[FanFic][Ranma/XOver] Retake, chapters 17-18 + omake

[Gregg Sharp]

Retake 17: Game Day

Having been summoned to the Tendo Dojo, Greylle hadn't been sure *what* to
expect. Akane had shown up human at the school that morning. There had been
a few strange stories passed about by the gossips/hentai duo of Hiroshi and
Daisuke. Though those two had seemed subdued for some reason.

Akane seemed to have gotten over her attitude from yesterday somewhat.
Temper like an Arizona monsoon, sudden fits of overwhelming violence that
dissipated after a few minutes.

Suddenly finding himself confronted by Akane, with most of the Ranma cast
briefly showing up in the background (followed by them vanishing again), he
had to wonder if this was some *other* imagined fault he was going to be hit
with.

Then she'd made her request.

Greylle considered beating his head against the wall. No, here where he had
been summoned - the Tendo dojo, he'd wreck the place in short order.

"Oh come on! I'm a martial artist and we seem to get along, why not?" Akane
grinned and punched her fist into the palm of the other hand. "I can do it!
Father won't train me. Ranma won't take me seriously. You showed me that
'Boot to da head' manuever..."

Maybe he was looking at this the wrong way. Instead of looking at it as
being forced to endure her company, he could instead be using it to make her
lose interest in him and maybe kindle a spark between Ranma and Akane.
Though if they were a Destined Couple then *why* did anyone have to force
the two together? Pfeh.

"...and if you're defending Tokyo, then you could definitely use help. Those
mechanicals of yours can't fill in for a *real* fighter," Akane declared
without any real confidence in this point. Since she'd lost the tigergirl
form she'd been wanting *something* to make up for it. "Those Sailor Senshi?
They may end up your enemies again!"

Greylle held up a hand and tried to look solemn. Akane always looked for a
fast method or instant power up like the Super Soba or Battle Dogi. Well,
how about some of the stuff he'd gotten from Valkyrie Boot Camp? "Akane, if
i do this, you will come to hate me. You will endure a hundred kinds of
agony and humiliation, but if you endure and master the lessons you'll be a
dozen times more potent than you are now."

Akane cast a glance towards the baseball bat she could barely move, then up
at the figure before her. He didn't lie to her. Even when he said he'd bring
Nabiki back from the dead, he'd done it. Say he could take her to Mars, he
had. Save her life after her own head had been chopped off by that damn
Ryouga, done. Turn her back to normal from being a sexy and superpowerful
tigergirl - and he had, damn it. If he said he could improve her martial
arts, he could. If he said it would hurt, it would.

Greylle saw her about to blurt out an agreement and had second thoughts.
Spending a lot of time alone with Akane? Yech. Maybe he should try to get
her to rethink it. She seemed to value the traditional preoccupation with
kawaii. "Before you agree, consider that it will be hard training unlike
anything you've ever undergone. It won't be easy, and that you will have to
put aside a lot of the luxuries and comforts you're used to. This is a path
of the Warrior - a dedicated fighter. Cute is applicable for children and
small pets, a Warrior is never 'cute'. You can turn back now and there is no
loss of honor or reputation in deciding not to embrace the Warrior Path. The
enemies you'd be training to fight do not follow martial arts match rules,
and if you fight them would think nothing of crippling or killing you."
There, by having her have to choose between cute and some painful training,
Akane would back down.

Akane studied his face. He was dead serious. This was not a game. She could
get killed or disfigured fighting the sorts of enemies the Sailor Senshi
reportedly had. He was also apparently very real in his confidence that she
would hate him after the training. Did she want to progress at that kind of
cost?

Greylle looked away, worried. Why wasn't she just rejecting the training?
She hated boys, which he definitely was at the moment, and wasn't a
dedicated martial artist of Ranma's obsession level. She should be going on
about the Tendo School and... THAT would do it! "While you're learning the
new style of course, until you've mastered it, you would not be able to
practice your family school. You haven't mastered the Tendo Ryuu, and the
two are not strictly compatible."

Akane was uncomfortable with this but had come to certain conclusions, and
as was In Character for her, was fitting everything into place based on
those pre-existing conclusions. She therefore knew that this training was
dangerous and that Greylle was trying to discourage her from undergoing it,
and yet he was unlike Ranma who simply dodged everything and made fun of
her. She knew, from Nabiki's earlier comment and her own observations, that
the gaijin was deeply in love with her and no doubt therefore had doubts
about his own ability to put her through some dangerous training. This led
Akane to some concern that the big idiot here saw her as fragile (though
another glance at the baseball bat made her wonder if she'd survive a
friendly hug if it came down to it). She knew he was shy around her, hey
waitaminute. Pride went back and looked over that line where he saw her as
fragile! She'd have to prove otherwise wouldn't she!

