The disclaimer, practically every character here is NOT mine.  They all 
belong to their respective company.  I am using a lot of them, so I can't 
list them all.  Beside, I am gonna add more series to the story later on.  
Don't sue me.  You won't get a penny out of me.  Trust me, you won't.  For 
others, there are SOME characters I made up, but who cares?  I don't.


Ranma Crossover fanfic

first fanfic alert!!!
draft alert!!!
and...
Ah heck, read at your own risk.





STALLION

Chapter 3.

< For every hero, he requires a villain.  For him to look GOOD, he needs 
damsels in distress. >


Part 1.




Inside the park, people were enjoying the holiday with their family or the 
loved ones.  It was a perfect day for some outside fun.  The students were 
in their summer vacation.  Many workers were let off early because it was 
saturday.  The weather was just great.  In every aspect, it was perfect for 
a day in the amusement park.

All the rides had long lines in front of them, the grass field was covered 
with picnic blankets, and the pool was swarmed with so many people that it 
was hard to see WATER.  The park was surely overcrowded, but it didn't 
prevent people from enjoying the moments.

It was a place like this where the evil loved to strike.

A man stood on a branch of a tree.  He was in a uniform, the one not unlike 
the ones of the Negaverse but with some differences.  His uniform was 
all-black, and there was a mark of yellow circle on the chest.  The biggest 
difference was, however, that the clothes itself had subtle, but dark flame 
surrounding it.

He smirked as he watched the happy people down below.  He had a purpose to 
serve and it required some energy, but little different one from the one 
that those weenies from the Negaverse had been collected.

It was the fear.

It was the chaos.

It was the agonizing pain of human suffering.

"Enjoy, you poor mortals.  Soon you are going to thank me for letting you 
have the moment.  Right before you scream of your terror!  
Khhahahahahahahaha!!!"




"Wow!  That was fun, wasn't it, Tenchi-niichan?  Tenchi-niichan?"

"*Gasp* Hold.. there.. sec..  I just.. need.. catch.. my breath..."

The master of Tench-ken was on his knees, breathing deep in and out.  He had 
been in a space fight.  He had been on a speeding spaceship.  He even had 
been INSIDE a black hole.  But nothing could have prepared him for a ride in 
the horrifying "Hurricane Sandwich" roller-coaster, the brand new feature of 
the park.

The car rolled, turned, twisted, spinned, and dropped.  It was a 
death-defying experience.  He was very sure of it because during the ride, 
he saw the Death watching him from the ground while waving his scythe anrily 
at him.  Whoever invented that ride must have been working on a new torture 
method.

"Come on, Tenchi-niichan!  I want to try that one over there!"

"Huh?"

Tenchi looked up to see where Sasami was pointing.  He paled as he 
recognized the ride.  It was supposed to be the brand new sensation.  The 
dreaded "Drop Zone."  They made you go up and, well, drop.  Another painful 
ride that lasted only in seconds but made you wait in fear for hours, since 
it already had a very long line in front of it.

"No I don't want to die" would have been his honest answer to the girl's 
request, but Sasami was looking at him with one of those puppy eyes.  Tenchi 
could feel a doom coming down on him.

Then the hand, or rather the voice, of rescue came to unexpecting Tenchi.

"Tenchi-chan?"

Tenchi blinked.  No one had called him "-chan" for close to a decade now.  
Who could that be?

He turned towards the source of the voice to find a woman.  She was in a 
traditional kimono and had a long bundle on her back.  There was something 
familar about her face though...  Sudden recognition hit his brain as his 
mouth gasped.

"...Auntie Nodoka?"



A spaceship landed on the lake beside the Masaki house.  If NASA found out 
about this they would have their fit.  A good thing for their hearts that 
the ship had avoided any detection as it made through the Earth atmostphere.

Minagi(1) was in good mood.  It had been a while since she visited her 
sister and surrogate mother.  Hinase was a good companion, as well as a good 
spaceship, but she really loved her relationship with her earth friends.  
She visited them as often as possible, and today was one of those visits.

This time it was a little different, she noted, when she jumped down from 
her ship and landed in front of the gate.  It was a little odd to find their 
house in silence though.  Whenever she visited, Masaki Mansion had always 
been filled with either laughs or battle noises, usually the latter.  But 
today it was in absolute quiet.  But Minagi shrugged it off, and proceeded 
to open the door.

But when she she found no one inside, Minagi frowned.  This house being 
empty was even weirder than it being too quiet.  One truth always held in 
Masaki household, and it was that it was overcrowded.  There were already 
eight live-ins, nine if you counted Ryo-ohki.  They were frequently visited 
by super-powered villains, the galaxian empire royalties, or friends from 
out of space such as herself.  But today it was totally empty.

"Anybody here?  Ryoko?  Ayeka-san?  Washu-sa, chan!  Chan!  Um, Tenchi-san?"

Nobody answered her call even when she made to the living room.  Then Minagi 
quickly took the battle stance when she was surprised by a small movement 
under the carpet.  She took out her energy sword, and approached it very 
slowly.  She began to eye the carpet carefully as she slowly lifted it to 
see the underneath.

"Myah!"

"Ryo-ohki!"(2)

Minagi was relieved to find the familar cabbit there.  She picked it up with 
her hands but she found that its eyes were full of tears.

"What's wrong?"

"Myah!  Myah!"

Somehow it was trying to say something but Minagi couldn't understand it.  
She didn't share a link with the cabbit like Ryoko or Washu did.  But soon 
she realized that its ear was pointing towards the upstair.

Putting Ryo-ohki down, Minagi summoned her sword out again and walked 
slowly, eyeing the upstair.  Even when she carefully stepped up the stairs, 
there was no movement whatsoever.  But when she arrived at the top, she 
could hear faint groaning and moaning.  The sound was coming from behind one 
of the closed doors.  Holding her sword firmly in her hand, she reached out 
to grab the doorknob and turned.  Without making a sound, she cautiosly 
opened the door.

When she entered the room, she almost dropped her sword because of her shock 
when a terrifying scene displayed in front of her eyes.

First time in her life, she had felt the true fear.  Whatever did this must 
be very powerful.

Then someone tabbed on her shoulder.

"Hey, Minagi"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"



Outside, Azaka and Kamidake were doing their best impression of two gate 
posts.

"Kamidake."

"What is it, Azaka?"

"Don't you think we are missing something today?  We have heard scream and 
shouting so far, but something just doesn't seem to add up right."

Kaboom!!

"You mean that?"

"Oh yeah.  There you go.  What a peaceful day it is."

"Indeed."




Sailor Pluto was not happy.  At the moment she was trying her best to 
contain the Time Gate's power.  The Garnet Orb, the talisman on the top of 
her staff, was also very powerful, but its strength was barely enough to 
keep the vibration of the Time Gate at minimum.  First time in millernia, 
Meiou Setsuna regretted being the Guardian of this, this headache maker!

She did note somethings during this though.  First of all, it seemed that 
something had caused some of the timelines to merge together.  Secondly, the 
Time Gate was resonating with it.  Third, it was very powerful, even more 
than the Time Gate itself which was already giving her hard time.  This was 
no longer the matter of her guarding the Time Gate.  If not controlled, 
there was no telling what this thing could do to her plan.  Something she 
thought to be a small wave on a pond just turned into a tsunami.

Unknown to Pluto, another one was about to merge into the already crossed 
timelines, the one that was very close to her......



