The Senshi Who Was Not To Be Chapter One: Revised by Thrawnma Notes: Its been a couple of years since I really sat down with the intentions of writing anything more on this fic or the Robotech/Ranma crossover: Upon Silent Wings. Well, not only am I a better writer, typist, and older now, but I think my experiences will allow me to revise these stories and keep cranking out a chapter at least once a month. (I can only hope). This story is just as AU for Ranma as it is for Sailor Moon. PS: Yes, in case you were wondering, I -do- make it up as I go along. ¬,¬ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Many years ago there was a court who dwelled amongst our heavens, using magic to tame the planets and make travel between the celestial bodies simple, and easy. This realm of magic was ruled by the sovereign of Earth's Moon, whose name was always Serenity, the Queen of all who dwelled in the realm. The sanctity of this realm was protected by powerful magical warriors, Sailor Senshi, who gained their powers from their sovereign planets; Mercury, Mars, Earth, Pluto, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Jupiter, Venus, and one came from Earth's Moon, a powerful body of magic in the System, and home to the palace of the Queen. The last, greatest, Queen Serenity vanquished a terrible evil, at the cost of her own life. At the time, there were only nine Senshi to protect the realm. Sailor Gaea, was the princess of Earth. Unfortunately, for the first time in the recorded history of the Silver Millenium, there was no princess of Earth! Instead there was a Prince. Endymion, son of King Erech and Lady Relene. Lady Relene was the former guardian of Earth, but, due to a terrible wound received at the hands of a particularly powerful demon, she was permanently out of action. And, although Endymion may not have been a Senshi, he did possess some of the magic that the Earth had to offer, he was able to conjure up roses on a whim, and he was capable of feats of strength, speed, and agility if he so desired. Many historians, mages, and wisemen pondered and contemplated the meanings behind the birth of the Prince. Holy men proclaimed the boy was an omen of evil things to come, some even proclaiming that the boy must be sacrificed in order to keep the balance of good strong in the universe, but these radicals were shunned, denounced, and rejected. Soon the great excitement over Endymions birth died down, and rejoicing was heard when the birth of the Moon Princess was announced. Time passed and children grew up. All too soon, the Moon Ball was announced, it was Serena's, the Moon Princess, coming of age party. Despite reports that Beryl would attempt to use the Realm's relaxed state to launch an attack, Serenity said only this, "I care not for Beryl, nor for her evil master, Metallia. This is for my daughter, and, should Beryl attempt to harm any of my guests, I shall show her exactly why this realm belongs to the Moon." Sadly, Serenity's bold words would only serve to hurt her more in the end. Beryl, infused with Metallia's power gathered all manners of demons, youma, and humans infused with dark magic, and launched an attack upon the unsuspecting people attending the Ball, many helpless people were killed. The new generation of Sailor Senshi, young, untested, new to their powers and abilities, fought bravely, admirably, but were unable to repel the hordes of Beryl's minions. Serena had not yet received her magical device, the thing that would allow her to assume her position as Sailor Moon, leader of the Senshi. The other princess had all come of age before her, so they had received their magical devices already. So she was helpless, Serena had to watch her friends being overwhelmed. She had to watch as her lover, her Prince, had to struggle to get up, again and again, as he was set upon by Beryl's Dark Generals, and Serena had to watch in horror, as her mother sacrificed herself to seal Beryl and Metallia away in a dark void and send Serena herself, Prince Endymion and the Sailor Senshi spiralling away into the future. Once Serenity had accomplished her task of sealing away the dark forces, and sending her daughter and her friends safely into the future, Serenity could feel her body dying as a result of the massive amounts of magical energies she had expelled. She was alone, save for her two companions, Artemis and Luna, she bid them to approach her, and with some of her remaining power she caused a golden crescent to appear on their foreheads. "My lady, what is this?" Luna asked of the dying queen, incquiring as to the sudden appearance of the marking. "Luna.... Artemis..... You are both trusted friends of mine. This mark will allow you both to speak when the magic of this realm has faded away into eternity. Use the magic you possess when you two are reincarnated. I need the two of you to guide my child, and her friends, in finding their powers. I need...." Serenity paused, coughed, blood flecking her lips and spilling onto her soiled, white silk gown. Luna and Artemis were silent, worried, but ultimately respecting their