruited...recently, can go further from the nodes and survive. We're still mostly human, unlike those who have been living in the Dark Kingdom for millennia." She stood up. "I have to go." "Wait, mother...there was this other girl who I fought earlier. She called herself 'Akane'." Moonstone pursed her lips. "Go on." "She fought with our family's style, though with some additions." "I will see what I can find out, Feldspar." She reached over and squeezed her daughter's shoulder. "Good luck." "Thanks. I've got a while yet to make my plans. And then the Senshi will be crushed." ************ While working out in the backyard as best she could while still wrapped up, Kasumi sneezed. Someone must be thinking of me, she thought. Maybe Dr. Tofu is wondering if I'm okay. She smiled a little smile. He's still as nice as I remembered him being, she thought, and handsome too. She blushed, then sighed. No man could ever fall in love with someone like her, and she couldn't afford to love anyone until she had her revenge. They would only get hurt. But when she thought about him... Closing her eyes, she focused her will. I won't think about him. Not until her appointment with him in two days, anyway.