As Sailor Saturn, Hotaru was the most powerful Senshi in the Solar System.  
With her Silence Glaive, she could wipe out an entire army of strong youmas 
in one attack.  Her attack, Silence Wall, was a force to be reckoned with.  
She could destroy the entire system if she wanted.  Even the mighty Sailor 
Pluto wouldn't mess with her lightly.

But when she was not in her Senshi form, Tomoe Hotaru was one weak, helpless 
girl.

Hotaru was also lost.  That made the already bad situation even worse.

It was only moments ago when the Outers entered the park, shortly after 
their embarassment over an attempted entry without a ticket.  The guard at 
the gate lectured them for quite a while.  Things seemed to escalate even 
worse when agitated Haruka held up the guard by his collar.  Fortunately 
Michiru came back with the tickets just in time, or they would have been 
arrested.

Hotaru had no idea how she got separated with Haruka and Michiru.  She was 
standing beside Haruka just now but in a blink of eyes, both Haruka and 
Michiru disappeared.  The most dangerous Senshi of the Solar System became a 
fragile young girl sobbing and calling for her guardians.

"Haruka-papa...?  Michiru-mama...?"

Her eyes were glimmering with tears, and her mouth started to quiver as 
Hotaru looked around to find her friends, but with no avail.  People around 
her were smiling and laughing as they went on their own way, too happy in 
their world to even pay a glance at her.  She was among hundreds of people, 
but she felt lonely.  In every direction she looked there were only 
strangers, having fun with their family or friends.  She was the only one 
who was alone......

Hotaru really didn't like being alone although throughout the most of her 
life she had been alone.  During the time of the Moon Kingdom, people feared 
her power and the prophecy that declared her to be the bringer of disaster.  
After her incarnation, she was outcasted and avoided by her peers for having 
mysterious healing power.  Even after her rebirth after Paraoh Ninety she 
had made very few friends, most of them being the Senshi's.

All those moments of her life that were filled with being feared and 
detested made her very vulnerable to emotional scar.  Times like right now 
was one of those moments.  She was in the sea of strangers and nobody even 
looked at her.  Loneliness.  As familar as it was, Hotaru still feared the 
emotion.  Only thing that kept her from breaking down was a few happy and 
comforting memories that she had held in her mind.

Like that person she met before the Moon Kingdom fell......

'Huh?  What was his name?  I can't seem to remember...  But wait, who am I 
talking about...?'

"Umph!"

"!"

Her thoughts were suddently interrupted as someone bumped into her.

"Ah!"

Hotaru felt down on the ground.  She felt as if a wall just walked into her, 
how weird the expression might be.  Already fragile, Hotaru simply didn't 
have strength to stand still after such impact.

"It hurts..."

Hotaru rubbed her bottom.  Her hip was sore, but overall she was okay.

"Hey!  Are you hurt?  Sorry.  Gee, I seemed to bump into people a lot 
today..."

The man, whom Hotaru now noted to have a pigtail and a bit older than her, 
reached out his hand towards her.  With a little blush on her cheek, she 
grabbed his hand and got up.  It was then when she noted that he had the the 
most kind, deep looking grey eyes she had ever seen......



Pluto's room was a total mess now.  Suddenly some blasts came out of the 
Time Gate and started to break everything in their path.  Even the Garnet 
Orb was now vibrating with the Time Gate.

"What is going on here!?!"

Setsuna was now on her knees as the Time Gate's power started to overcome 
her own.  If here stood any other Senshi, she would have been out of the 
game long ago.  But Sailor Pluto wasn't a normal Senshi.  She still held her 
stance against one of the most powerful force in the universe.

"I must control it!  This castle can't stand this much longer!"

All of sudden, a blast came directly at her.  Pluto didn't have enough time 
to avoid it and got hit square on her chest.  Not a scream could make out of 
her mouth as she flew backward and slammed right into the wall.

Her limb body slided down the wall as she tried her best to stay conscious.

'I, I must stand!'

While she battled to keep her eyes open, another big blast came out of the 
Gate.  But this time the Gate failed to stand the power of the blast.  Just 
as suddenly as it lit up, the Time Gate shut down in a blink, some crack 
appearing on its surface.

Setsuna was so glad it was all over that she failed to notice the fact the 
Time Gate was now damaged.  Right before she slumbered into the 
unconsciousness, she softly muttered a name, one that even she herself had 
forgotten......

"......Killan......"




Skuld was in hell.

Well, not the real one.

But it was pretty close.

Everywhere she looked there was a huge machine that served no purpose 
whatsoever.  A giantic wheel that just kept circling around, a long 
snake-like train on a twisting track that went nowhere, a large pendulum 
that had a big pirate ship on its end, and etc, etc.  They just stood there 
and moved in the same routine over and over again.  The worst thing was that 
these stupid mortals actually seemed to enjoy these, as the machines had 
lines of people waiting for their turn.  So she couldn't even attempt to 
blow them up.

This place was the youngest goddess' nightmare.  Skuld really wanted to get 
out of here.

But she couldn't leave until the boy left first.

The boy who she STILL hadn't found yet.

"Aaack!  Where is he?"

Skuld muttered some frustrated words.  She had been searching for the boy 
for about half an hour, but with no avail.  There were just too many people 
here.

The goddess almost swore out of agitation.  Times like this she really 
wanted her sister Belldandy.  Heck, even Urd might be good right now.  Not 
being as experienced as her sisters, the youngest goddess simply didn't have 
necessary skills to detect the boy's power.  Without her gadgets, anyway.

"That's it!  I can still use my Mr. Looky!  Oh, I am such a genius."

Skuld took out Mr. Looky again and began to slowly search the area.  Her 
eyes were closed to focus her ears to the beeping sound of Mr. Looky.  Good 
thing she did that or she might have seen the confused stare of people 
around her.  A fairly large audience was started to gather around to look at 
a strange girl doing a strange thing.

Beep!!

"Yes!!  He must be over there!"

The audience was surprised out of their wit when Skuld snapped her eyes open 
and shouted.  Paying no heed to them the goddess ran towards the direction 
her stick pointed.

"This time, I won't lose him!"

Skuld didn't know that what she picked up wasn't the boy, but something very 
dark and evil......



"!"

The goddess of the present lifted her face when she felt a chill down her 
back.  There was something dangerous near her sister.  She could feel it.

Belldandy was a first-class goddess, not only because of her magic but also 
her skills.  Her fortune-telling was famous amongst her peers for being so 
accurate.  Somehow she had a knock at it, and it also gave her some vague 
sense of prediction on near future.  She really enjoyed using this ability 
as it could help people a lot.

This time, however, it told her a very upsetting news to her.  A danger was 
coming close to one of her loved ones.  Her own sister, no less!

"I have to go help her!"

"Help whom, Belldandy?"

The voice of a young kid shook her out of her thoughts.  Keiichi.  She 
forgot about him.  He needed her right now.  But her sister......  Belldandy 
was in turmoil.  With tears showing on her eyes, she turned to her love.

"Keiichi-san......"

"Eh?  What's wrong?  You are crying!"

"Oh, Keiichi-san......  Oh what should I do..."

"What's wrong, Belldandy?  Tell me!"

"It's... it's Skuld......"

"?"

With quivering voice, Belldandy explained her problem.  Keiichi knew that 
Belldandy's predictions were rarely wrong.  So it was very shocking for him 
to find out that one of the goddesses were in near trouble.