Greylle was beginning to get a little more nervous. The expressions flitting
across Akane's face were difficult to read, other than anger and pensive.
What was going on in that head of hers?

Ranma popped his head out, sealing doom for everyone involved. "Ah, training
her is a waste of time. She's too slow, too clumsy, and she relies on anger.
If you're teaching special techniques though..."

*THWAM!*

"Shut up, Ranma!"

The pigtailed boy imbedded in the ground held up a finger. "...see what I
mean?"

"Shampoo think learn special techniques from other airen sound like good
idea."

"They ain't your airen, sugar. Still, Ranma-honey's got a point, it'd be
nice to have backup."

"Oh my. Look Akane, all your little friends are here."

"two hundred... two hundred thirty... two hundred fourty yen." Nabiki looked
up innocently. "What? Hey it's not like I've sold state secrets here!"

---------

Hotaru changed first her clothes. A pair of comfortable shorts, a loose top,
and left her hands and feet bare.

Then she studied her hands and willed the other change. Other than the nails
thickening and lengthening, her hands didn't change. She had to adjust the
shorts to let her tail loose, but catgirl Hotaru was ready to try out her
new catgirl superpowers!

Super jumping ability, check. A good thirty feet, she guessed.
Super strength, check. At least ten times her normal strength. (She could
lift at least 200 pounds!)
Super agility, check. The crane game fell before her feline might.
Super flexibility, check. This would come in handy if she joined the yoga
club.

"NOW I'VE GOT YOU!" Some boy yelled as he leapt out of an alley and leveled
a sparkling wand at her. "LOVESLAVE!"

*SLASH!*

Super feline claw powers, check.
Immunity to being turned into whatever that guy had been trying to do,
check.

Hotaru licked the blood off her claws, not realizing how gross that would
normally have been to her, and decided she ought to go see what
Greylle-sempai was up to.

Behind her, another member of the Hentai Sorcery Club collapsed and was soon
sent to the hospital.

---------

The view in the enchanted mirror faded.

"Okay, the Loveslave spell doesn't work on catgirls or some normal girls,"
said one of the Ecchi would-be mages. "Works just fine on witches."

Yugo looked up from where he was being miserable. Not that having a fawning
loveslave was a bad thing, but he'd been practicing the spell and had
accidently snagged his little sister. Whom he had always considered a
sniveling brat with a whiney voice. Now he considered her a whiney sniveling
brat who kept trying to rip his clothes off. "Here's something I ran into
while trying to find a Remove Spell spell. Apparently there are ways of
making these Servitor types."

"You mean like youma, daimon, cardians, or that kinda thing?" Yoiyo nodded.
"Sort of an element-theme based monster?"

"Yeah. We need to try a different approach, this personal touch stuff is
dangerous." Yugo wondered if Yumi could end up some kind of useful daimon.

"So we enchant someone into one of these... what do we call them? They go
and try to convert targets." Yoiyo nodded. "I like it. But then I like ideas
that keep me from getting hurt."

Ideas were thrown around. Some of the former Witches 5 threw ideas out too,
excited by the concept.

"Okay, it's decided," said Yoiyo. "We'll use the concept. We'll infuse the
magical essence with an object, and send a Henjin out to test a spell or to
recruit new subjects. What'll we use as the base for the first one?"

---------

"So, when's the training begin?" Akane looked into the room. A bare cot,
simple table, a light inset into the wall. Almost looked like a prison cell
instead of a bedroom.

Akane took a step into the room.

*THWAM!*

Feeling her body attempting to become one with the stone, Akane tried to
move. With great difficulty she shifted one arm.

"This is a 10 gravity room, Akane," Greylle said, gently picking Akane up
and moving her to the cot and arranging her so she was now face up and able
to breathe.

"Uhng!" Akane managed. It felt like her cheeks were trying to pin themselves
to the pillow.

"Ten gravities mean everything weighs ten times what you're used to. You
normally weigh, oh, about 125 pounds. In here you weigh 1250 pounds. I'll
come back and get you in an hour."

"mmmmmmmmmmg!" Akane struggled briefly, then realized her sensei was moving
very carefully but without apparent effort. Lying there helpless, Akane
vowed that in one hour she would at least be off the bed.

--------

Michiru noted the presence in her mirror of some dark shadowy menace, and
acted in a manner not usually within her character.