Queen's last words. Serenity gathered her strength and continued on, "You... must.... guide them......... It is so very.... important.... Lu-..... Lun-.... L-............Luna," Serenity was struggling now, fighting for every breath of life, "You have the...dev-.... -ices..... for my...... daughter...... You -must- give them to her!" "Of course, my lady." Luna replied softly, her eyes glistening with tears unshed. She bowed her small head when she spoke, out of respect and sadness. Serenity gathered her remaining ounce of strength, pulling deep from an already drained reservoir. She surrounded the two cats with a field of magical energy, and then they were gone, their spirits whisked away to the future, where they would guide her child, help her grow strong, and live happily. For the last time Serenity smiled, and her eyes closed, her breast no longer rising and falling with life, but in death she still smiled. The cosmos seemed to mourn her passing, a freak shower of meteorites pummeled the moon's surface, turning the once mighty palace into a ruin. But not one celestial rock touched the spot where she lay, although a layer of dust buried her under a shroud of gray. Centuries, millenia, later at a time when science had become the norm, and magic was the thing of fairy-tales, the nine Senshi of love and justice soul's were given life, they were born again. Serenity's magic had been precise and every Senshi was born female, and the Prince was born male. Even the differences in their ages was accommodated for, the Prince being born years before the others, the same to be said for the Outer Senshi, excluding Pluto. Pluto did not need to reincarnated, her magic kept her alive throughout eternity. Though the other nine Senshi had changed with each passing generation, Pluto remained absolute. She was the first of her kind, and the last. Pluto was, in a sense, truly alpha and omega. Pluto had watched many things in her vast lifetime, she had seen great empires grow corrupt and fall, and had witnessed some of the many amazing things man had accomplished. Pluto had watched as man had picked itself up from the ruins that were the Silver Millenium and continue on. But the most amazing things had happened within the past two centuries. Had seen man step foot on the moon for the first time in thousands of generations, calling it the first time ever. Now she watched a certain pig-tailed martial artist duke it out with a demon in Nerima. Boy was he a sight to see! Ranma panted heavily as he ducked, dodged, and blocked his opponents blows. They attacks weren't particularly skilled, but they were capable of casually splitting concrete. It wasn't helping matters any that this creature was shrugging off his attacks like they were nothing at all. Finally deciding to show the demon who it was dealing with, Ranma went right into his special attacks, starting off with the deadly tenshin amaguriken, an attack that used ki to make his punches many, many times faster than normal. His hands were so fast they blurred out of sight, all that could be seen was a indistinguishable red thing. In a matter of moments the tide had turned, with Ranma landing hundreds of punches within a scant few seconds. It seemed to work, the force of the blows landed on the demon's chest, face, arms and stomach sent it flying twenty feet back to crash into a brick building. The demon hit the building hard and slid down the brick to rest on the ground, down and out. Ranma whooped loudly, "Yeah!! Take that!!" His good humor was short lived, however, as the demon rose and grinned maliciously at dark-haired boy. "What the...?" Ranma asked himself in bewilderment. The demon stretched and spoke in a hideous, screechy voice, "Thanks for the boost kid! That tasted great! I never knew a human could have so much life energy in them, but you do!" The demon punctuated the last remark by lunging to grab Ranma. But he wasn't there, deciding it would be safer higher up, Ranma had leapt up to the top of a building. No such luck, the demon leapt up to follow and Ranma found himself in the same position he was in earlier, trying desperately to keep the demon from scoring a blow while teetering on the edge of the building. Pluto still watched, hidden, but tense, ready to leap in at a moments notice. Ranma knew he was in some trouble, you didn't need to be a rocket scientist to know that. His mind was working at an incredible speed, while he tried to keep from being hit by the demon's now stronger and faster attacks. He spared a glance at the ground thirty feet beneath him, what he saw gave him a fantastic idea. Using some of the last bits of his energy, Ranma swept the legs out from under the demon, and punted it with terrible force straight down thirty feet, right into a pile of scrapped construction materials! A cloud of dust billowed out from the impact, and when it cleared Ranma knew he had won, the demon had been speared right through the middle by a large, sharp chunk of metal. It was undeniably dead. As Ranma began to heave with disgust at killing something, even a demon, so brutally, he