"Um, then what are you still doing here?  She needs help, doesn't she?"

"But Keiichi-san...  How about you...?"

"Huh?  Me?"

Then a realization hit him.  He couldn't help but feel very touched by her 
deep devotion to him.  But he shook his head vigorously.  Morisato Keiichi 
might be a wimp, but he knew what was right.  Right now Belldandy was needed 
more than him somewhere else.

"Don't worry about me.  I'll be fine."

"But..."

"Urd should be home soon, and I'll be back to myself in no time!  Nothing to 
worry."

"Keiichi-san..."

"Skuld needs you right now, doesn't she?  Go on.  I'll be fine."

"Yes..."

Wiping her tears away, Belldandy turned away from Keiichi to find a mirror.  
Before she left, however, she didn't forget to thank him.

"Thank you for your understanding, Keiichi-san.  I..."

"Nothing to thank me for.  Just go."

But Keiichi called her once more before she left.

"Belldandy?"

"Yes, Keiichi-san?"

"I'll be waiting..."

To his words, Belldandy answered with another tear-stained smile.  Then a 
bright light filled the room as she disappeared into the mirror.  Keiich 
sighed when the light was gone.  He couldn't help but feel that sometimes, 
Belldandy was too good to him for her own good.  He stepped towards the 
kitchen to make himself something to eat.

"!!"

It was then when he realized something.  Everything in the kitchen was so 
big compared to him now.  Well, it was him who got smaller, but that wasn't 
the point.  How was he going to cook with things that were almost as big as 
him!?!?(3)

"Where are you, Urrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd!!!!



"Achoo!"

Urd rubbed her nose.  She must be catching a cold or something.  No wonder 
if she thought about it, standing in front of a big refridgerator full of 
ice cream all day.  In the middle of summer, she was already feeling chilly.

"No blowing your nose in front of the products!!"

"Yessir!!"



Kasuke washed his face in the washroom of the restaurant.  The old lady was 
kind enough to let him use their washroom, even after he created a scene in 
front of her store.

"*sigh* What was I thinking?  A girl disappearing into the bucket!?!  Get a 
hold of yourself, Kasuke!!"

It was then when the mirror in front of him began to glow.  Much to his 
astonishment, a beautiful woman stepped out of the light.  The light had 
died out soon and the woman now stood on the ground.  The woman blinked when 
she saw him, smiled, and bowed, then left the room.

All through this, Kasuke just stared at the mirror.




>From the top of a tree, a long-robed figure stood on it.  The top branch of 
the tree didn't seem all that strong, but somehow the figure was able to 
stand on it.  Inside the robe, a pair of smiling eyes watched down below, 
not only the happy crowd on the ground, but alos the mysterious man in black 
uniform.

"Hehehe!  It seems 'they' are in this wonderful fun place.  It's really fine 
establishment, I must say.  It's gonna get even better when that gentleman 
down there begins his thing.  Oh today is gonna be so much fun, and I don't 
have to lift a finger!  Hohoho!  Enjoy, humans!  Wahaha!!"




The man in black started his plan, not knowing he was being watched.  He 
took out a small orb out of his inside pocket.  The orb started to glow 
under the sunlight.  The man snickered, and threw the orb down the tree.

The orb fell, pulled by the power of gravity.  When it reached the ground, 
however, it didn't break into pieces.  Rather, it just seemed to blow up as 
the light from the orb expanded dramatically.  Soon instead of the glowing 
orb, a huge ball of light began to shine.

The light was so intense and big that the passbys stopped in their steps.  
Some thought it was another new display by the park, even though some 
doubted why they had it in such a strange place.  They were met by a 
security guard when they approached the light ball, however.

"Wait!  Wait!  Don't go near this!  It might be dangerous."

His words actually surprised the crowd.  One guy at the front asked the 
guard out of curiosity.

"You mean this isn't one of your display?"
"Um, no.  I haven't been informed about a display in this location.  I don't 
know what it is, but this definitely isn't one of the park's features."
"Then what is it?  You just don't have a shining lightball drop out of... 
sky......"

The guy started to mumble as his face turned into that of the fear.  All the 
eyes of crowd seemed to get bigger and their mouth opened widely.  The guard 
was confused at the sudden change, but froze dead when he heard a nasty 
snarl of an animal behind him.  He slowly turned his head to his back, and 
found a group of monsters standing in the light.

Everyone froze for a second, until one of the monsters opened its mouth.

"Kaoh!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!"

Then everyone started to run away.

For the crowd of their size, the evacuation was rather smooth and fast.  
Living in Tokyo meant having lots of practices in the art of taking shelter 
in the midst of disaster, since there were lot of things happening around 
the city.  Earthquake, typoon, gas terror, heavy rain, Godzilla, youma 
attack, martial arts fight, street fights, and on and on and on......

Within next few minutes, almost every visitors in the park heard the news 
and ran out to the exit.

>From the tree, the man in the black uniformed blinked as he watched the 
entire park being emptied out faster than Kobe Bryant taking his first shot 
during a Lakers game.  He had expected chaos and blood as his monsters began 
to tear the humans apart with their bare hands.  But he never expected to 
find the entire complex vacated in mere minutes!!  His minions seemed to be 
confused as much as their master, since they just stood in the light.

Out of the man's hearing range, a figure was laughing his head off from the 
top of a tree.




Tenchi and Nodoka were having quite a conversation.  It had been long time 
since the last time the two met.  Nodoka was happy to meet her now all 
grown-up nephew, while Tenchi found another person whom he loved as a 
family.

Nodoka was the older sister of Achika, Tenchi's mother.  Before Achika grew 
up, however, Nodoka had some disagreement with Katsuhito, and left home for 
the city early in her age.

At Achika's wedding Nodoka showed up with her husband, Genma, which upsetted 
Katsuhito even more(4).  But with Achika in the middle, they somewhat 
resolved their differences and started to talk more like family.  They 
didn't quite forgive each other yet however, an apprent fact since they 
didn't visit each other so much.

Their fragile relationship between the upset father and the angry daughter 
ceased to continue when Achika died.  However it was no longer because they 
were mad at each other.  Achika meant a great deal to both of them, and when 
she died both were too deeply hurt to think of the other one.  Soon after 
that Nodoka didn't put a step inside the Masaki house.

This saddened young Tenchi.  He lost his mother AND an aunt at the almost 
same time.  While his uncle Genma and cousin Ranma didn't visit often, which 
Tenchi suspected to be due to Genma's fear of Katsuhito, Nodoka used to come 
to his house for every major holiday.  When his mother was sick, Nodoka 
practically had lived in their house to take care of her young nephew.  She 
was his favourite person at the time, only next to his own mother.

Now there she stood, the aunt whom he had really missed.  Tenchi couldn't 
help if their conversation got too long.  This was a very happy event for 
him.  He didn't even notice the bored expression on Sasami's face or the 
impatient foot-tabbing by one of Nodoka's companions.  Nodoka didn't pick up 
on the hints either, but she went on to introduce Tendos.  Minus the 
engagement story, however, since Nodoka knew it didn't put her 
daughter-in-law-to-be in good mood.  Also, a mention of the engagement might 
bring out another embarassing scene by the men of the household...



It wasn't until the park was almost empty when Tenchi noted something odd.  
Minutes ago he had to raise his voice over crowd's noise in order to talk to 
his aunt, but now it was absolutely quiet.  This made him puzzle a little, 
but he kept on talking anyway.