Like pumping her fist and spinning. "YES! Haruka, there's a new menace!"

Haruka grinned. "Oh. Well, now we have to show you MERE substitutes how the
REAL Sailor Senshi operate."

Michiru II cocked her head slightly, lowering the violin. "Very well. We
shall accompany, observe, and provide fire support."

Michiru continued to smile. "No, that will never do. Sailor business."

Haruka nodded. "Oh yes, that's right. We certainly can't have some windup
dolls confusing things. This is a REAL battle against a REAL menace."

Haruka II held up a hand. "You're still upset about me beating you in those
races, aren't you?"

Michiru II considered this. "That is not a logical attitude. It would be
better to accept whatever reinforcements and powerups you can negotiate when
facing an enemy of unknown capabilities."

"Logic has no place in my life," said Haruka proudly. Then frowned because
that had *not* come out right.

"We were handling situations like this before you were a gleam in your
creator's eyes," instructed Michiru. "This is definitely a job for
experienced professionals."

"NOT wind up dolls," interpreted Haruka. She and Michiru were Perfect
together, they could accomplish anything in perfect synch. A bunch of
imitation Sailors were neither wanted or needed. Especially ones that were
continually showing them up!

The two marionettes touched hands and exchanged a datastream. Inquiries were
made, decisions reached.

"Very well," said Haruka II. "I want to work on that motorcycle anyway. I
think I can tweak the engine efficiency up by at least 0.24%."

The human Haruka twitched.

"Whereas I feel the need for a fractal art, perhaps something moody dealing
with a seascape from Garibaldi's moon," mused Michiru II. "The starfields
visible there should produce a ethereal calming beauty."

The human Michiru twitched.

"Oh," said Michiru after she'd recovered. Bad enough to have these copies.
Bad enough for them to be faster, stronger, more technically correct. Worse
for them to develop creativity and copy little gestures and individual
movements. "If you're going to *imitate* us, get the clothes right."

Michiru II sighed and rolled her eyes. Haruka II snickered.

"Neither of us wears a 'bunnysuit'," said Haruka as she left. "Put some
*real* clothes on."

Haruka II shrugged as she looked at her companion. "Frankly, I think I look
good in it."

"You do," agreed Michiru II. "Humans. Who can figure them? She didn't even
realize we'd borrowed these outfits from their dressers."

--------

"Hey Akane, why are you just " *THWAM!*

Akane recognized the voice and *really* wished she could look. The sight of
Ranma plastered on the floor would have done her enormous good.

"ouch," said Ranma. "Well, that explains THAT! Unnnghhh."

Greylle came by, saw Ranma weakly struggling (in girl form yet) to rise up,
picked her up and put her in the bed next to Akane. This should allow the
two a common experience to share, and the two would be closer as a result.

Ranma weakly struggled, especially after she realized that she was in bed
with AKANE?! If the old man could see them, they'd be married that
afternoon!

After considerable effort, Ranma lifted herself up, slowly moved towards the
edge of the bed. Freedom!

*THWAM!*

Practically imbedded in the floor, Ranma realized that at least she wasn't
in bed with the tomboy!

Akane would have pummelled Ranma if she could have known that was what the
strained laughter was about. Well, that and if she could have moved.

-------

Sailor Moon stared. While she wanted to get back into the swing of things
and prove that just because her android double was smarter, a better
student, more graceful, stronger, faster, a better cook, and more popular -
she was still the reborn Moon Princess who was going to end up ruling the
world!

It was just that... "We have to fight THAT?!"

"BREAAAAA!"

Even Sailor Jupiter was staring and looking distinctly unhappy. "What IS
it?"

Sailor Mercury was glad of the chance to get away from attempts of her
mother to get Ami to go visit "that nice dragon prince and see if he could
part with a diagnostic scanner for just a bit" or something. She busied
herself with the Mercury Computer. "It's a magical construct. Main attack
seems to be a magical transformation beam."

"No kidding," said Sailor Uranus who had been hit by that very beam early
on. "Other than removing clothes, I can't see any other effects."

The beam swept out from the monster. Women's clothing could be seen rising
in a streamer from the impact point, joining with the monster and increasing
its size slightly. Feminine screams could be heard all around it.

"Well, let's just fight the thing," said Sailor Uranus.

"Not everyone is as anxious to make a public spectacle of themselves as
you," indicated Sailor Mars.

Another beam from the monster. More feminine screams, and the monster was
now 30' tall.

"I'll get it," Sailor Jupiter announced, rushing forward.