saw it turn stone gray, and crumble into a pile of powder. Just like the others, Ranma thought. This was the fourth demon to appear and attack people in the past week. The first two had been easy enough to dispatch, they may have been strong but they couldn't stand the intesity of attacks like the tenshin amaguriken, or the mouka takabisha. The third was tougher, it seemed to handle the attacks fairly well the first time, but the second barrage of hyper-fast fists had taken it out. This one, however, had seemed to grow stronger with the attack. Ranma suddenly realized, that had he used the mouka takabisha on the demon, he would have probably fueled it even further. It didn't take much to realize the creature had fed off his attack, and kind of direct ki shot would have..... Ranma began to shudder as he realized how close he had come to dying. The first demon had appeared on Monday, just randomly crushing things with it's brutal power. A few people had been tossed around but they would live, battered and only a little broken. The demon went down quick after a amaguriken barrage. The second demon appeared the next day, Tuesday, but luckily, that time, no one was hurt. It went down with the mouka takabisha. The third had come yesterday, Friday, and taken two tenshin amaguriken to go down. Then, there was this one, whom Ranma had to trick into it's demise. "This sucks," Ranma thought "If the demons keep coming like they have, and if the next is stronger than this one. I'll need help! ....I don't wanna ask for help!" Pluto judged it time to make her appearance, she had allowed the boy the chance to reflect upon the situation, calm down, and regain some of his former energy. She rose from her kneeling position on top of one the taller buildings, and leapt down gracefully onto the roof of a slightly shorter building. From there she roof-hopped her way over to where Ranma was, appearing beside him and startling him. "AH!" Ranma screamed when he finally noticed the attractive green-haired woman in a fuku next to him. He was so startled he almost fell of the building, but he managed to regain his balance at the last moment. He clutched his thumping chest, breathing quick to threaten hyper-ventilation. He glared evilly at the Senshi of Time. "Who are you?! How'd you get up here?! Why're you dressed like.... that?!" Ranma demanded angrily. He had been really startled. Being startled made him mad. Pluto almost laughed at the boy's face, it was an expression for the ages. Instead she opted for a carefully calculated expression of knowledge, seriousness, maturity, and wisdom. Mentally, though, Pluto was laughing her ass off. Pluto cocked her head knowingly, and spoke assuredly, "The demons, have been getting stronger haven't they?" Ranma was confused, but he answered, "Yeah....how'd you know?" "All in due time, Ranma. I have to talk to you, I have.... A proposition. If you would come with me, I will explain what I have to offer to you." Pluto explained. Ranma eyed her again, "Hey, I'm sorry but I can't be your fiancee. I've already got enough trouble with girls as it is. I don't know pops told ya or promised ya, but I ain't gettin' into another engagement." This time Pluto could not hold in her laughter and she began to chuckle silently, Ranma gaped at her until she regained her self-control. Then she used her Time Key to open a portal to the Gates of Time, where she would tell Ranma everything he needed to know. She beckoned him to follow, and he, out of a truly morbid curiosity, did, his body disappearing behind hers in a wash of light and magical energies. And time froze. Ranma stumbled as he exited the Time Portal, the trip had pulled his body in every way and in every dimension by invisible forces. He almost vomitted, and he rested on his knees for a few minutes, gasping for air while Pluto watched patiently. Ranma managed to regain his composure enough to rasp out, "Fu- fun trip... Do it again?" Ranma managed a weak, sickly smile. Ranma looked around and took note of the surroundings, they were in what looked like the living room of a very large house, there was dark wood furniture and shelves of books. There wasn't any sort of tv or stereo system visible, so Ranma guessed Pluto read a lot. Before Ranma's very eyes Pluto's guise of a fuku-clad warrioress melted away and Pluto took the form of a tall, mature, wise looking green-haired woman. Ranma's eyes were wide with shock as the face of Pluto seemed to change into the woman's. The woman extended her hand, and, limply, Ranma took it. "Saotome Ranma, my name Meioh Setsuna. I am the Sailor Senshi of Pluto, guardian of the Time Gates, and defender of Love and Justice. We need to talk." Setsuna gestured to a comfortable looking couch, intending for Ranma to sit. Ranma's shock had worn off, and he warily sat down, watching as Setsuna took a seat across from him in a armchair. Between them was a coffee table made out of a very dark wood. "Ranma, I have to tell you something, a story. This is the story of the greatest regime to have ever come to be in this or any other world. This, is