"So, how's Ranma?"

Tenchi blinked as the question seemed to bring out some nervous laughs out 
of everyone.  Even Sasami was puzzled as she asked Tenchi.

"Um, who's Ranma?"

"Huh?  Oh, sorry, Sasami-chan.  This is my aunt Nodoka, and Ranma's her son. 
  In other words, he is my cousin."

"Oh, how cute!  By the way, who's this young lady here, Tenchi-chan?"

Nodoka asked him to divert Tenchi's attention.  She was confused when Tenchi 
did the double-flip hearing the question.

"Um, that is, it's, um...  I am not sure you know, but..."

Tenchi was in trouble.  He didn't know how to explain Sasami to Nodoka.  He 
frantically searched the surrounding to find an escape route.

He did find one.  The only problem was that it was a group of monsters 
approaching them.

"Eck!  What the heck are those?"

"Tenchi-niichan!  They are scary!"

"Oh no!  Everyone, run!  Tenchi-chan, you too!  Young miss, hold on to 
Tenchi!"




Haruka was very excited.  She got some youma butt to kick.

Michiru wasn't very excited.  She got a missing girl in this huge place 
where some youmas were wondering around.

"Oh good!  I need to vent some of my frustration.  This hadn't been a good 
day."

"Haruka!  What about Hotaru?!"

This dampened the mood of the short-haired Senshi a bit, but she answered 
her partner anyway.

"Don't worry, Michiru.  Hotaru should be okay.  She is one of us, after 
all."

"But..."

"Also, it doesn't look like they are going to let us go anyway.  We got to 
get rid of them first before we can search for Hotaru."

Michiru looked at the monsters who were now rushing towards them with hungry 
eyes.  She didn't like it, but it seemed a battle was in order.

"*sigh* Okay.  But let's finish them quickly and look for Hotaru."

"No problem.  Uranus Planet Power Make up!!"

"Neptune Planet Power Make up!!"

Bright light covered both of them.  Soon, Ten'ou Haruka and Kaiou Michiru 
disappeared and there they stood, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune.

"Come on, let's get it on!  We don't have much time!"

"*sigh* I know, I know..."

Uranus drew her space sword out and charged the monsters.  Neptune was about 
to follow her partner when she saw a large lightball from the corner of her 
eyes.  Her eyes widened with shock when she saw more monsters stepping out 
of it.

"Uranus, wait!  There are more!"

But Sailor Uranus was already engaged in the battle, and was too busy to 
listen.  With a frustrated grunt, Neptune gave up and joined her partner.




"Aaaaaaaaaaahh!!  What are these demons doing here?"

Skuld was running away from the monsters who were hot on her tail.  All she 
wanted to do was to find the boy.  Right now, however, the boy was the least 
of her concern.

"Neo Skuld bomb!"

Boom!!

The explosion covered the area with smoke.  Skuld expectantly watched the 
scene as the smoke cleared.  But horrifyingly, when it cleared it showed 
more monsters stepping out.  The goddess was again on the run.

"Help!!!!!  Somebody!!  Belldandy-neesan!  Urd!!  Somebody!!  Ah!"

Skuld stumbled on a rock and fell.  She landed rather hard on the ground.

"Ouch..."

Skuld moaned as she tried to get up.  But she froze at the sight of monsters 
which were only steps away from her.

"Ah......"

No word came out of her mouth as she just sat there and watched the monsters 
catching up to her.  Finally, one of them stood in front of her and raised 
its arm to strike the goddess.  Even then all she could do was just to stare 
at the huge arm slowly coming down towards her...

"Angel Holy Bell!!"

Suddenly the monster was knocked away.  Skuld had to close her eyes because 
of the wind.  When she opened them, the beautiful angel of her sister stood 
in front her eyes.

'That means...'

Skuld turned around to find Belldandy standing right behind her.

"Sorry to make you wait, Skuld."

"Belldandy-neesan..."

She could only murmur since it was all she could do not to break down.  
Finally she did break down and rushed to Belldandy's arms and cried.

"Oneesan!!  Waaaaah!!!"

"There, there.  Skuld.  I am here.  Don't worry."

Belldandy did her best to calm down her younger sister, but she also had 
other thing to worry about, like those demons around her.  Right now Holy 
Bell created a wall of wind, preventing the monsters from getting closer.  
But the number of their enemies seemed to increase by the minute, not the 
other way like she hoped.  With Skuld in her state, Belldandy couldn't try 
anything stronger than this.

The monsters challengeed the barrier for some time, but they were knocked 
away as soon as they barely touched it.  Soon the creatures seemed to have 
given up on the idea of penetrating the invisible wall of air, but they 
didn't totally give up and kept circling around them.  Belldandy and Skuld 
were surrounded, and the enemies were increasing in number.  The goddess of 
the present couldn't see a way out.

'Urd-neesan...'



Urd's eyes snapped open.  She could feel the link with her sister flickering 
as if it was blocked away with some dark force.  Whatever was happening, it 
must be really bad.  She had to get to Belldandy quickly.

"Where do you think you are going?"

If that idiot of the boss would just let her go...

"I have some family emergency.  I'll come back later, I promise!  Just let 
me go this time!"

"Feh, you think I was born yesterday?  No excuse!  You step back in here and 
start scooping those ice cream!"

"Hey!  You have no idea what you are dealing with!"

"I know what I am dealing with, and it's YOU skipping out on the bill!"

Before Urd could retort, someone called her from behind.

"Urd?!"

With her mouth still open, Urd turned to see who called her.  Morisato 
Megumi was standing there with confusion clear on her face.  However, she 
just gave Urd a great idea.

"Nice timing, Megumi!  Please take care of this guy."

"Huh?"

Before Megumi could say anything, Urd turned to the clerk and spoke.

"This lady here will cover for me while I'm gone."

"Huh?  Who, her?"

"URD?!"

"No time, gotta go!  Love ya, bye!!"

With the parting words, Urd ran with the speed worthy of an Olympic Gold 
medal, leaving wide-eyed Megumi and the clerk dumbly staring at her 
departing form.

"What the...  Oh well.  One's better than none."

The clerk then handed an apron to Megumi and yelled.

"Now go in there and work!"

"Huh?!"




"This is Tokyo Live!  We bring you another live battle between mysterious 
monters and the Sailor Scouts!  Right now only two of the lady heroes are 
here, but they seemed to be on the advantage!  However there are still some 
visitors who have not been able to evacuate the area yet.  They are running 
away as fast as they can!  We will bring you more update after this!"

Inside the "Gorgeous TV's" store, the owner watched the TV intently.  Those 
poor people at the amusement park must have been enjoying themselves before 
those ugly bastrads showed up.  He felt lucky that he actually had to work 
today.

"By the way, what is taking Kasuke so long?  I hope he hasn't gone crazy 
again there."



Back at the restaurant, the old lady dumbly stared at the delivery man.  
Moments ago he was going nut outside, and now he was going nut inside.

"Hehehe!  Mirror, mirror, mirror!  Hey, lady!  Wanna go somewhere with me?  
Let's jump through that mirror!"

"No!!  Get away from me you sicko!"




Minagi was sitting with a very sorry look.  In front of her lied unconscious 
Mihoshi.

"I, I really didn't know it was her..."

Kiyone, who was still pale due to Mihoshi's 'treatment,' patted Minagi's 
shoulder.

"Don't feel bad.  You saved us today.  If you got here a little late, we 
might all be dead by now."

