Drakar had a problem. The nexus point he was currently attempting to reach had a structure built on it. The last time they had sought out a nexus point beneath a structure, Targath had met his end killing a Lathian scout. The structure was a fairly large design for such a rural location. It was not, however, designed to withstand much damage, nor was it built with materials strong enough to survive such an attack. *Well,* he thought, *there's nothing like the direct approach.* He blasted the flimsy front wall of the building. KABOOM! *********************************************************************** Based on stuff that's not mine *********************************************************************** Written by Cyclone *********************************************************************** W H I R L W I N D P R O D U C T I O N S *********************************************************************** presents *********************************************************************** T H E L U N A R K N I G H T S *********************************************************************** Author's Notes: Not really much to say here. Just enjoy the 'fic and tell me what you think. A note on pronounciation: Branaugh is pronounced brawn-NOW. Lathian is pronounced lay-THEE-en. *********************************************************************** Episode Four--A New Ally? KABOOM! Ranma jerked to his feet while Ryouga dislodged Makoto. They both turned to the others there and said in stereo, "Take cover. We'll deal with this." The two premier martial artists ran out front without even waiting for a response. Akane growled. "I am _not_ a helpless little girl, y'know! I'm a martial artist too!" With that, the youngest Tendo ran after them, followed by the patriarchs of the Saotome and Tendo families. The six non-Tendo girls glanced at each other quizzically and vacated the area quickly. After all, they needed to transform. Outside... The five martial artists faced off against the black demon. It was similar in appearance to the one that Ranma had fought and almost lost to. "Careful, Ryouga. If this sucker's anything like the last one I fought, we're gonna have our hands full." "Right, Ranma." Ryouga didn't question Ranma's judgment in this matter. When it came to fighting monsters from Hell or the Great Beyond or wherever else they came from, the young Saotome was an expert. "MOUKO TAKABISHA!" "SHISHI HOUKOU DAN!" The demon ducked both ki blasts, though Ryouga's slightly larger depression blast grazed the demon's left shoulder, to little effect. Akane charged. In retrospect, it was probably the biggest mistake any of them made during this battle, but the Voice egged her on. Soun ran forward to help her. *If ki blasts don't hurt it...* Genma slipped to the side and launched one of his Forbidden Techniques, "KIJIN RAISHU DAN!" The twin vacuum blades diced a pair of innocent trees, having missed their target. On the other side of the battlefield... Drakar cursed under his breath. The energy blasts were pathetic, considering his race's nature, but the vacuum blades had caught him by surprise. He growled and snatched the female attacking him. He held her by the throat and began to squeeze... Not far away... The Sailor Senshi transformed and headed for the front of the shrine. The demon was holding Akane up by her throat and appeared to be intent on strangling her while Mr. Tendo lay unconscious at its feet. Sailor Venus was the first to react, "VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!" The chain surrounded and wrapped the demon up in a tangle of magical metal. The demon reflexively released Akane. A moment later, it flexed its muscles and the chain shattered. It slowly turned its head to face them. Akane scrambled to get away from the demon. It was a lot stronger than it looked, and she had finally realized that this... creature... was far out of her league. Maybe even out of Ranma's league. Meanwhile... "" *Hmm...* she thought, *we may be able to use this to our advantage.* She spoke, "" "" "" "" Back at the Hikawa Shrine... Genma and the Tendo martial artists were already unconscious, and a stray blast from Sailor Mercury had triggered Ranma's curse. Sailor Mars gawked at the redhead. "A youma!" She was preparing a Flame Sniper while everyone else fended off the demon, when... "LOOK OUT!" The redhead tackled the red Senshi, knocking her out of the way of a quartet of purple energy blasts from the demon. "SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!" "SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" The freezing blast Sailor Mercury had just launched had no more of an effect on the demon than it had on the last demon they had fought, but the electrical blast, enhanced by the previous icy water blast, was another story. The demon stumbled, apparently dazed by the double attack. Ranma took the opportunity and slid under the demon's wild blasts of energy, "HAKU DATO SHIN SHOU!" The impact rippled through the demon's body. The two Saotome Forbidden Techniques, the Umisenken and the Yamasenken, were proving to be the most effective weapon available to any of the martial artists. Then a rose embedded itself in the demon's shoulder. Tuxedo Kamen had arrived. The demon roared and brushed the offending flora away before sending a flurry of energy blasts at the formal-dressed Prince of Earth, who, caught in the middle of a surely inspiring but unfortunately ignored speech, barely managed to avoid getting fried. Ranma launched another Amaguriken at the demon, which swiped at her in a futile retaliation. She danced out of the way and lured it into attacking again. This process repeated several times until she thrust her fist up in the air, "HIRYUU SHOTEN HA!" The demon roared and was tossed into the sky. It slammed back into the ground, shattering the concrete pavement, and pulled itself to its feet. It growled and launched itself at Ranma, knocking her down. *Oh, man. I'm mincemeat...