the tale of the Silver Millenium." Ranma nodded, he understood. Setsuna continued on, "Long, long, long ago, when magic was powerful and science a myth, there was a palace on the moon that was the home for the gentlest, sweetest, kindest, and wisest Queen to ever live. Her name was Serenity. She came from a long line of royalty, all before her were Queens, and all were named Serenity. All lived peacefully and contentedly under her's and the previous generations rule. There were few who were discontent with the noble Queen, and they were led by a petty noble named Beryl. She struck a deal with a being of incredible power and evil, an evil calling itself Queen Metallia. Metallia gave Beryl terrible dark magic, and gave Beryl an army of demons and humans infected with darkness, with which to attack the peace-loving Queen." Ranma was enraptured by the story, Setsuna was a weaver of tales. She continued, "They attacked the Palace at a most inopportune time. During the Moon Princess's Ball. They attacked when people were laughing, dancing, and delighting themselves." Ranma noticed that Setsuna almost shook with rage, she took a moment to calm down and continued on, "The battle raged between Beryl and the four Inner Senshi, Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter. Sailor Moon was absent, as she had not been given her magical device yet, and there hadn't been a Sailor Gaea that generation to help either. The Senshi were overwhelmed and lay dying when Serenity- When Serenity gave her life to seal away Beryl, Metallia, her army, and save the Senshi, her daughter, and the Prince of Earth, Endymion. She sacrificed herself....." Setsuna's eyes glistened with unshed tears, and Ranma felt a need to say something, anything, to alleviate the pain of this girl. So he said, "What could you have done? You weren't even alive, right?" Setsuna looked at him, and smiled bitterly, "Ranma, how could I have known all this had I not been there, somewhere. I watched through my Time Gates. Ranma I am centuries, millenia old! I could have done something, but, at the same time, could do nothing at all. It is not something you must concern yourself with though. There are more pressing matters." "Huh?" was all Ranma could manage to respond with. "As I said, the Senshi were saved, but they had to be cast into the future and be reincarnated. They have all been reincarnated and reassumed their roles as Senshi. Everyone, Sailor Moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, they are the Inner Senshi. The Outers are myself, Sailor Saturn, Sailor Neptune, and Sailor Uranus. I represent Pluto. Ranma, there was a Sailor who was not present during the Silver Millenium, Gaea." "Was she Earth's Senshi?" Ranma asked. "Yes. Unfortunately, because there wasn't a Gaea in the Silver Millenium then, there shouldn't be one now. Now when we need her help more than ever, a threat that could not have been foreseen had arisen. The demons that you fought are spawned from this threat. Those that you fought are weaklings compared to what we will have to face." "NO WAY!" Ranma bellowed, Setsuna still calm and composed. "Gaea is desperately needed, and thats why I have come to you, Ranma. Because of a number of factors you can take on the role of Sailor Gaea. For one, when you were born you had a strangely powerful harmony with the Earth. This, in a proper amount of strength, will allow you to take the position. When you received your curse, and your female form you gained even more of this harmony through your girls form. This is very, very lucky because only a girl may assume the role. This is your choice, and one not to take lightly. Every time you use the power your curse will grow a little more permanent every time, until it is fully locked up and flushed from your system. The kaisufuu will not work and once your curse is flushed out you will be immune to any of the Jusenkyo curses. It will both ensure your role permamently, and damn you." Ranma was sobered by this, he didn't say a thing. Setsuna took this as a sign to finish her speech, "Ranma, I know this will be a hard decision to make. But I wouldn't ask if I didn't think it absolutely necessary. These demons are powerful and they can suck the life-force right out of your body. Your martial arts techniques wont work. In fact they will only serve to strengthen these creatures, you saw as much. With the role of a Senshi, your strength, speed, and agility will be amplified by magic, and you will be able to use magical attacks as well. These things cannot strengthen a demon, and are potent tools to fight with. Please, this is very important." Setsuna pulled a strange looking pen from her pocket and set it on the coffee table. Ranma had no idea what it was. "Ranma, this will allow you to assume the role of Sailor Gaea. Take it, even if you decide not to become the Senshi of Earth, have it with you." Nervously Ranma took the slender rod and pocketed it, and Setsuna slipped into her Sailor Pluto guise and opened the Time Portal. Neither spoke. Ranma stepped through and found himself on a building in a