Washu, who had both of her arms in bandages, nodded solemnly.

"She's right.  Even I was out cold.  There was no telling what she might 
have done."

"But..."

"Don't worry, miss!  WE are fine.  Ryoko-san and Ayeka-san are still out.  
But I must say, it's all for good!"

Even the enthusiastic words of Nobuyuki, who had his RIGHT arm in the cast, 
didn't cheer Minagi one bit.  Katsuhito, whose HEAD was covered with 
bandages now, spoke despite his nose filled with cotton balls.

"Yau dit a smaww mishdak to sabe many.  Yau ssould be broud."

While still upset, Minagi giggled a little at this.  The always stern priest 
speaking funny like that.  You wouldn't see that everyday even if you 
traveled through the galaxy.

"Now, let's see what we've been missing today, shall we?"

With that words, Washu turned on the TV.

The screen showed a close-up of Tenchi's face.

"Huh?"

The camera began to zoom out, and it showed Tenchi who was running with 
Sasami on his back.  They were being chased by some monsters.

"Eek!?!  Tenchi!!!"

Nobuyuki's loud shout woke up the sleeping beauties.  Mihoshi was the first 
to open her eyes, and spoke with still sleepy voice.

"Huh?  When did I sleep?  Oh, Minagi!  When did you come?"

"Um, just now.  Hi, Mihoshi..."

"Hi!  Oh I am so glad you are here.  How was your trip?  Did you find 
anything fun?  Oh Tenchi!  When did you come back?"

"Ahem, Mihoshi?"

"Huh, what, Washu-chan?"

"That's not Tenchi.  That's Tenchi on TV."

"Oh really?  Wow!  When did he get on TV?  What is he doing right now?  Eh?  
He is just running.  What's his role?"

"That's not a role.  He is on live TV news."

"Huh?  Why?  What did he do?  Is he a criminal now?  Does that mean... I 
have to arrest him?!"

Fumed Kiyone interfered.

"NO YOU IDIOT!!  Tenchi is running because some monsters are CHASING him!!"

"Oh, so we don't have to arrest him?  That's good!"

But loud voice of Kiyone shook the other two heavy-sleepers out of their 
dream.

"What!?!  Who's chasing Tenchi!?!?"

"What was that about Tenchi-dono?  Oh my goodness!!  SASAMI!!"

Both Ryoko and Ayeka tried to get up when they saw the screen.  Their leg 
failed, however, and they fell on their face.  Hard.

BAM!!

"...ouch..."

"...it hurts..."

Washu rolled her eyes.  They should have known better, coming off from the 
'care' of MIHOSHI.  Then she turned her gaze to Minagi, who became very 
nervous.

"As you can see, Tenchi-dono is in danger..."

"He IS?!?!  Oh my goodness!!!  We should do something!!"

"You GOT that NOW, You bubble head!?!?!?"

Other than a small vein popping up on her forehead, Washu ignored the two 
galaxy police officers and continued.

"...but almost every one of us are incapaciated because of our injuries..."

"Injuries?  What happened to you people?"

BAM!!

Everyone in the room facefaulted at the comment which came from no other 
than Mihoshi herself.

"Why you!!!!"

"Aaaah!!  Kiyone, you are scaring me!"

"Calm down, Kiyone-san!"

"It isn't worth it, Kiyone-kun!"

Nobuyuki and Katsuhito were trying to restrain enraged Kiyone away from 
crying Mihoshi.  Washu stood up and kept on speaking while rubbing her 
forehead.  Minagi just had to admire her strength.

"Like I was saying, somebody has to go and help Tenchi-dono.  With Sasami 
there, he will be in disadvantage if he is forced to fight.  But none of us 
can.  Do you understand what I am saying?"

A realization came to Minagi's face, and it turned into determination as she 
nodded to the greatest scientist in the universe.

"Just tell me how to get there."




The entrance to the park was already blocked by the police when the rest of 
the Senshi's, including Chibi-Usa, arrived.  They were a bit miffled since 
they didn't know what was going on.  When they tried to ask someone they 
were greeted by a soft meow near their feet.  Usagi and the Senshi's looked 
down to find Luna.

"Luna!"

Usagi picked up the cat and carefully looked around them.  Feeling that 
there were too many people watching, she went into the shade under a close 
tree.  The rest also quietly followed her.  As soon as she thought they were 
clear, Usagi quietly asked the cat.

"Luna, what's going on?"

"I don't know exactly, but I think there are some monsters inside"

"WHAT!?!?!"

The collective yell of all the Senshi's were loud enough to attract 
attentioin of a large audience, who sweatdropped seeing six girls screaming 
to the cat.  The Senshi's noticed this and shut their mouth, having gone 
through enough embarassment today and all.  They went into a nearby alley to 
continue their conversation.

"Okay, Luna.  What's this about monsters?"

Rei impatiently asked the cat who was still trying to recover from their 
yell.

"...hello to you too, Rei..."

"No chit-chat!  We don't have time!"

"We would if you guys came here earlier!"

"Well SORRY!!  We had to drop off Artemis and pick up the kid!"

"Hey!  I am not a kid!!  I am one of the Senshi's, too!"

Rei rolled her eyes before answering back to Chibi-Usa, raising her hand 
upto her neck.

"Sorry, but you have to be THIS tall to be on the same ride with us."

"I do not!"

"Sure do!"

"Do not!"

"Do!"

"Guys, guys.  We have more urgent business to take care of."

A hand covered each of Rei and Chibi-Usa's mouth as Makoto tried to break 
the two up.  Minako grinned rather slyly at this, though.

"Eager to meet the boy who LOOKS AS KIND AS your OLD BOYFRIEND, huh?"

"Hey!  That has nothing to do with it!"

Makoto's retort seemed less believable with that blush on her cheek.

Luna smacked her forehead.  Times like this she wished she had perished with 
the rest of the Moon Kingdom millenia ago.  All these headaches were 
shortening her life anyway.  With sigh, she addressed the remaining two 
Senshi's who were still paying attention.

"Waaaaah!!  We just finished fighting Galaxia, but we had to fight again?!"

Make that ONE Senshi who was still paying attention.

"Ami, there are new youmas in the park, and Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru are 
already in there looking for that boy!  We have to do something!!"

"Eh?  Um, okay..."

Being suddenly entrusted with such a large responsbility of decision making, 
Ami was barely able to answer.  She looked at her friends who were now fully 
into arguements amongst themselves, totally forgetting about why they were 
there.  This made the already difficult job almost impossible.

"By the way, where is Setsuna?"

Ami asked the question simply to change the subject, seeing that she 
wouldn't be able to draw her friends' interest.  Surprisingly this question 
brought all the Senshi's back on track.

"Yeah, where is she?  And Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru?"

"Yeah!  Where is Hotaru?"

A vein popped on the cat's forehead when Usagi and Chibi-Usa asked for 
something she had spoken only moments ago.  She looked up to Usagi who was 
still holding her, but answered them in rather quiet voice.

"Setsuna disappeared, and for the other Outers......"

"Yes?"

All the Senshi's drew close to the cat to listen more clearly, since it was 
hard to hear the cat's small voice.  Only Ami, who realized the impending 
anger of their advisor, stepped away from Luna.

"...I told you THAT THEY ARE INSIDE LOOKING FOR THE BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!"

All the Senshi's were now covering their ears in pain.  Except Ami, who had 
already covered her ears before the scream.




