"Calm down Usagi, it was just a joke," Rei snapped as the group of girls got off the subway train. Usagi was still meticulously examining each hair with a small pocket mirror."Leave me alone," Usagi snapped back."I'm suprised that you would even want to be seen in public with an old hag like me," Usagi said after a few minutes of walking. "Usagi, Rei is older than you are," Ami pointed out helpfully. "But I don't have granchildren!" Rei flared. "I'm only sixteen and I'm already an old hag!" Usagi cried. Makoto, being the tallest among them, couldn't help but notice the strange looks they were getting from other pedestrians."Cut it out Usagi, you're making a scene," Makoto hissed in her ear. Usagi managed to stiffle her wailing, but she could not stop the small sniffles that continued to plague her. Rei was so mean to her! Rini walked silently behind the others. Ami said that Endymion was in Nerima and that he was relatively stationary, so at least they didn't have to chase after him, but this slow and easy pace was worse. If they had had to run after him then at least her mind could be occupied by something else besides her reunion with Endymion. The excitement had quickly worn away, leaving apprehension and fear behind. How was she supposed to treat her son? She couldn't treat him like a little child and tell him what to do, he was older than her, and she was still to much of a child for that any way. Like a big brother? That could work, but how would Endymion react to an eleven year old little girl being his mother? Would he even believe her? Most likely not, not at first anyway. Her and the other senshi would probably have to transform to convince him that they were being truthful. Afterall, who wouldn't believe the famous Sailor Senshi? Luna's angry rebuke drew Rini's attention. "Usagi, stop this nonsense at once," the cat shouted from inside her duffel bag."You don't have any gray hairs! Now stop swinging me around and act your age!" "But Luna," Usagi whined,"how do you know that I don't have any, you can't even see out of the bag?" "Owww, hey, don't take it out on me," Artemis cried out. The bag took on a life of its own as the two cats fought for a minute. "Sorry, just had to take care of something. Now Usagi, you can't possibly have gray hair because your family never shows any of the detrimental signs of aging. You'll live four or five millenia then drop dead looking like a 25 year old," Luna said sounding much more reasonable. "Oh, well why didn't you say so?" Usagi enthused. She patted the bag with the cats in it, earning a hiss when she accidentally hit Artemis' head too hard. **** "Shouldn't you be studying, Ranma?" Nabiki asked Ranma. She had expected to find him in the dojo, and she hadn't been disappointed. It was kind of unnerving to see Ranma going about his business looking like something that had escaped from the bowels of hell. He turned around to regard her with startling bright silver eyes. Ranma pulled his chi back in, carrying the black aura and silver eyes with it."Hey Nabiki. Is that a new kind of perfume your wearing?" he asked as if he hadn't heard Nabiki's question. His senses were starting to remain enhanced even after dropping the aura. Nabiki's eyes narrowed as she studied Ranma. No, he wasn't joking."Why yes it is Ranma, would you like some? I'm sure it would go well with your girl form." Emphatically, Ranma shook his head."Why would I be studying?" he asked, finally acknowledging her earlier question. "Well finals are in less than two weeks, and I figured that you would want to pass your junior year. If I was mistaken I'm terribly sorry," answered Nabiki sarcastically. Ranma shrugged and said,"I'll get around to it eventually. Right now I'm more concerned with learning how to control my new...whatever it is." To demonstrate Ranma held out his arm and loosened his chi slightly, causing only the arm to take on the black aura."It's not like a normal battle aura. There are some really weird properties to it that I need to learn. I also need to figure out how to hide this thing," Ranma pushed his bangs aside revealing the black crescent,"or Kuno is going to have a field day calling me a foul sorceror and all that." Nabiki couldn't fault him on his logic. If she started looking like a demon every time she used her art, the family would starve. In Ranma's case there would just be more people trying to kill him."Well, I just came to tell you that dinner is ready." "Wow, thanks. Free of charge?" Ranma asked. Then he remembered who he was talking to and quickly bolted, leaving a fuming Nabiki alone in the dojo. He definitely couldn't afford to get on her bad side now, not after getting his money back. Chances were that his father would be at the meal too. He could find out what that crystal was and why it had messed around with his chi. All the food was laid out on the table when he entered the house. He took his cutomary seat and waited for everyone else to arrive. Akane came first. She glared at him hatefully while fingering the bandage on her head. The fathers came next. They