different part of town, staring down at a demon that was rampaging about, and people were getting hurt. Ranma growled. "Damnit Setsuna," he thought. "You set me up!" From her Time Gates, Setsuna watched Ranma as he witnessed the demon's evil firsthand. She hoped and prayed that he would choose to become Gaea, and that he would sacrifice his life to become her. It was selfish, Setsuna knew, but it was a terrible necessity. She sighed in sorrow as she saw Ranma step away from the edge, as if to leave the problem behind. But her sorrow turned to delight as she saw him raise the henshin rod high and chant, "Gaea Planet Power, Transform!" In a blinding flash of light and magical energy, she was reborn. Gaea had returned In the Juuban district of Tokyo, Japan, a mysterious, dark figure glared at a computer screen. The computer displayed a detailed map of Tokyo in lines of green and bars of black. A small red dot marked the point where the demon had made it's arrival in Nerima, a place that, only ten minutes before, had held the presence of a powerful source of white magic. The figure watched as the red dot flickered and disappeared from the screen as it was destroyed by something that the computer could not detect. Furious the figure rose and violently slammed it's fist down on top of the keyboard, smashing it apart. The dark figure was a man, in his late forties to early fifties in age. His hair jet-black, his frame was slender and short. His eyes were crazed orbs of mahogany, and were bloodshot. He raised a bony, pale hand and snapped his fingers. At once, from the shadows that seemed to shroud the entire room, obscuring it so no one could possibly tell it's dimensions, came two men. As one the men bowed deeply to show their respect. The dark man nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Doctor Makage," one of the respectful men began, rising to look at the dark figure. "What task do you wish for us to perform now?" "Yes doctor, what task?" the other man continued. Makage looked at the both of them, and spoke, "Eros," the first man; tall, fair, and handsome. "Jerec" the second; muscular, dark, ugly. "The signal in Nerima has disappeared. Dispatch one more level two demon, with the energy draining trait, and then reconcentrate your efforts upon the calibration of the dimensional vibrators." The two men bowed again and spoke as one, "Of course, Doctor." They faded back into the shadows and Makage turned back to look at the computer. "Oh crap! I should have had those two get me another keyboard before they left." Makage held up the broken keyboard to get a better look. "I really need to control my temper." Nerima "Aiyee!" Ranma screamed as she was chased by the large black alley cat. She had been on her way back after killing the rampaging demon that she had discovered after being dropped onto the roof of a building by Sailor Pluto. There, Saotome Ranma had made a decision that would change his fate forever, he became Sailor Gaea, a duty that granted her the powers to defeat the demons, and it had worked. She had transformed into a suit that was..... embarrasing, to say the least. But the sheer boost to her physical strengths, speed, and agility had more than made up for it in her mind. She had destroyed the demon with basic martial arts techniques, overwhelming it easily with her enhanced physical powers. Ranma had never felt like that before, it was like an adrenaline high multiplied times a thousand. She would have to be careful, she thought, or else it could become an addiction. After the demon had crumbled into a pile of dust she had reverted back to her, relatively speaking, normal body, completely by instinct alone. She had blinked in surprise for a moment before checking around to see if anybody had witnessed the transformation from Sailor-Suited-Warrior to Chinese-martial-arts-uniform-wearing- cute-pig-tailed girl. Luckily for Ranma no one had witnessed the act, as everybody had fled the scene when the demon first arrived. Ranma had hurried away from the battle zone, she could hear sirens in distance and she didn't want to be around when the police began their investigation. She had been passing an alley on her way home when she heard the sound of the most vile, cruel, terrifying, horrible creature to ever be. "Nyaow!" Stiffly Ranma had turned to look at the creature, knowing she shouldn't, knowing what it was instinctually, knowing what would happen. But she did, she couldn't seem to help herself. What she saw froze her blood, sent her stomach on a rocket ship to her throat, and then sent it plummeting back down to her feet. "C- c- c- ca- c- c- c-" Ranma stuttered, momentarily forgetting how her legs worked. The black cat looked at her curiously, and meowed again. "CAT!!" Ranma blurted the word out. She suddenly remembered how to work her legs again and was off like a shot, in the opposite direction of the cat. Enticed by the sudden movement the cat pursued, meowing happily. Ranma continued running her for life, she could hear the cat meowing as it followed her. She was so terrified that she paid little attention