"Wait," called out Sailor Mercury. "Oh. Too late."

"Jupiter Thunder Attack!" ZAP! "Eeeeeek!"

"Got everything but her hair scrunchie and her earrings," noted Haruka with
an appreciative eye. "Shouldn't you all attack it en masse?"

Sailor Venus tried a different tack, leaping from ground to ledge to roof,
then posing. "Women's clothing is colorful and in fashion, and should not be
attacking their owners. I, Sailor Venus, will punish y... EEEEEEP!"

"At least it left her hair ribbon," said Haruka.

"Waaaaaahhhhhhh," cried Sailor Venus from her position on the roof,
desperately trying to cover herself.

"While it seems silly, note that the attack does cause the victims to give
up their own attacks," said Sailor Mercury. Not that she was going to attack
it.

"Excuse me," said Kumori Mizuno, who had given Ami a ride and so far hadn't
been terribly impressed with the performance of daughter or friends.

"Moon Tiara Action," said Sailor Moon, stepping around the corner and doing
her magic frizbee attack.

"BREAA!"

"WAGHHhHHH!"

"Got her hair ornaments too," noted Haruka appreciatively.

The monster lumbered forward, turning the corner that these pests kept
popping up from around.

"Oh heck," said Mercury, currently a blushing bundle of embarassment.

"BREAAAA!"

Doctor Mizuno went back to her car. She had a spare labcoat there, which
beat her current lack of raiment. Muttering something about how grounded Ami
was going to be if she didn't do something *fast*.

Rei stood, barefoot among other things and gestured. "Unforgiveable. MARS
Fire SOUL! Fire Soul! Fire Soul! Fire Soul!"

"BreaAAAAAA!"

Haruka clenched a fist. "Yeah! Burn! Burn, you monster! See! We don't need
any robots or powerups or..."

"Nice," said the returning Doctor Mizuno. "You *do* realize that all of your
clothes, my clothes, and all the clothes of all those women are what is
producing that three story tall pillar of flame, right?"

The various naked Senshi began to sweat as the burning monster crashed into
several stores and continued to blaze merrily under the influence of Mars'
magical flame.

"Young lady," began Doctor Mizuno, addressing the still trying to cover
herself Mercury. "We are going to have to talk."

--------

Haruka II finished relaying the fight sequence.

"How embarassing," said Kasumi, watching from where it had been televised
through the complex.

"Maybe I shouldn't offer to help on their next encounter," mused Nabiki. Up
until that she'd wanted to practice her Drill Brand or Elmekion Lance.
Though it didn't sound like they were too open to new members.

"I'll bet our hardsuits would have been immune," opined Yuka. "They're
technically armor, not clothes."

Sayuri had a different opinion. "Why would you want to fight a thirty five
foot tall bundle of clothes in the first place?"

"Man, the stink off of all that latex and stuff." One of the Maid units
wrinkled her nose. "Why didn't Mercury or Neptune try to put out the fire?"

"Mercury is getting dragged off by her mother, Neptune is running from a
crowd of naked enraged shopkeepers," observed another Maid unit. "It looks
like Sailor Uranus was trying to use a World Shaking on the pile of clothes,
but just blew it up instead. Ooooo! Now Neptune's led them back and the
crowd's throwing things at the other Senshi."

"Hotaru," said Setsuna, casually finishing her tea and looking quite elegant
and refined, "it looks as if we are needed to rescue our fellow Senshi."

Hotaru nodded. "Okay! Fess-san, please build me a *good* combat mecha!"

--------

Akane sighed as regular gravity returned. Clearly Greylle had overestimated
her abilities. On the other hand the realization that Ranma hadn't exactly
bounced back was well appreciated. Something else had penetrated during that
time.

He was taking her seriously as a martial artist. Clearly he respected her.
Maybe she would have to convince him that she was a *little* fragile, but he
was taking her a *lot* more seriously than Ranma did.

Not that she was interested, of course.

-----

The Hentai Sorcerers rejoiced.

"Woo hoo! Dibs on the short haired blonde!"

"I think the one with the green hair's gonna have *my* brand."

"Yoiyo, that was *genius!*"

Yoiyo smiled, surprised and pleased by how it had worked out. "Did we get
it?"

Hikaru smiled and tapped the camcorder.

People would have shuddered at the sound of slightly lecherous insane
laughter coming from the third floor of the school. That is, if anyone
besides the cranky old janitor and the club were around to hear it.

*Click!*

"Hey, howcome the lights went off?"

"Cause it's six o'clock!" The janitor yelled from the ground. "Damn
whippersnappers can't even figure out a clock."