were walking sideways, the shogi board held between them. As they took glances to make sure they didn't run into anything, the other would rearrange the pieces to his advantage. By the time they were at the table Nabiki too had taken her seat. Genma and Soun appeared to be unable to decide what to do. Whoever tried to sit down first would surely lose a number of valuable pieces, but then again Kasumi's wonderful cooking was calling to both men. The problem was solved when Kasumi came in carrying the final dish. She set it down and smoothly lifted the game board from the adults' grasp. Deprived of the only obstacle between them and the table, Genma and Soun sat down. Kasumi returned after carrying the board by to the parlor and they had a normal, almost quiet and uneventful meal. Ranma even forgot to steal all of his fahter's food in order to force him to tell him about the crytal. **** Usagi had complained loudly about being famished so they had stopped at a nearby McDonald's and feasted on some of the world's unhealthiest food. She was still loudly slurping on a massive ice cream cone that was composed of no less than nine different kinds off ice cream when they got off the bus in Nerima. It was like walking into another world. Most of the buildings showed signs of recent repairs, the roads were a mix of old and new asphault, and every third building housed the main office of either a construction company or a psychiatrist. Almost everyone they passed on the street had a nervous, wild gleam to their eyes, like they were expecting an armed invasion at any moment. "This is creepy," Minako said."I thought all the stories about Nerima were just myths, but...wow, is that a crater?" she finished, pointing down a small side street. The street and the face of a small grocery store were had a very large chunk of material missing from them. "I haven't heard of any explosions in the news recently," Ami wondered aloud."Do you think that the whole ward is really haunted like everyone at schools says?" Makoto answered,"I doubt it. I hear that there are a lot of really good martial artists here, world-class even. Maybe we could stop by a dojo and see if that's true. I would love to spar with one of the best, just to see how I rank." "We didn't come all this way to check out dojo's, Makoto," Rei said."We're looking for Rini's son, that's it." "I wish I could have got in touch with Mamo-chan. Nerima is a dangerous place," Usagi said after inhaling the last of her snack. "If there's anybody that should be scared, it's the idiots that make this place dangerous. We are the Sailor Senshi afterall, so what do we have to worry about?" Makoto asked no one in particular. She realized just how loud she had said that and hurriedly spun around, making sure that no one had heard that wasn't meant too. Ami spoke up once again,"What are we going to tell Endymion once we find him?" She led them down another street as she followed the small map displayed on her computer. "That Rini is his mother, of course," Usagi answered. What else could they say to him? Rei shook her head."Meatball head, you're hopeless. We can't just go up to a boy, that's never met us, has no idea who we are, and tell him that Rini is his mother. Did you even think that he may not know that he was adopted?" She assumed that Endymion was adopted. There wasn't much else that could be done for a little baby."We don't even know what the name he goes by is." "Yeah, we should just tell him that his mother isn't his real mother. Once we manage to convince him of that, we can move on to the more outrageous facts, like Rini being his mother and Usagi his grandmother," Makoto added. "Are we going to tell him our secret idenities?" Minako asked. "We'll probably have to in order to convince him that we're telling the truth," Rei said. "Is that really a good idea? We don't know him as a person yet. He oculd be untrustworthy." Makoto feared that they were getting their hopes up. Endymion could turn out to be a car thief or a muderer or something. "We can trust Endymion, I know we can!" Rini shouted. What right did they have to talk about her little boy like that? "I'm sure we can Rini. From what my computer has picked up on of Endymion's energy pattern, he is very powerful. I believe someone of his abilities would have come to the attention of the authorities long ago if he was a trouble maker." They walked in silence after that until Ami said,"He should be near the end of this block. Is everyone ready?" They all answered yes, including the two cats they were carrying with them. **** Kasumi had just dried the last dish from supper when someone rang the doorbell. Who could be visiting? It surely wasn't any of Ranma's fiances or friends, they were always much more direct, always saving her the trouble of greeting them by jumping over the wall into the backyard or making their own entrances. She dried her hands and took her apron off before answering the door. "Yes, may I help you?" she asked as she opened the door. Oh dear. There were five young woman, all very beautiful, and