* Unnoticed by her and Ryouga, the symbol of Earth flared on her forehead. The Senshi, on the other hand, all noticed this with great interest. Suddenly, an energy blast flew over Ranma and slammed into the demon's chest. The symbol on Ranma's forehead faded, and a voice behind them yelled out, "Rakka tan, Branaugh!" A large humanoid shape bolted past them and over Ranma, shoulder smashing the demon. The newcomer was huge, around 2.2 meters tall, and had the build of a pro-wrestler. His left arm and the left side of his face and torso gleamed a metallic grey color. The cyborg and demon fought fervently, speaking occasionally in the strange, unfamiliar language the Senshi and Ranma had heard before at the park (see part one). The demon thrust one hand into the cyborg's chest, through multiple layers of armor, and blasted him away. The cyborg rose unsteadily, his chest sparking with electricity. "MOON SPIRAL HEART ATTACK!" The demon growled and vanished before the giant pink heart hit it. Who wouldn't run from such a silly death? As wires in his chest began to close the wound, the cyborg fiddled with a strange-looking device embedded in the side of his throat and asked, "Did... you just launch a giant pink heart at that Branaugh?" Sailor Moon was quite wary, considering that this was the fourth time she and the other Senshi had encountered a cyborg, and that the other three had all been quite hostile. She replied, "Uh, yeah." He shook his head, "Fascinating." Sailor Mars stepped toward him somewhat threateningly and began to interrogate him, "All right, mister. Who are you? What was that thing?" He met her hostile gaze and replied, "I am Syphon Danaali, Operative Five-Two-Six, Lathian Special Forces. That was a Branaugh, our sworn enemy. I do not know why they are here, but whatever the reason, it can not be good for either of our races. Until next time, heroes." He turned and leaped away. Ryouga frowned and turned to the Sailor Senshi, "Hey, how'd you know that demon was here, anyway?" Before the Senshi could say anything, Ranma answered the Lost Boy quietly, "They knew the demon was here because..." she glanced at them, "they were in the shrine when it attacked." The Senshi paled, but Ryouga had apparently not heard her. She glanced up at them meaningfully and turned to face Ryouga... ...but by then, Ryouga had decided to go find the noncombatants and promptly got himself lost. Ranma sighed in frustration and turned around again... ...only to find that the Senshi were gone, too. Her eye twitched in irritation a moment before she went over to check on the three fallen martial artists. With a quick application of water to the face, two martial artists and a panda were soon wide awake. Akane frowned, "Ranma, where's Ryouga?" "I think he got lost again." "Stop making fun of him!" "What do you expect me to do? Lie?" Akane bit her lip. *Well, what are you going to do now? He's right, y'know. Or rather, _she's_ right, considering her current gender. Ryouga's sense of direction is like your skill in the kitchen... nonexistant." She pointedly ignored the Voice but still remained silent. "Hey, what happened out here?" Hiroyuki Hino's voice echoed out from a door of the shrine. "Growf!" A sign came up that read, "It's not my fault!" "What the...? A panda?!" Soun quickly explained Jusenkyou, desperate to keep his father- in-law from jumping to conclusions. "I see. Well, it's not like we aren't used to strange things happening around here." The others didn't take it quite so well. Yuuchiro wondered what kind of freak Ranma was. Rei wondered how Ranma had figured out their identities. Ami wondered if a Sailor Terra or Sailor Earth had drowned at Jusenkyou. For that matter, she wondered why the male Ranma was so familiar. Minako wondered if Ranma had a brother. Makoto wondered where her "Ryo-chan" went. Chibi-Usa wondered about the best to annoy Usagi. Usagi wondered what would be for lunch. Akane wondered how anyone could possibly take the curses as well as they seemed to. Nabiki wondered if there was any way she could profit from this. Kasumi blissfully wondered if the shrine had any eggs. Ranma wondered why these sort of things always seemed to happen to him. He shifted uncomfortably under the combined gaze of Ami, Rei, and Minako. He knew who they were, but he wasn't sure _how_ he knew or what they would do about it. He was also quite aware of the glare Akane directed at him. *Why me?!* At an unknown location... Ryouga slashed through the shrubbery. *Funny, I don't remember a greenhouse in the shrine...* Unknown to him, someone, or rather some_thing_, was watching his every move from far, far away. *Soon, Lost One. Soon, our time will come...* *********************************************************************** Ami Voiceover: Ranma knows our secret! Will he expose us? How do I know him? What does the sigil mean? Is he, or she, a Senshi? Wait. Could it be? Is he...? (Pause.) Syphon offers the Senshi an alliance with the Lathians. Should we trust the cyborg, or is it a trap? Find out next time on The Lunar Knights: "Awakening." *********************************************************************** Author's Postscript: Okay, so this one's a little bit shorter than the previous ones, but I felt this was the most appropriate point to end the episode. This is Cyclone, signing off.