-----

She blinked and stared. "You think this transmission is accurate?"

"Yes, princess. We have found the prince. He is on a Tech 6 planet with
natives of a bipedal ape descendent. We followed a probe back to this world.
He has apparently allied himself with a industrial nation of these natives."
The scout raised his head and grinned.

The princess grinned back. "At last. Mobilize the appropriate teams,
destination... what do these natives refer to their world as?"

Making a gesture of third degree embarassment tinged with anticipation, the
scout replied. "Soil, princess."

"Well, that's at least better than that world where the natives refer to
their home planet as 'excrement'," allowed the princess. "Go then! To that
distant soil!"

-----

"...and really young lady, I expected a lot more from you and your friends,
letting a pile of dirty clothes get the better of you!"

"Yes, mom," said the still very very embarassed Ami.

"AEGIS was a wonderful little organization back in the late 60s, protecting
the Earth from the Invaders. I suppose it was too much to hope for that my
own daughter would follow their tradition." Kumori shook her head. "This
*never* happened to the Gatekeepers. Of course, if it *had* things would
have gotten interesting."

"Yes, mom."

"I... hang on while I get the phone." Kumori pressed speaker on her handset.
"Doctor Mizuno here."

"Hello, Doctor. This is Fess. I take it young Miss Mizuno and yourself are
all right?"

The doctor pulled her car into a parking lot. "You witnessed the battle?"

Fess hesitated. "Not only was one of our marionettes watching this, some
news channels managed to record some brief footage."

Ami once again attempted to shrink into a tiny little ball.

Doctor Mizuno fixed her daughter with a definite "we'll discuss this some
more in private" look of maternal doom. "How bad?"

"Well, they didn't get a lot of footage of your faces," allowed Fess.

Ami whimpered.

"You might want to avoid some of the editorials," added Fess. "The good news
is that the marionettes all went into public areas and imitated the
originals, with the exception of Haruka II - who was on scene. So nobody
will be identified even if they think to do a point to point map of facial
features."

"What kind of editorials?" Kumori asked.

Fess decided to just send a snippet. The voice was definitely someone
else's. "Sailor Senshi, yesterday's heroes, today's zeroes. At fourteen they
were the defenders of the world, a year later and they can't beat the Thing
>From Beneath The Laundromat without wholesale destruction. Can these former
heroes salvage their reputation, or should they simply bow out and let this
Prince Dragon or these superpowered catgirls and Nerima martial artists
handle things? Especially disappointed were Sailor V fans, though seeing
their idol stripped naked on primetime TV has some clamoring for posters.
More after these messages."

Ami pulled her head out of the huddle, wondering if she had heard Minako's
scream of anguish or had she just imagined it?

-------

Various supermodel androids walked down the street.

Traffic came to a halt. People (not just guys) walked into various inanimate
objects.

A pair of sleazy looking guys tried to convince the girls to come work for
them. They tried flattery, bribery, then threats. They ended up getting
stuffed into a mailbox.

Which was when disaster hit. There was a theatre running a "chick flick"
with the unlikely name of "Graduation IV - Exams Of Passion."

The supermodels, naturally enough, went en masse as part of their desire for
data on the activities of the human female.

-----

Ami looked miserable. Actually she looked kind of spiffy in a white peasant
shirt and a pair of could-have-been sprayed on blue jeans. Her mother, in a
similar outfit, proved that she might have been older but she was still
hardly ready for retirement. And had avoided the usual pudginess striking
Japanese women in their middle years.

Most of the other Senshi were just grateful for the borrowed clothing but
leaving as soon as possible.

Doctor Mizuno had asked a simple question. "Why are you two looking at my
daughter like that?"

"We've seen something interesting lately," had allowed Hotaru, wanting to
slap Ami for such shabby treatment of her sempai in a previous life.

All of which had led to this and Ami's current misery.

They were watching another sequence that Fess had recorded or accessed.

This particular scene seemed to be set in some European pre-industrial
setting. As for Ami's misery:

"Daughter?" Kumori looked between the embarassed Ami and the one on the
screen. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"This is a previous life," indicated Fess.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ami stood on the top of the tower and let her robe fall behind her to stand
momentarily naked before the cliffs.

Then she leapt.

Her form shifted, enlarged, changed. Wings reached out to cup the air and
shift falling into flight.

~~~~~~~~

Ami stared, her jaw hanging loose. Her mother also stared.

Kasumi, who had just wandered in, smiled and sipped at her tea. "I didn't
know you were a dragon in a previous life, Mizuno-san."

"Neither did I, Tendo-san," managed Ami weakly.