a cute little girl with wonderful pink hair. She so hoped that they weren't more fiances of Ranma's. He had so much trouble with the ones he already had. "We were looking for a young man that may live here. He'd be seventeen years old, with black hair, and possibly have a small black crescent shaped tattoo on his forehead," said a girl that looked so much like Akane that Kasumi didn't believe she could have told them apart if not for the slight difference in their hair styles and eye color. "You must mean Ranma. He's in the dojo practicing now, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind having visitors. If you would follow me?" Kasumi motioned for them to enter and led them through the house and towards the dojo."If I may ask, what are your intentions towards Ranma?" "It's a personal matter," the nice girl with long black hair said. "Oh, I'm sorry." Near the entrance to the dojo, Kasumi said,"Ranma may be using a new technique that he learned recently, so don't be alarmed by his appearance. He's perfectly human I assure you." **** They all exchanged guarded looks. What was that last comment supposed to mean? The polite woman that had greeted them at the door opened the door of a traditional Japanese dojo. It became woefully clear what she had meant as they followed her into the training hall. Near the center of the dojo, a humanoid mass of blackness was darting around three wooden dummies that looked like they had seen better days and were set up in a triangular pattern. Every time it passed one of the dummies, a small piece of the training equipment was torn away by a blurring band of shadow. "Ranma, you have visitors." Ranma stopped moving and faced them. Now that he wasn't an indistinguishable blur, they saw the shining silver eyes and sharply defined physique of shadow. Every single one of them had to fight the urge to pull out her henshin rod and transform, even Rini who knew that she was possibly facing her son. Ranma saw the girls all gawking at him and and nearly choked. No way! There, were five of them, and a little girl. Please don't let them be fiances. Please! Seeing that he was frightening them, Ranma releashed his chi and tried to smile reassuringly. Rini and the others gasped as the blackness that surrounded Ranma seemed to be drawn within him. When it was gone, there stood a young man who's lack of a shirt revealed his wonderfully muscled chest and abdomen. He smiled a small smile at them. The black crescent over his brow was unmistkable "I'll you all talk now," Kasumi said. She left the dojo and determined that she needed to find Nabiki. She wasn't going to tell her sister about Ranma's guests, she was instead going try to keep her curious sister occupied so that Ranma could have some privacy. "Um hi, I'm Ranma," he greeted them."Before we even start, none of you are engaged to me are you?" Better to go ahead and get this part out of the way. "Engaged?!" everyone but Rini and Ami bellowed. Ranma saw their reaction and knew immediately that this wasn't one of those situations."Oh sorry, it's just that Pop has engaged me to so many girls that I'm sorta cautious now." Rini couldn't believe her ears. Endymion, correction, Ranma had just said that the man who had raised him had engaged him to more than one girl. That horrible man! When she got her hands on him...ooooo, she was going to do something very not nice! "You have more than one fiance?" Minako, the closet romantic asked. The thought of talking to Ranma's father and maybe making arrangements for herself flitted through her mind for an instant, but common sense and the knowledge that Ranma was Rini's daughter stiffled her desire. Damn he was sexy! Ranma proceeded to towel himself off and then answered,"Three right now, four if you look at it a certain way, but there were a couple engagements that I managed to get out of." Rini was really, really going to hurt that man! "Okay, now you girls know one of the aspects of my screwed up life, maybe you could tell me what you want," Ranma said. That girl that looked like Akane was unnerving. He kept expecting her to scream something about him being a pervert and attack him with a mallet, but this girl had a totally different aura than his fiance. Rei stepped forward and asked,"Did you know that you are adopted?" Ranma laughed for a couple minutes. If only he could have been so lucky. Hell, he could get out of three of the engagements just by being adpoted. After he stopped laughing, Ranma saw that the girl was being serious and scowling at him."You're not joking are you? I guess you girls just made a mistake, sorry. I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of Anything Goes martial arts, and I'm sure that I'm not adopted." Usagi made herself known, and impressed her friends once again with how serious she could be when it was necessary, by saying,"Ranma, that crescent on your head is a family birth mark, see?" Her brow furrowed in concentration for a few seconds, then with a flash of golden light, a golden crescent like Ranma's black one revealed itself. Ranma