to the road in front of her. So she did not see the telephone pole until she ran right into it. "Ow..." she muttered, her face plastered to the concrete of the pole. The cat had stopped at her feet and meowed gently at this. Seeing no reaction the cat turned around and ran away. "Well..." Ranma said as she slid down the pole "At least the cat left." Ranma took that as a sign that it was safe to pass out, "Nighty night..." she whispered before succumbing to unconsciousness. Juuban The Sailor Senshi were having one of their weekly meetings at the Hikawa Shrine. As usual there were snacks galore. Rei wrestled with Usagi for one of her mangas, while Minako and Makoto talked about the cute boy they had seen at the local convenience store that day. Ami chatted with the guardian cats during this. After ten minutes or so the meeting took on a more serious nature as Luna took the floor, so to speak. "Hello Scouts, how are you today?" Luna asked. Rei eyed her curiously, as did all the rest of the Senshi, "Ah, Luna, why'd you call us Scouts? We're Senshi, Sailor Soldiers, not beret wearing munchkins going door-to-door hawking cookies!" The rest of the righteous Soldiers of Love and Justice nodded in agreement. Luna looked confused, "I said Scouts?! Oh, I apologize. Who would want to be called a Sailor Scout, thats rather silly isn't it?" The girls seemed to calm down a bit and Luna took it as a sign to continue her original monologue. "Senshi, I have recently sensed the stirrings of a dark force. I cannot say who, I cannot say what, I can say that it feels very, very bad." Usagi took a moment for this to sink in, then she began to bawl. A river of tears flowed from her eyes as she whined, "B- b- b- b- but I don't wanna fight again! Waaaaaaaaahhhh!" She latched on to Rei for support. Rei stoicly endured this until Usagi began to stuff her face with Rei's food while she cried. Rei didn't take too kindly to this and grabbed one of Usagi's ponytails and lifted her to eye-level. "Dumpling head! Why are you eating my food?!" Rei demanded of the weeping girl. "Cuz it tastes good...." Usagi whimpered. "Ugh!" Rei sighed in disgust and exasperation. She threw Usagi off of her and protected her food as best she could from the dumpling-girl's attacks. While this had been going on Makoto, Minako, and Ami had been pressing Luna and Artemis for more information. "This dark force, was it powerful? Where did you feel it exactly?" Ami queried, typing commands rapidly into her compact, blue, Mercury Computer. "Yeah, how strong was this force?!" Makoto demanded, holding up a fist in anticipation, as if she expected the forces of darkness to come crashing through the walls of the shrine at any moment. "Relax Mako-chan." Minako said, scooting a little farther away from the feisty brunette, "No ones going to attack you know?" Makoto seemed to calm down a bit, "I know...I'm just so bored!" Makoto explained. "What?!" she asked. The rest of the group had paused to stare at her a moment. As one the two guardian cats and the four girls said, "Nothing," and resumed what they had been doing before. "Oh...ok." Makoto muttered to herself. Ami shook her head and asked Luna, "This energy, where was it coming from again?" Luna answered quickly, "Nerima." "Hmmm." Ami hummed in concentration as she typed precise commands into her computer. She coded it so that it would passively search the Nerima ward for her. Satisified that this would alert her to the presence, should it appear again, Ami turned her attention to another matter. "What are we going to do?" Ami asked. Everybody was startled by the odd question. "Do about what?" Minako asked. Ami shook her head, as if it was obvious, "The dark force Luna mentioned. Suppose for a second that it's like the other threats we've had to face in the past. If you remember every time we've had to deal with a new threat our Senshi powers have grown to accomodate the stronger enemies. But it seems to me that we've all ready hit a plateau with our powers. I think that if our magic cannot exceed this plateau, then we must train ourselves so that we may be better prepared to face this new evil." Usagi, Minako, and Makoto stared at her blankly while Rei, Luna, and Artemis nodded in understanding. Usagi looked at Luna, still confused. "Luna, did you undestand a word of that?" Luna sighed and explained, "Ami means that the Senshi magic might have become as strong as it possibly can, and if the enemies are like the others we have faced in the past then they will probably be more powerful too. That means we have to become more powerful. Ami seems to be suggesting that we learn to fight, perhaps train in a martial art. Is that right Ami?" "Yes Luna, that is correct." the blue-haired girl replied to Luna. Usagi finally understood, nodding emphatically. "Yeah yeah...." Usagi trailed off, her face screwed up in intense concentration. "Usagi, what's wrong?" Makoto asked, concerned. Usagi broke out of her concentration and began to grow teary again, and soon she was crying rivers again. "W- w- w- w- w- we're going to have to exercise!" Usagi