Belldandy was still surrounded by the monsters, holding unconscious Skuld in 
her arms.  Her sister cried herself out till she passed out.  Belldandy 
relieved at feeling her sister's now regular breath on her neck.  Skuld's 
terrified wail had been tearing the older goddess' heart.

However there wasn't much time left, since Belldandy was beginning to feel 
tired.  Although it was Holy Bell's power that was keeping up the wind 
barrier around them, it was still the goddess' own power that kept the angel 
here.  Longer this would go on, more dangerous for the goddesses.

But Belldandy still couldn't do anything much.  Even without Skuld there, 
her enemies would be just too many for her to handle alone.  With her 
current power she wouldn't be able to hold on for very long.

'I know I shouldn't, but......'

There was a last resort of unsealing her power.  With the seal open, 
Belldandy's power should rise enough to destroy all of the monsters here.  
But doing so without her FATHER's permission was a serious breach of the 
regulations, one that could easily evoke her goddess license.  She even 
might have to leave Keiichi......

'But I have no choice......'

Belldandy trusted Keiichi with all her heart.  If things came to the worst, 
he still wouldn't blame her for it.  Keiichi had stood by her side through 
it all, and she would do the same.  Even if she wouldn't be able to fullfill 
his wish, the one that both kept AND allowed her to be with him, she would 
still go back to him at the end.  She also had no doubt he would be waiting 
for her...

'Just like he said......'

Almost subconsciously Belldandy squeezed Skuld closer to her, as if she 
wanted to get someone else's comforting assurance......

The roar of the monsters began to get louder, as more of them appeared and 
surrounded the goddesses.  There seeemed to be at least thirty of them 
there.  Belldandy could feel her angel starting to wear out.  Soon she would 
have to send Holy Bell back.  Then it would be only herself that stood 
between Skuld and the monsters.

Belldandy's hand slowly reached up to her ears, where the seal existed in 
the form of the accessories.  The time she had dreaded would come soon.  
With her mind determined, she grabbed the earrings on her ears.

She didn't get the chance to take them off.

Because before Belldandy could remove her seal, some rays of lightening 
suddenly dropped out of sky and striked the monsters.

Grrwwwaaahh......

Painful grunt of the monsters rang through the air, as almost half of them 
turned into ashes.

"Ohohohohohohoho!!  Picking on my sisters?  That's why you uglies can't buy 
a date!!  Bwahahahahaha!!"

A rather familar laughter filled the place.  Belldandy quickly turned around 
to find Urd laughing her heart out.

"Urd-neesan!"

Tears almost ran down her cheek when Belldandy saw her older sister standing 
there with a broad smile.  The relief was so great that she couldn't even 
stand to greet Urd.

The goddess of the past put her gaze down to her now almost sobbing sister.  
With sympathetic glance, she also took a moment to look at their youngest 
sister, who was now asleep.  She smirked a little at seeing this, and patted 
Belldandy's head.

"Don't worry.  Thing like this is my stuff, so just watch."

"Thank you, Urd-neesan!"

"No prob, Bell.  Now, where were we...?"

Urd lifted her chin to face the cause of her sister's tears.  Despite all of 
her care-free, punky attitude, one thing never left the top of her priority 
list.  Nobody, and she meant NOBODY, would mess with her family.

Being the second-class goddess, Urd had less access to Ygradsil's power than 
Belldandy.  But when it came to combat, her skill made up for that 
limitation more than enough.  Her reckless style of spell casting also made 
her so deadly.  The goddess's name was notorious even among the demons, 
especially after when she fried five first-class demons crisp, all at the 
SAME time.

Now, the monsters were really low-level evil creatures.  While they had 
numbers, in Urd's eyes it only meant more fish to fry at once.  Whatever 
these creatures were, they were in for the worst, and the last punishment of 
their lifetime.

"Let's rumble, boys!  Ohohohohohohohoooo!!!  LIGHTENING STRIKE!"

BOOM!

"That's it.  Dance, boys!  Ohohohohohoho!!  Here comes another one!"

KABOOM!

"Ohohohohohohoho!!  Had enough?  Yes?  Too bad, because I'm not done yet!"

KABOOM!  KABOOM!  KABOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

Not long after, only remains of her opponents were the burnt marks left on 
the sidewalk.  Even though they were evil monsters, Belldandy couldn't help 
but feel a little sorry for them.  In the blink of eyes, her sister totally 
wiped them out, not leaving a hair untorched.

"Over already?  Geez, all of you, and still can't satisfy one of me!!  
Ohohohoho......"

Urd's laugh trailed off when she saw even more creatures came out of the 
bushes.  They were almost twice the number from before.  Belldandy paled 
slightly.  But Urd put on a rather mean grin as she stretched her fingers.

"Ain't gonna give a lady some moment to freshen up?  That's the type we 
females hate the most!!  Fine.  Come and take your punishment like men!  
Ohohohohohohohohoho!!!!!"

'This is gonna be a long day.'

Putting that thought aside, Urd raised her hand to cast another spell.




The man in the uniform had been observing the scenes on the grounds.  At 
first he was pleased to see that his minions had found some preys.  However 
his pleasure soon turned into anger when the preys turned out to be the one 
who was actually doing the hunting.  The monsters outnumbered their 
opponents, but they were the one who was being slaughtered in the end.  
Those two girls in weird costume destroyed more than fifty now.  Those women 
with face markings were doing as well as them, if not better.  He didn't 
even begin to fathom how this could be.  Whoever his new enemies were, they 
were not normal human beings.

Out of irritation, he continued to summon more creatures.  That evened the 
odds a little, but what he wanted was sacrifices, not prisoners.  In order 
to kill those persistent dogs, it seemed that more powerful servants would 
be needed.

'I wasn't expecting to do this so early in my mission, but I guess it'll 
have to do...'



"Hmm?"

The figure in the robe, still on the top of the tree, observed the man down 
below when the man took out another orb from his jacket.  This time, 
however, instead of dropping it he threw it up and the orb was suspended in 
the air.  Then all of sudden dark flame exploded, surrounding the orb.  Then 
the man began his chanting, and the flame began to spit out some small 
pieces, which turned into some winged creatures.

"Oho!  This looks interesting..."




Ranma Saotome was NOT a coward.  Living with Happosai also gave him lots of 
experiences with the kinds of demons.  So those monsters didn't scare him a 
bit.

But he had a girl to protect right now.

The heir of the Anything Goes was currently doing something he wasn't proud 
of.  The Saotome Secret Technique.  It was necessary at the moment to make 
sure that the girl in his arms wouldn't get hurt.  His manner wasn't that of 
the gentlemen, but his honor was that of the chivalry.  No matter what 
happened, he wouldn't let an innocent get hurt.

Beside, there was something about this girl that made him especially 
protective...



Tomoe Hotaru never liked flying.  It scared her, even when she was in her 
Senshi form.

So it was natural for her to scream when the stranger, whom she just met, 
picked her up with his arms, and began to jump between tree to tree.  But 
she liked the prospect of facing those monsters even less, so she kept her 
silence after some time later.

While she was one of the Sailor Scouts, she was also a regular girl.  Hotaru 
herself didn't like fighting much either, although she would do it if she 
had to.  But at the moment fighting was not an option.  After all, she 
couldn't transform in front of this stranger, could she?

Hotaru was also surprised to find herself rather comfortable in this 
stranger's arms.  It wasn't something physical, but there was something 
spiritual from him that kept her mind at ease.  She felt secure and happy 
there.