approached Usagi and examined the golden crescent carefully, making sure not to laugh at her ridiculous hair style. It really was there, just like his except for much shinier. Still, that proved nothing."That's a nice trick, probably good at parties too, but it would take more than that to convince me that I'm adopted." Usagi continued,"When you were a baby, your mother left a small black crystal with you when she left. It was shaped like a tear drop and attached to a gold chain." Usagi's words had the desired effect. Ranma jerked like he had been slapped. How big of a coincidence was that? It hadn't even been a day since he had found the crystal in the first place and now a bunch of girls, one with a similar mark on her forehead, came looking for him, talking about that crystal. Ranma didn't say anything to the girls as he walked out of the dojo. Genma had A LOT of explaining to do if that girl was telling the truth. Usagi led her little crew of adolescent and one pre-adolescent girls after Ranma. This was what she was made for. Whenever there was major trouble, Usagi took charge of the situation and never let her friends down. This time it was her daughter and grandson that she had to help. She wouldn't fail. Ranma found his father just where he expected him. Genma was playing checkers with Soun in the parlor and was in the process of prying his way into a new bottle of saki. Ranma gave him no time to move. He walked over to his father calmly, reached down and grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him into the wall. His black aura coursed up his arm and surrounded his hand for a moment. Ranma pulled his hand back, but the black energy remained, holding Genma's struggling form against the wall. Genma saw all the girls arrayed in the doorway behind his son thought that he was done for. He had hoped that none of the other girls he had engaged Ranma too would show up, but five at once, he might as well have told Nodoka the truth all those years ago. Ranma was going to kill him, but he didn't have a nice sharp katana to do it with. Then Genma caught sight of a golden crescent on one of the girls' forehead, and he knew that death would be a blessing to what he would soon endure. He was pretty sure that there was no escape, but that didn't stop him from trying. His kicking and jerking at the wall was only serving to put more force on his throat, though, and he eventually ceased struggling. Once the fat bastard had stilled, Ranma said,"Oyaji, if there's ever been one time in your life where your life depends on how honest you are, this is it, understand?" Genma looked down to his son and croaked out a,"Yes." It would be a lot easier if Ranma would at least let his feet touch the floor, then he could talk halfway decently. "This girl..." Ranma looked at the girl with the retarded hair. "Usagi," Usagi answered the unspoken question. "Usagi says that I'm adopted. I didn't believe her, but then she made that little moon appear on her forehead. It looks a lot like mine, don't you think?" Genma once again answered yes."Turns out that it's a birthmark from her family. I still didn't believe her, but then she mentioned a little black crystal that was supposed to have been left with me when I was a baby. The way she describes it, it sounds just like the one I found in your stuff earlier today. That crystal gave me my little moon and screwed my chi up so that it's black and acts all weird. Now, am I adopted?" Soun had been silently gathering his courage and chose this time to save his friends life. He bounded towards Ranma with suprising speed, the unopened bottle of saki held in his hand like a club. Unfortunately, Ranma's foot was faster. It impacted brutally with Soun's face, creating a meaty SMACK and propelling him mercilessly into the wall. Noiselessly, Soun's inert body slid down the wall and crumpled into a heap of broken man. Genma still hadn't said anything, so Ranma once again prompted him."Are you my father?" he asked slowly. Genma was almost too afraid to breathe, but he finally manage to pull in a shaky bit of air. What could he tell him? The truth? No, never, but what else was there to tell? He couldn't think of any plausible lies that Ranma would believe. He just hung off the wall, trying to breathe. Ranma's ire was steadily building. Genma's silence was answering his question as well as a written confession, but he wanted to hear the words. More than that though, he wanted to hear an apology. An apology for all the shit he had been put through, all the trouble his father had caused, and most especially, all the damned fiances that he had stuck him with. Throughout this encounter, Usagi and the other girls remained silent. Ranma had to find this out for himself. They were all slightly scared of bothering him just then, too, but how could they not be a little bothered by Ranma's display. They had barely even seen him move when the other man had attacked him. The older man had just snapped back when he came in contact with the blur that they assumed was Ranma, and flown into the