~~~~~~~~~

The silver dragon flew overhead, looking amazingly graceful for something
that was larger than most of the buildings it was passing over. She flew out
to a larger dragon, moving around it in an elaborate pattern.

The larger dragon briefly looked shocked, somehow conveying this in body
language, then began responding in kind.

They danced. An aerial ballet with the two arcing and diving in a manner
that became more synchronized as they went. From over the city, the two
gradually moved into some distant mountains, becoming lost to distance
gradually.

"Well, looks like Doctor Ami is finally mating," said a voice.

"About time, I was beginning to worry about her," added a second.

The camera angle changed, revealing a group of tanned European children of
about twelve or so.

~~~~~~~~~

Ami blinked. She was a doctor? And a dragon? And... "mating"?!?!

Doctor Mizuno nodded, not noticing her daughter was about to melt down into
a little puddle of embarassment. "Like with your father. You have to be able
clue your husband in on when appropriate times might be, being a doctor puts
quite a strain on your personal time and energy after all."

Setsuna sniffled. "That was so beautiful, the way she initiated a mating
dance under a full moon. How romantic!"

Hotaru wordlessly handed Setsuna a hankerchief.

Ami twitched.

"Oh my, that looked very... interesting." Kasumi said, wondering briefly if
dragons used protection - and if so *how*?

"One of the happiest times he'd had was this brief century in this
particular culture," said Fess. "There were also times where the others he'd
interacted with were also content. Not that there were not moments of
friction."

~~~~~~~~~~

Ami stalked into the room. Not her usual glide. Not a walk. This was a
definite "I've got a major problem" stalk.

"Sensei, you honor us with your presence," said one of the younger girls as
she curtsied.

"THAT that that..." Ami threw her hands up in the air as if inarticulate at
her frustration level.

Wiping sweat, and leaving a trail of grease, the older redhead (though
mainly gray) gestured to the others to go back to work on what looked like a
primitive steam engine. "Guy problems? I take it a flight over the ocean or
talking with the other dragons would not help?"

"We started out human," Ami reminded the girl. "We still are, in a lot of
ways. No, and they're all busy with their own little projects. Or they just
smirk at me. Ukyo, how do you handle it?"

Ukyo used a sweatrag to finish wiping her face. "How do I handle balancing
being an explorer with being in charge of a group of engineers while I'm
just a fixit-girl myself? How do I handle things on a human scale instead of
being able to turn into a 'warrior of love and justice' or a dragon? How can
I handle the idea that my good friend Ami is not only the head of our
medical program, but is still a teenager while I'm pushing seventy?"

Ami shook her head, pacing back and forth. "No, you've been married for
forty years now."

"Forty-three," automatically corrected Ukyo.

"Your marriage isn't the mess mine is," declared Ami. "We've been going
together for at least as long but he's..."

"Ah," said Ukyo, understanding now. "We love each other. We fight, we yell,
we apologize, we make mad passionate love (which is how we ended up with six
kids), and we have learned that sometimes to stay together we have to spend
time apart."

Ami blinked, then turned to stare at her friend. "But everyone points to you
two, and the trials you endured, as some great love story."

"Someone wise once said 'an adventure is someone else going through a rough
time'," quoted Ukyo. "We love each other dearly. That doesn't mean that once
in a while one or the other of us doesn't get mule-headed and the other
doesn't want to slap that someone around. Because each of us knows how much
the other loves us, it makes the tough times bearable until we get back to
the more friendly territory. Neither of you is a slave or a puppet, and
disagreement is part of a healthy relationship too. Now tell me, do either
of you say anything truly unforgiveable? Has either of you struck the
other?"

"Uhm, no," admitted Ami. "I just told him that he was an empty-headed
reptile and he should go crawl under a rock..."

"I've said worse to my Ranma," consoled Ukyo. "Hardly sounds like an 'epic
romance', does it?"

Ami sighed. "I suppose."

Ukyo shook her head. "You know, my friend, let's go out tonight and party
one last time. I suspect this'll be our last chance for such things, healing
spells or no."

"Huh?" Ami startled. "But you're still..."

"Ami," said Ukyo with a smile. "I'll be seventy next week. I am neither
dragon nor one of your 'senn chi' nor an android or one of your other
companions. Most people back in the continents die at half my age. I've
adventured and explored new lands. I've had six healthy kids, raised 'em,
and now spoil the grandkids. I've found love and laughter and a good man.
Maybe I'll continue on another seventy, but maybe not."