Herself didn't realize it, but the young Senshi was beginning to lean 
towards the man's chest...



Ranma blinked in the midst of his flight.  Did this girl just lean on him?  
He looked down briefly and saw that he wasn't mistaken.  The girl didn't 
seem to realize what she did though, so Ranma just shrugged it off.  He had 
a bigger problem on his hand.

The problem just got bigger, however, when some more creatures appeared in 
front of him.  They were different from the ones he was running away from.  
First of all, they had wings and flew in the air.  But somehow Ranma felt 
that they were not very friendly ones.  His instinct kicked in when he 
jumped sideway, just in time to avoid one of the winged creatures rushing 
towards him.

The creature barely missed the two people.  The real surprise came after, 
though, when it collided with one of the demons coming up behind him and 
exploded.  The gush of wind changed the course of Ranma's flight and he had 
to twist in mid-air to avoid an awkward landing.

When they landed Ranma and Hotaru gasped at the sight in front of them.  
Almost half of the demons were also hit by the blast.  A large crater was 
all that was left of the flying attacker and its target.  The rest of the 
demons hesitated for a moment after they saw the explosion, but soon resumed 
their chase.  Ranma stopped being amazed and began to run away faster.

While on the run, Ranma started talking.  It was a hard task when he was 
running with someone in his arms, but he figured it might loosen the 
tension.  The girl was now holding onto him so tightly that it was getting 
hard for him to breathe.

"By the way, my name is Ranma."

But being a Saotome, he didn't know many people skills.  This was only thing 
he could think of at the time.

"Huh?"

"My name.  Call me Ranma.  What's yours, kid?"

"Um, Hotaru.  Tomoe Hotaru."

"Hotaru, huh?  Cute name."

Ranma smirked when Hotaru blushed at his compliment.  Sure, her name WAS a 
cute one.  But he said that to almost every girl he had met, and it always 
brought out a blush.

'Well, there was Ukyou but I didn't know she was a girl until 10 years 
later.  Wait, I didn't say that to Shampoo... but she was trying to kill me 
that day.  Kodachi?  Nah.  I was too paralyzed to speak.  Um, Akane 
either... but she smacked a table on my head!!'

Ranma was so deep in thoughts that he almost didn't see the incoming threat. 
  Fortunately he found it just before it reached him.  Unfortunately it was 
one of those kamikaze flying thingies.

'Uh-oh.'

The pigtailed martial artist kicked the ground to take a quick side-step.  
But the creature was already too close and landed on the ground only inches 
away from the two.  It exploded.  Almost out of instinct, Ranma turned his 
back towards the blast to shield the girl.  Why his instinct told him to do 
that, he couldn't think of a reason even when the shock of wave hit his back 
hard.




'Man, they are fast!'

Tenchi thought as he tried to control his breath.  Not to brag, but he was 
very healthy and very fit.  The fact that he hadn't tired himself out yet 
despite having run for quite a while was the proof.  He was even carrying 
already exhausted Sasami on his back.

However his own stamina seemed to be nothing much compared to the runners in 
front of him.  Saotomes and Tendos didn't even break a sweat since they 
started to run.  What puzzled Tenchi the most was that they didn't look 
scared despite being chased by horde of monsters.  Mr. Tendo even casually 
offered to carry Sasami if Tenchi was too tired.  Tenchi politely declined, 
not wanting to show any weakness.  But he couldn't help but to ask.

"Um, your family seems to be in quite a shape.  Do you guys work out often?"

The girl in short hair, whose name he heard was Nabiki, answered instead of 
her father.

"You COULD say that."

Tenchi saw the little smirk on the middle Tendo sister's lips.  He blinked, 
and asked another one.

"Um, aren't you a little upset or anything?  I mean, we are being chased by, 
um, whatever those are.  But you guys don't even look fazed."

This time the long-haired one, Kasumi he thought her name was, spoke.

"Oh, things like this happens all the time at home."

Now both Tenchi and Sasami blinked as they saw the nervous smiles of the 
others.  They had to conclude the story in their own mind.

'I thought WE were weird...'



"Um, are you sure about this?

"Sure!  I AM the greatest genius..."

"...in the universe.  Yes, I know, I know.  But are you SURE about this?"

Minagi asked, eyeing fearfully at the glowing test tube she was currently 
standing in.  She and Washu were in the subdimension lab.  To help Tenchi in 
time, Washu insisted on teleporting Minagi with her special invention.  
Minagi accepted the offer in half-curiosity and half-suspicion.  Now she was 
having doubts.

But it was too late now.

"Oh, I am sure!  This is a perfect chance to test my new creation!"

"WHAT?!  You mean you are TESTING this thing with ME?!?"

"Of course!  That was your question, wasn't it?"

"NO IT WAS NOT!!"

"Really?  Oh well.  No time now.  I'll just teleport you to the place using 
the location I have calculated.  Sit tight.  It's gonna get rough~."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN ROUGH!?!  STOP!!  I HAVE CHANGED MY..."

Minagi's sentence was cut off as she disappeared in a bright light.  When 
the light finally died out, there was no one inside the tube.

"Heheheh.  Perfect as the last time."

The greatest, and the meanest scientist in the universe snickered as she 
turned the power off.  Normal person would have just tried to calm down the 
subject.  True, she could do that too.  But it just wouldn't be as fun as 
this.



"...MIND!!  Eh?"

In the blink of eyes, Minagi found herself in totally different environment. 
  It was the place on TV, where Tenchi and Sasami were shown.  In fact, 
there they came, right towards her.

"Tenchi-san!  Sasami-chan!"

Tenchi stopped in the middle of the road when he heard someone calling him.

"Eh?!  Ryoko?"

Minagi hung her head at hearing Tenchi.  It was true her counterpart looked 
exactly like her, but could he really not see the difference?

Joy to her ears, Sasami did.

"No!  That's Minagi!"

"Huh?  Minagi?  Really?  What are you doing here?"

"I just came to visit when I saw you guys on TV.  So Washu sent me to help 
you."

Tenchi sighed in relief.  But something didn't add up in his mind.

"Um, where is Ryoko and others?  I am surprised that she didn't come with 
you."

His mind was confused even more when Minagi sweatdropped at his question.  
She fidgeted a little before she answered.

"Hehe.  I'll... tell you later."

"Oh, okay..."

It was then when Nabiki interfered.

"I am sorry to break up the heart-warming reunion, but we have company."

She was right, as Tenchi discovered themselves surrounded by the weird 
creatures.  He blinked for a while.  Then he scratched his head nervously 
under Nabiki's glare.

"Ehehe...  Sorry?"

"Oh you'll be sorry.  I'll make sure of that when we get out of here."

Something in her eyes scared Tenchi.  Something that he couldn't see even 
from Kagato's eyes.

"Don't worry.  Let ME take care of them."

Minagi said while cracking her knuckles.  She stopped in the middle of a 
step, however, when Tenchi shouted.

"S, stop, Minagi!!"

"Huh?  Why not?"

"Yes, Masaki-kun.  Why not?"

Tenchi cringed at another glare of short-haired Ice Queen of Furinkan.  He 
didn't like to reveal Minagi's identity.  But something told him that he 
REALLY wouldn't like it if he went up against Tendo Nabiki.

'Damn...'

"Not, nothing..."