wall like he was a doll. Rini was kinda proud of Ranma. He had grown up to be very handsome, just like a prince should be, was an excellant fighter, so that he could fight alongside her and her friends, and he really looked like he was going to punish that horrible man who had raised him. Genma looked helplessly at Ranma, and for the second time, saw his color shifted aura appear. He couldn't bring himself to look into the silver depths of Ranma's burning eyes, but he could feel them pressing down on him, making it even harder to breathe. "Damnit, answer me!" Ranma roared. The walls rattled with the force of his demand. Ranma was pleased to see a yellow stain spreading from the crotch of Genma's gi down to the bottom of the left leg. Ranma's demand also drew the attention of the other inhabitants of the house. Together, Kasumi and Nabiki came down the stairs and manuevered their way into the room. Kasumi saw her father slumped against the wall and rushed over to him. Nabiki remained silent, observing with a keen eye all that happened. Akane bulled her way through Usagi and her friend and shouted,"Ranma, you pervert!" Akane's claim followed only milliseconds after Genma's rasping confession,"No, I'm not your father." Ranma ignored Akane and allowed himself to smile under his aura. It wasn't a happy kind of smile, the kind you get when you find out that you've just won the lottery, or the sad kind of smile for someone you're taking pity on. No, this smile was full of malice."Kiyaaa!" along with the cry, Ranma relaxed the control over his chi much more than was necessary to maintain the black aura. The results were spectacular. The wall which Genma was pinned to was blown completely away, carrying Genma into the yard with it, and Ranma's midnight enshrouded form changed. Ranma couldn't see the changes in his aura, but everyone else could. It seemed to almost become blacker, if that were possible, but was in fact drawing in light more rapidly than before, truly wrapping Ranma in shadow for three feet in every direction. Along his back, arms, and legs, the utter blackness of his aura formed numerous spines of varying length, the longest being those on either forearm that resembled wickedly curved swords. Most stunning, and frightening of all, were the wings. They were both beautiful and horrifying, appearing to be much like bat wings. The spaces where tightly stretched membranes of skin would have been were instead filled in with glowing planes of shining silver energy, the same energy that formed the eyes of Ranma's black aura. Ranma, his body encased in its demonic shell, stepped through the space where the wall had once stood and glided towards his target. Genma lay among the debris of the shattered wall, unmoving and lifeless, except for an occasional groan of pain. **** Author's Notes: I'm on a roll. This makes three in less than thirty hours. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this and you can send C&C to me at dark_phoneix@hotmail.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ranma soon grew tired of kicking Genma around the yard like the human beach ball that he was, but before he could give up he seemed to notice his appearance for the first time. More specifically, Ranma noticed the three foot blades extending from each of his arms. He tested one's edge by tearing a long gash in the soil at his feet. The dark blade passed through the hard packed dirt as if there were no obstacle at all. "Well Oyaji, it looks like we're having Genma fillet for dinner tomorrow." Slowly, he drew the blades across the whimpering man's chest. The gi he wore peeled away like air. A thick line of crimson blood welled up from where Ranma had cut. Satisfied, Ranma went into a blur of motion. To everyone watching, Ranma's dark form was nearly impossible to see clearly for more than the merest instant. Genma on the other hand was looking like last week garbage. The remains from a slaughter house. Ranma had completely stripped his 'father' of clothing and there were hundreds upon hundreds of nicks and gashes covering the man's body. Usagi, previously paralyzed by a sort of sick fascination, finally came to her senses. She couldn't let her grandson become a murderer, which he was well on his way to achieving. There was no way she could transform, not in front of so many civilians, but from what she had seen of their treatment of Ranma's special abilitie, the Tendo family appeared accustommed to the unsual. If there was a possiblity, she knew she had to try. Power was close at hand with her own crescent revealed and the masking magic gone. Usagi knew theoretically that she should be able to throw around her magical energy while not in senshi form, but how? Luna had never bothered to train her, and the whole situation wasn't desperate enough for whatever programming she had that took over and transformed her into her true eternal form to kick in. Genma was bleeding really badly now, Usagi saw. He couldn't take much more abuse from Ranma and Ranma didn't look much like he was in the mood to stop. Usagi