"Grammy," scowled one of the younger redheads, hands on hips and glaring
through her glasses, "don't talk like that!"

Ukyo's smile widened a fraction. "Well now, Ami, shall we go check out the
library? Hear tell there are some fine young men hanging around there
lately."

Ami smiled as she noticed the embarassed looks on various young girls' faces
that indicated they'd heard the same rumors. Actually, watching the young
engineers boyhunting might be just the thing. "Let's go. We can bring your
grandkids along to fetch us something to drink."

~~~~~~~~

Ami blinked. "That was..."

"Same names. Different individuals," assured Fess. "Except for you, of
course."

Kumori Mizuno considered her daughter and what she'd just seen. So in a
previous lifetime, her daughter had married this boy. Now he was still a
dragon but she was a magical girlscout, though not very good from her
earlier showing. Her concerns about having her daughter end up in a
relationship with an alien prince/dragon were slightly eased. Though it
appeared Ami's were heightened.

"What happened to that Ukyo?" Hotaru asked.

"Lived another twenty two years. Saw her great grandkids. Her husband Ranma
passed on, and she followed him six months later," Fess said. "The whole
'Ranma & Ukyo' love affair - particularly their early adventures and
difficulties - became the subject of a series of plays that eventually
reached international notoriety. Even a few novels and eventually a TV
series. Though they took serious liberties with the latter."

That got some attention. "Was Ami in these novels or the TV series?" Kumori
asked for everyone.

As a reply, a scene from a cartoon played in which the now glamorous Ukyo
was consoling a somewhat dumpy long haired girl in glasses. "This is how the
TV series played it. There were protests, of course. All of the dragons had
been sketched or painted during their stay and the actress cast to portray
the human Ami looked nothing like those sketches."

The images now playing caused a few gasps. There was a sculpted marble Ami,
styled in a Greek fashion and handing off a scroll, looking somehow glorious
and elegant despite her near-lack of clothing. "This is how she is most
often remembered, the sculpture is of her passing the knowledge of medicine
on to mankind." The image shifted to Setsuna, except in her hands were a pot
and ladle. "Setsuna, and her gift of the knowledge of herbcraft and tea."
The next statue was of Hotaru, an expression of proud defiance on her face,
Silence Glaive in one hand and the other held open as if to bar entry.
"Hotaru, guardian of the mount." Fess considered showing other statues but
decided the others could wait. Though the statues *were* being duplicated
elsewhere in the solar system.

"Were there any others among these lives which particularly shaped him?"
Hotaru asked. Having difficulties in her own past, she felt that this would
help her understand her new sempai.

"Many," acknowledged Fess, bringing up another scene. As Minako had just
walked in, with Artemis peeking out of a fold in her purse, Fess decided to
try a particular one.

Devastation, in which the figure from the "Amnesia" world walked through a
landscape that had been largely obliterated. The figure stopped and began
digging a grave at one point.

"This particular world saw the Sailor Senshi fight heroes who were not of
the Silver Millenium, and thereby branded as untrustworthy and obstacles by
those who wanted to create Crystal Tokyo. The governments of Earth, rival
superheroes and devil hunters, even goddesses themselves and those who
allied with such - all rose up as Usagi Tsukino began her plans to create
her Utopian Kingdom. The battle was... rather intense."

The "camera" panned up and out, and they could see that the burial was
taking place in an enormous impact crater. As the point of view went further
away it almost looked like a lunar landscape with all the craters
overlapping each other. Finally a visible coastline allowed the watchers to
place this fractured landscape as being central Japan.

"The ginzuishou is a nearly indestructible, almost omnipotent, power focus.
It does have some limitations and drawbacks. The remainder of the Senshi
attempted to hold off the forces arrayed against them while Sailor Moon used
the ginzuishou to bring about the Great Freeze and eliminate all suffering
and poverty by cleansing the hearts of mankind." Fess continued in his dry
voice. "There were many who had reservations about such a process and
outcome."

Minako seemed to be listening to a nearby whispering voice. "But if Usagi's
crystal is so powerful, they wouldn't be able to do anything about it,
right?"

"Almost omnipotent is like being almost hit by a truck, Miss Aino. To do
such a thing, Tsukino-san must build up the power gradually and control it
carefully. In *this* world, there was a group known as the Justice League.
While they might have agreed that healing the world would be a good thing,
giving the world the choice between permanent exile to Nemesis or becoming
"purified" and a commoner in someone else's kingdom? No, they disagreed with
that end as well as the means. There was a fight."