Minagi was confused, but soon snapped out of it as the monsters started to 
advance towards them.

'Time to test my skills.'




"Ah......"

Tomoe Hotaru slowly opened her eyes.  First thing she realized was that she 
was alive.  Second thing that came to her mind was how much her entire body 
was sore.  But the third one was the one that really shook her out of her 
trance.

"Saotome-san!"

She sat right up and frantically looked for him.  Horrifying, she found him 
lying unconsicous behind her.  When she crawled towards him, she noted 
something else.

'A crater...'

On the ground a little further from them, there was a fairly large crater.  
Slowly her mind cleared up as she remembered what happened just seconds ago.

'That's right...  He was trying to protect me...'

Ranma was stil breathing, but his breath was irregular.  Half his clothes 
was burnt up in the back area, and she could see his now bare back bleeding. 
  Tears formed on her eyes and she reached out her hands slowly.  Suddenly a 
ray of light came out of her hands and the wound on his back began to 
disappear.  When Hotaru saw Ranma's breath started to ease, she sighed in 
relief.

Grrrrr!

Then she heard the grunt.  Hotaru turned to see the youmas slowly walking 
towards her.  But she wasn't afraid any more.  Ranma had been trying to 
protect her when it was her who had power to protect him.  This was her 
fault and she knew it.

However, instead of agonizing guilt, something in her heart urged her to 
stand up and fight.

Just like the time when she faced the Paraoh Ninety, She listened.




Things weren't much different for the goddesses either.  Even the addition 
of the winged creatures didn't help the demons much.  Those flying monsters 
were helpless against Holy Bell's wind barrier, which Belldadny got it up 
again as soon as she got some strength back.  The ground creatures were 
literally being fried by Urd's lightening attacks.

However the goddesses also weren't the ones on the advantage.  The creatures 
kept on coming against the goddesses.  They had been doing this fight for 
long time but the number of the monsters didn't decrease at all.  If it was 
anything, the number actually increased.  The goddesses' stamina, on the 
other hand, was beginning to show the bottom.

'This can't go on.  I can hold a bit longer, but Bell might fall down any 
minute now.'

Urd cast a worried glance at her sister who was clearly showing the sign of 
exhaustion.  Belldandy had been protecting Skuld long before Urd even got 
here, so it was natural for her to feel tired now.  The problem was that 
without Belldandy's wind spell, things would get MUCH more difficult.  The 
attack spells of Urd wouldn't do much good against those things in the air.  
Beside, the oldest goddess already had her hands full with the ones on the 
ground.  Her youngest sister was still out of action.  Skuld's bomb might 
help a little, but that would be only temporary.  What they needed was 
something definite.

'But what more can we do?'

Her frustration grew as she show more enemies coming up from behind the ones 
that had fallen.  Things weren't getting easier, only tougher.  At this 
rate, going back home would be the last thing in their mind.

'How did this happen?'

Urd sighed momentarily and cast another spell.  Today was supposed to end 
with short scouting of something that MIGHT have been a problem.  Instead, 
they were having the fight of their lives.

'Wait.  These monsters...  Does this mean they are the ones we detected two 
months ago?!?'

But Urd soon shook her heads.  It couldn't be.  While they were giving them 
a hard time right now, their power was not as nearly strong as the one she 
had felt.  Even the one who was summmoning these couldn't be that strong.  
If that was true she and her sisters would have been goners long time ago.



Another thunder by Urd's spell woke up Belldandy from falling asleep, again. 
  She had been trying to hide it, but using her angel's power was finally 
beginnig to have its toll.  She could no longer stand, because her legs gave 
up soon after the new creatures showed up.  In fact, her power had been 
already near its limit when Urd showed up.

'Another 5 minutes or so.  That's all I have left.'

Belldandy gloomly thought of her circumstances.  After 5 minutes only thing 
she could do would be using the sealed power.  She made up her mind about it 
already, but didn't want to do so until the absolute last minute.  Now she 
was having doubts about her decision as she was slowly losing control.  What 
good would unsealing her power do if herself was not strong enough to use 
it?

'I have to stay awake.  No matter what...'



Urd almost wanted to pluck out her entire hair when she saw another lines of 
monsters stepping right up after a bunch had burnt away.  They were ugly, 
smelly, and persistent.  The combination she DESPISED.  They were really 
getting on her nerve, which was already tense enough to chew.

Not being able to hold the anger any more, Urd yelled her lungs out at the 
reasons of her current stress.

"Go away, you ****** bastards!!!"

BOOM!

All of sudden, a huge lightening fell from the sky and struck the monsters.  
The explosion was even larger and the smoke cloaked the entire scene.

"*cough, cough* What the?"

When the air cleared, all that remained of their opponents were the big 
letters on the ground.  It was one of those messages from the heaven.  Urd 
carefully stepped up towards it and read the words.

" 'Stop swearing, Urd.  YOUR FATHER...' "

Belldandy's face brightened.  Her father's help came through.  They were 
safe for the time being.  It might not be long, but it would be enough to 
gather themselves again.

Urd, however, didn't look all that happy.  She looked up to the sky with a 
scowl on her face.  Then she shook her fist at the heaven and screamed.

"EASY FOR YOU TO SAY!!!!!"

BOOM!

Another stike hit the ground again.  This time it didn't leave any letters.  
But it DId leave one very scorched goddess.




Darkness...

Void...

Those were all that surrounded him.

>From that dark void, a voice reached out to him.

- RELEASE ME. -

'Who are you?'

He asked, but the voice didn't answer it.  It just kept demanding.

- RELEASE ME. -

He now realized that the voice was coming from inside of him.  It spooked 
him a little, but he asked again.

'What are you?  How do I release you?  What do you want?'

- RELEASE ME! -

'Tell me!!  What do you want from me?!'

All of sudden, another voice rang in his ears.  This time, however, it was 
coming from outside.

"Shut up already, would'ya?"

He felt sudden jolt of electricity running through his body, so strong that 
he lost the very thin thread that he desparately held on to keep him 
conscious.  He fought to stay awake, but the fight was futile.  Before he 
finally fell asleep, he heard the voice speaking again.

"Took you long enough.  Geez."

'How rude...'

With that as his last thought, he went into the bliss of unconsciousness.





Chapter 3 ends.


(1) For those of you who doesn't know, Minagi comes out in Tenchi Muyo 
Manga.  She was a copy of Ryoko made by former assistant of Washu, who tried 
to create a sword equal of Tenchi's Light Hawk Wing Sword.  Her master, who 
Minagi thought of as her own father, died in the duel with Tenchi but there 
was no hard feeling between Minagi and the Masaki's, as it was the master's 
wish to die in a glorious battle.  She became a friend of the Masaki's after 
that.

(2) There is our favourite cabbit!  This is its first appearance in 
Stallion, so let's give a warm welcome!

The guy from before :  Are you sure you just didn't just forget to mention 
it before?

BOOM!!!

Don't pay attention to that mushroom cloud over there.  Really.

(3) In their house lived 4 people, um, I mean 3 goddesses and 1 guy.  While 
the goddesses didn't eat as much as normal people and Keiichi wasn't a 
glutton, they still tried to buy the kitchenwares fit for four, but all of 
the large housewares in Japan came in sets for five.  Those were cheaper, 
more efficient, and definitely bigger.

(4) At first Katsuhito was upset at the fact that she married Genma 'without 
his knowledge.'  Soon the priest became MAD at just the fact she married 
'Genma.'