began thinking of all the times where her friends or her Mamo-chan, or her daughter had been in trouble. They had died for her. She found a well of emotions that she had long kept hidden. They had sacrificed themselves before for her sake, she should be able to pull off a little trick, something, anything to save Genma if it meant Ranma would keep what little of his innocence remained. Usagi's crescent began to glow lightly, unnoticed by Ranma's audience. The world went black around her. **** Usagi opened her eyes and squealed in a mixture of fright and delight. There were clouds everywhere, of all shapes, sizes, and colors. She was floating lazily through the air on a soft cloud of sky blue mist. "My daughter, you have grown into a beautiful woman," a voice from behind Usagi said. Usagi spun around and was confronted by her mother, the Queen of the Moon Kingdom, Serenity."Mo-mother, what's going on?" she asked."Where am I?" Serenity stepped closer and embraced her daughter. There were silver tears in her eyes and running down her cheeks as she stepped back."This was always my favorite place when I was a child. It was easier to bring you here than to talk to you directly." "I don't understand, Mother. I've got to go back and help Ranma. He doesn't know any better but he's going to kill his father, adopted father I mean." "Do not worry, Ranma and all the others will be exactly as they were upon your return as when you left them. Actually this visit is mostly for Ranma's sake. Listen closely, Ranma will need to know this if he is to survive." Usagi nodded."The positive, or silver energy that we of the Moon Kingdom used was not 'good' energy, it was simply what we had access to. Positive energy comes more readily and in much higher quantities when a person's intentions are pure, but in the wrong hands, positive energy could be as deadly or even moreso than negative energy. Negative energy is likewise neither 'good' or 'evil', it's just that negative energy is more available to those with evil in their hearts. For thousands of years our people harnessed these two opposing forces, but terrible imbalances were created in parts of the solar system and the neighboring star systems. You see, during different time periods, one of the two energies was always the more commonly used, negative for war and expansion, positive for peace and healing." Serenity paused for a moment, lost in her memories, before she continued. "The countless shiftings between the two energies had destabilized huge areas of open space. Many of the main shipping lanes were effected because of the drive systems on the ships were powered by either a silver or dark mage. It came to the attention of the Queen at that time, my long dead ancestor, that steps had to be taken or disaster would soon befall the kingdom. Scientists and mages were gathered to discover a solution to the problem. Their efforts were partially succesful when they created the Silver Imperium Crystal and the Black Light Gem. Both acted as powerful magnifying devices for their respective energies, and with proper management the imbalances were removed. An act of sabotage by a group of political dissidents seriously damaged the Black Light Gem's monitoring station and the out of control Gem badly destablized the entire region. When rescue crews arrived, the Gem was gone. It was assumed that the Gem was destroyed. It wasn't, it infact emerged from a blackhole in another galaxy and grew into the dark moon you know as Nemesis, but this is irrelevant to the story. Now with only the Silver Imperium Crystal, the imbalances were occuring more rapidly than ever and with much greater magnitude, but the knowledge used to create the Black Light Gem had been lost." "For over a century the condition worsened until finally two great mages came forward with a solution. They were brothers, their names lost in antiquity, but one was a Silver Mage and the other a Dark Mage. They proposed altering the souls of specific people with high magic indexes so that they constantly emitted either positive or negative energy. These people would then be taught by mages of both orders how to regulate their energy. House Serenity and House Beryl were the only family with a strong enough bloodline and enough magic to undergo the procedure. The Queen volunteered herself and the rest of her family to undergo the process, as did Lord Garion, the then current head of House Beryl. Our line was more suited for the positive aspect while Garion's, though not evil, were best suited to the negative. In the end the alterations were carried out and peace and prosperity were restored for several millenia until High Lady Beryl made her pact with Metallia, and you know what happened after that." "The whole point of this narration is this: over the millenia, the House of Serenity and the House of Beryl tried on numerous occasions to mix the blood in order to create a soul capable of producing both positive and negative energy, but they never succeeded. Never that is until roughly a quarter century before the fall of the