cried out in sheer dread. Everybody else in the room deadpanned. "Riiiiiiight....." they said in an eerie unison. Nerima Because of a number of factors, namely Ranma's thick skull and strenuous martial arts training, Ranma woke up a few minutes after her lapse into unconsciousness. "Dang c- ca- c-.... Dang thing! I hate 'em...." Ranma stood slowly, rubbing her head. She had a splitting headache and desperately wanted some aspirin and cup of hot water. She looked around at the street, noticing that it was unusually quiet. She shook her head, trying to clear away some of the cobwebs, and spotted a convenience mart. She walked over to it, slowly since her head still swam, and entered. Behind the counter a greasy man was watching a baseball game and snickering to himself. He glanced up to look at the groggy redhead who stumbled in, then returned his attentions to the game. Ranma found her way to the aisle which had the medicines, and picked up a price-gouged bottle of aspirin. She walked back to where the drinks were kept and picked up a bottle of water. Afterwards she went back to the register and put the items on the counter. The man quickly looked at the two bottles and rang it up. "Twelve-thousand yen." the man said. Ranma groaned and reached deep within her pockets and pulled out the necessary money. The clerk took it and put it in the register while Ranma took her medicine and water and left. Outside the store she fiddled with the child-proof cap of the bottle and after a few minutes struggle she managed to open it successfully. Taking two of the white pills she threw them in her mouth and swallowed them down with a gulp of water. She pocketed the bottle of pills and continued taking sips of water. Ranma looked around, attempting to regain her bearings. After a moment she realized she was about three kilometers from the Tendo's home. She set off for home, walking slowly instead of her usual roof-hopping. After a while the pain in her cranium began to fade away, and she was able to walk straight. She looked around and noticed the leaves on the trees were changing their colors and it occured to her that autumn was approaching rapidly. "I must be gettin' ditzy...." Ranma said to herself as she reflected upon the implications of forgetting autumn. "What month is this anyways? I'm really out of it....." "Then again," Ranma thought. "When your life is nothing but martial arts, and you are constantly being challenged by jealous guys, smacked around by the violent women, and insulted in every manner I guess you lose track of time....." Ranma managed to make it back to the Tendo without incident, a miracle really. After stepping inside and announcing her arrival to the household she went in search of hot water. She found Nabiki in the living room with a brown package and a look of intrigue on her face. "Ranma, this package arrived for you," Nabiki gestured to it with a bandage wrapped hand. "I signed for you, just so you know." "Thanks Nabiki," Ranma replied, and she reached to pick up the package she looks at Nabiki curiously. "Hey Nabiki," Ranma asked, "What happened to your hand?" Nabiki held her hand up, and answered, "What this? Oh nothing....." Ranma shook her head, hot water momentarily forgotten. "Whatever..." She had honestly expected Nabiki to try to shake her down for some more money before giving her the package. It was just luck that Nabiki hadn't, Ranma had already spent the remainder of her money on the aspirin and water. After Ranma had gone upstairs to relative privacy of her room, Nabiki had shot the now-absent girl a look that could melt titanium. Nabiki had attempted to... "Screen" Ranma's package before the final delivery, but when she tried to open it her hand had been zapped by a bolt of electricity, and something told her the package should not be opened by anyone but Ranma. "Feh!" Nabiki huffed, "Ranma, you might have your precious little parcel, but I swear I'll find out what you're up to!" As usual, Nabiki was making it her personal goal to invade the already scarce privacy of Ranma's life. After Ranma entered her vacant room she shuddered violently, and she got the disturbing feeling that somebody, somewhere, was plotting to go through hell to create some sort of elaborate revenge that couldn't possibly work in real life but would, all the same, cause her great mental and/or physical harm. She shivered again. "Must be Nabiki," Ranma said after a moments thought. After all, its always Nabiki. Ranma sat on the floor, the package between her legs. She felt like a little kid at Christmas time! Hurriedly she ripped off the packaging and opened the cardboard box concealed underneath the brown paper. "What the!?" Ranma exclaimed as she saw the items in the box. Inside the box was the most embarassing thing Ranma had ever laid her eyes upon; a school girl's uniform, two of them, some skirts and slacks, some plain shirts and blouses panties, and some bras. On top of the clothes was a thick manila envelope. Ranma quickly decided that the package had to be some sick joke, something sent to her from Hiroshi and Daisuke