Moon Kingdom. The girl born of my brother and Beryl's niece, possessed the positive and negatives aspects of both Houses. Her power first manifested when she was in her late teens, and it was a power to make the heavens tremble. She was feared in much the same way as poor, sweet Saturn. The girl had it within her power to request a favor of me as I was her godmother, and it was a favor I was all too happy to grant. With the Time Gates recently created and with an unlinked power conduit, it was a simple matter to give her Setsuna her title as Sailor Pluto." Usagi broke in,"You mean that Setsuna is that powerful?" Why hadn't she used all that power in all the fights over the last two years? Serenity nodded."Setsuna is very powerful, but her link to the Time Gate neutralizes her power. Unfortunately the process was still too unstable to reverse when Beryl and her forces attacked or I may have, with her help, been able to repulse the invaders. Now Ranma has come along, with his dual natured soul of Serenity Silver, and the Black Light Gem's own negatively created Dark soul. He must learn to balance the two energies within and without, or he will certainly destroy himself, and possibly take the world with him." Serenity held her hand out to Usagi. It contained a small blue crystal key."Give this to Setsuna, she'll know what to do with it and tell her to train Ranma and choose a successor for the mantle as Sailor Pluto." As Usagi had listened to her mother, her own memories of what had been spoken of slowly came back. She remembered sitting through dozens of history classes now, all of them giving much longer and even more boring lectures about the subject of the Great Balance as the act of the two mage brothers was called. "My time grows short," Serenity said. Her slowly began to lighten as she spoke those few words, and her form became insubstantial. "Wait! How do I stop Ranma?" Usagi asked desperately. Serenity smiled and touched a finger to Usagi's crescent."You'll know that and much more when you return. Bye now." Serenity's last act before disappearing completely was to kiss Usagi lightly on the cheek. Once again the world went dark. **** Usagi opened her eyes to see the scene just as she had left it. Ranma hadn't carved his initials in Genma at least. She tucked the small key into her pocket and cupped her hands slightly below her breast. Soft silver light began to gather in her hands, until an amorphous blob of mercury-like energy slowly roiled in her grasp. Ranma may be powerful, but he hadn't truly come into his power yet, but Usagi had been duking it out with the most powerful entities in the known universe since she was fourteen and she could throw around some serious energy when she wanted to. Now that she actually knew how to use her own power-her mother had somehow passed the knowledge to her- Usagi could act. The mass of energy she had formed shot out of her hands and exploded in a radiant burst of silver light at Ranma's feet. It had been a construct, a magical spell that only very powerful or very skillful people could create. Within it were four separate spells. One stripped Ranma of his dark aura while another put him to sleep. Genma got the mercy of a minor healing spell, not strong enough to keep him from being a mass of scars, but enough to keep him alive, and a mind altering spell that would make the smallest of lies that passes beyond his lips be excrutiatingly painful. The break in the action and Usagi's little light show tore everyone from their little bloodfest. "I didn't think he had it in him," Nabiki said from the porch. She spoke in a lighthearted manner, but internally she was scared nearly breathless. What if she had ever pissed Ranma off enough to attack her like he had just done to his own father? Admittedly, she didn't know what the panda had done to deserve being skinned, but just the thought that Ranma was capable of such cruelty was disquieting. Akane was busy being violently sick behind a bush and Kasumi was hugging her unconscious father protectively, her face as pale as milk as she stared at Ranma's sleeping form. "It was the negative energy inside of him that did that, not Ranma," Usagi said."He hasn't learned to control his power yet." The senshi didn't know who to goggle at the most, Ranma or Usagi. On the one hand, they had just seen some prime quality violence commited to a man whom they had very little respect for by a cute boy who had seemingly turned into a monster, and on the other there was Usagi, who had not even transformed and had done some kind of new attack that not only stopped Ranma from further savaging Genma, but had stopped all og Genma wounds from bleeding and even closed up some of the really bad ones. Akane came from behind her bush, her face nearly as pale as Kasumi's, and a glowing mallet in her hands."Raaaannnnmmmaaa!" She charged towards her fallen fiance with the firm intent to severely punish Ranma while he was still sleeping for hurting her father. Even Akane had enough sense to know better than to beat on Ranma when he was enraged to the point of killing. Akane never made it to Ranma. Usagi waved at the girl and a sheet of silver light flew from her hand. As it washed over Akane, the mallet slipped through suddenly slack fingers and it fell to the ground beside the now sleeping Akane. "Hmm, if Ranma isn't really a Saotome, I wonder if he's still engaged to my sister, or Ukyo for that matter?" Nabiki's question was calculated. There were other money making opportunities that were much safer than dealing with this new Ranma, and having him around wasn't really her idea of fun anyway. The blonde girl also had Nabiki on edge. She had casually taken Ranma down, an extraordianry feat that she wouldn't have previously believed possible. The blonde also seemed to share a mark similar to Ranma's on her forehead. She definitely didn't want to get an over protective sister with magic powers upset at her. "Usagi, how are you doing all this stuff?" Makoto asked her friend quietly. "Mother showed me how," Usagi answered. Once again she was working magic, this time in the palm of her upturned hand. A translucent ball of shimmering energy was floating over her palm. In a dull flash of light, Setsuna's face appeared in the globe. The green haired woman couldn't have looked more unsuprised if someone had told her the sky was blue."Um, Setsuna, this is really important. Could you open a portal to the Time Gate for us?" Setsuna nodded without speaking, and moments later there was a swirling gray portal leading to the Time Gate floating a few inches above the ground three feet behind Usagi. Usagi said,"Thanks," and allowed the globe to fade from existance."Makoto, could you carry Ranma though?" Within a minute all the senshi and Ranma were standing on a platform floating in a formless gray mist. Rini rushed over to Ranma as soon as Makoto set him down and hugged him as best she could with him lying on his side asleep. He also came away from the encounter with a cheek covered with small pink smudges from the lipstick that Minako had let Rini borrow. "Usagi, you're starting to freak me out," Minako declared. Usagi chuckled weakly."Sorry guys, but my Mother, you know, Queen Serenity, visited me in my head and told me about Ranma and some other stuff. I really need to talk to Setsuna, I wish she would goon and do her mysterious appearance so we can get this over with." "Usagi, where are Luna and Artemis?" Ami asked as she looked around for the cats' duffel bag. "Oh no! I left them back there with those horrible people!" Usagi shouted."Damnit Setsuna, get out here so I can go save my cat!" Usagi demanded. It took a moment for her to realize what she had said, but when she did Usagi turned bright red and clamped her hand over her mouth. "I'm here, Princess," Setsuna announced from behind the group. Usagi pulled the crystal key that her mother had given her from her pocket and gave it to Setsuna."Mother said for you to train Ranma to use both sides of his soul and to choose a successor to be Sailor Pluto." For once since anyone of the girls had known her, Setsuna was clearly shocked. Thunderstruck would have been a better description."Princess I- "She said that Ranma could destroy the planet if he doesn't learn to control it," Usagi asserted. "I understand. Leave Ranma here, everyone else step through the portal." Setsuna pointed to empty space, but it soon grew a portal like the one they had used to travel to the gate. Rini ran over to Ranma and Screamed,"I just got him back, you can't take him away!" Usagi went to Rini and whispered,"Come on, you know that Ranma is better off here until he gets control of himself. Look at what he did to Genma, the man who raised him." Rini shot back,"That man was mean, Ranma wouldn't hurt any of us!" "Rini, you don't understand. Ranma is only using the bad magic in him right now and since he doesn't know how to control it, it's making him bad too. Setsuna can help him learn to control his magic because she has the same kind of magic." Usagi hugged her daughter."Come on, we need to go get Luna and Artemis before the fat man eats them." Rini managed a small giggle at that."Diana wouldn't be very happy with us if that happened, would she?" They had left Diana at home with a severe case of the feline eqivalent to the common cold. **** Author's Notes: I know it's a short chapter, but once again, this felt like a good place to stop. Now for the good part. I'm pretty sure who the new Pluto is gonna be, but if I get a worthy suggestion that could work...well ya never know, right? So send me your suggestions or guesses at dark_phoneix@hotmail.com. She should be attractive, smart, and from the animeverse. If your choice isn't from one of the more widely distributed animes that I may have not have seen yet, please include a brief description. And all C&C except for grammatical corrections is welcome. P.S. Lots of people have asked why I used Rini as the name for Usagi's daughter instead of Chibi-Usa. The answer is that I just like the name more than Chibi-Usa, go figure ^_^ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------