maybe? Or Happosai, he was just the kind of pervert to want her to wear those sort of things. She opened the envelope and poured the contents out in front of her, pushing the box away in disgust. Some money, papers of identification, another envelope, and a set of registry papers for Juuban High School. Ranma noticed the registry was filled out in her name and that the gender was marked as female. Definitely some sick joke, Ranma decided as she picked up the second envelope. Inside it was a letter, addressed to her. It read; Ranma, These articles will become necessary in the very near future. Please do not throw them away. I think you will the clothes to fit properly and comfortably. Rest assured that is no sick joke, the Sailor Senshi will require your help. We face an evil unlike any other. I regret to say that I cannot say anything more, but I am constrained by my duty as the Senshi of Time not to say, or do, anything that might lead to a paradox. Even so, the future is an uncertain thing, my abilities only allow me to look at only a handful of possibilities for only so long. I apologize for having to do this to you Ranma, if there had been any other way I would have chosen that over this course of action. But, what is done is done. I only hope that you can forgive me for robbing you of a future. Sincerely yours, Meioh Setsuna Ranma took a deep breath and read through the letter again, just to make sure she hadn't imagined anything. Yup, it still said she would have to wear the uniform and underwear. Just her luck. Ranma recalled a line from an American movie that had been subtitled, it felt very appropriate at this moment. "Lifes a bitch," she said out loud, before falling on her back and staring at the ceiling. Unfortunately the ceiling didn't say anything, do anything, or reveal anything that could help at all so Ranma leapt back to her feet and left the room. "Maybe I don't have to do this? Maybe I... I'm committed.... I have to do this if what she says is right.... Damn..." Ranma mused as she walked. She went to the washroom and filled a bucket with hot water. She used it to turn back into a male and then went downstairs. Ranma went outside and decided to go to the dojo for some training. But when he got there he saw that Akane had it occupied. He turned to leave but a voice called him back. "Ranma, you don't have to leave because of me. You should know that by now. Akane said, her back facing him. "How...?" Ranma asked, confused. Akane seemed to shift, Ranma imagined her smiling. "Who else would go to the dojo?" Akane replied as she turned around. "You don't have to leave, besides I need to spar. Even if you don't fight back, I still need the practice." "Huh?" Ranma asked intelligently as Akane took a ready stance. Seeing that she was serious Ranma shrugged and took a loose stance of his own. Akane knew Ranma would never strike first so she began, rushing forward aggressively. Once the gap between the two had been reduced enough Akane kicked out viciously, hoping to catch Ranma off guard. But Ranma had read her move and leapt out of the way. Akane's forward momentum caused her to lose her balance, so she turned the kick into a roll at the last moment. She came up thirteen feet away from Ranma, he smirking, she grimacing. Akane ran and closed the distance again, this time she used her left arm to punch. When Ranma leapt to avoid she countered with her right leg lashing out. Ranma eeped and twisted in midair to avoid the attack. But he was caught off guard and landed hard. Akane took this as a sign to press the attack and so she began to punch furiously. A single strike connected lightly, and Ranma took this as a sign to back off. Backflipping, Ranma managed to increase the distance between them to a good thirty feet. Once he had this room Ranma took a deep breath and re-evaluated Akane. She is better, Ranma thought, much better than when we first met. How did she get so good? Ranma almost smacked himself, of course she had gotten better. Why, with all the things that had happened to her, all the enemies, the rivals, the fiancees, he should have been more surprised if she had not improved. Well, Ranma thought, adopting an advanced and obscure stance, she wants me to take her seriously, she is gonna get it. Ranma smirked, irking Akane and causing her to rush him in a rage. He twisted his body and grabbed her leg, and used her forward momentum to flip her overhead and send her crashing to the floor. Immediately Ranma was by her side, kneeling and chittering nervously. "OhmygoshI'msorryjeezIdidn'tmeantodothatgoshdon'thurtme are you ok?" Ranma blurted out. Akane rose, and rubbed her head, smiled at Ranma, before socking him on the cheek. As she left, still rubbing her head a bit, she turned to look at the confused boy and said, "Left yerself open." Ranma gaped a bit before sinking to the ground in a cross-legged position. "I'll never understand girls, even when I become one... .... Wait a second I don't wanna be a girl damnit!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------- End Chapter One: Revised Edition