The camera zoomed in on a chain of islands.

"North America saw some of the worst fighting. While the various superbeings
were fighting, a plan to hit the enemy base was concocted and utilized.
Every nuclear weapon capable of making the trip was targetted for the Sea Of
Serenity." The camera went up to focus on a jagged edged moon. "In this
devastated Earth, there is an empty and lifeless Crystal Tokyo, there are
also a few pockets of survivors - mainly in Europe and a few islands which
have not been struck by meteorites."

Kasumi crossed herself. Setsuna swore.

On the screen, the wanderer lashed two pieces of wreckage together as a
grave marker and began wandering again. "This particular episode was
important for him as well. Out of this he learned many new skills and
collected a few items that he used in several other 'adventures'. Though one
of those turned out rather poorly."

"Worse than that?" Cologne had arrived and indicated the desolate blasted
landscape.

"Only on a personal level. Greylle is somewhat of a sentimental person, and
one of the DNA samples he collected on this journey led him to one of his
little idiosynchrocies." Fess responded back. "You'll notice that while he
skirts the edges of it with marionette and ship designs, he does not use
genetic engineering technologies."

"Yeah, so?" Minako didn't see the point, though she was still going over the
idea that some people might object to Crystal Tokyo.

"He collected Kryptonian DNA from a fallen dog named Krypto, among other
sources, and used it to craft a superdog. A companion that would follow him
through his adventures and that wouldn't get picked off by a stray
disintegration beam or something similarly lethal. In a Shadowrun universe
he was a Dog shaman, so it seemed a natural fit." Fess flicked up an image
of some scrappy little terrier with a red ball in its mouth, wagging his
tail so hard the dog seemed ready to fly just on the force of that. "The
experiment was a success. A dog more powerful than most conventional armies,
with powers and abilities far beyond those of normal dogs. Faster than a
speeding bullet, more powerful than a bullet train, able to leap tall
buildings in a single bound. The single vulnerability being magic. After
three years, one mission took him to Jusenkyo..."

"Oh," said Cologne, understanding instantly. "Jusenkyo tends to pull in the
unusual to drown in its pools."

"After that, it took him quite some time to be able to accept any sort of
companion during a mission," Fess indicated.

Hotaru's lower lip began trembling. "Poor sempai."

--------

In an old American convertible equipped with antigrav, Ami and her mother
left the base, each deep in their own thoughts.

Ami Mizuno, 14 year old cram school student, looked on herself in a whole
new light. In a previous life, she had been *married* to a *dragon* and
ended up a dragon herself apparently.

Her mother worried about a number of things. Including questions about what
kind of grandkids would result. Also what kind of "improvements" and
"security upgrades" would be added to *her* car.

Hotaru noted their preoccupation and decided to make a side trip and tell
Mizuno-san why she would just have to let it go in this life. Greylle-san
already had a fiancee, thank you very much. Time to give someone in *this*
life a chance.

-------

Greylle himself was trudging down the street and wondering why he couldn't
get any respect. Fess was off on his own agenda. The marionettes didn't have
time for him. The Sailor Senshi regarded him either as an enemy or a rival,
depending on who you asked. Akane was his student in a martial arts style he
didn't really know.

The list went on but it all came down to: his life was a mess.

"At last I have found thee! Foul wyrm, prepare to die!"

Reflexes came online and Greylle brought his trusty baseball bat up to block
the attack.

It shattered and the bokken almost sliced into him despite twisting away
from the point of impact.

Greylle stared. Tatewaki Kuno was *not* that good. The bat had been
enchanted as well as made of hyper-dense materials. Which meant...

The roughly chiseled wooden sword gave the reason. Musashi's bokken -
haunted and guided by the spirit of Miyamoto Musashi.

Greylle leapt up, swung onto an awning, and prepared to leap to a rooftop to
give him some room. The awning ripped, he fell through, and went through a
small table of trading cards. "Crap!"

"Have at thee!" Tatewaki Kuno declared as he charged and swung his bokken at
the fallen monster.

------

"This is why you should give up, Mizuno-san," said Hotaru. "I was already
Shard-san's iinazuke when I stepped across that boundary. I knew it would
cost me, but I decided it was better to do this... He's in danger."

Ami was asking questions, but by the time she'd stammered out the first one,
Hotaru had already launched the ancient Thunderbird into the air and was far
off.

"Say what you will about their lack of magic, they at least have decent
transportation." Kumori Mizuno looked at the vanishing tail-lights in the
distance.

Ami stood in the gloom and looked across at the house. There were lights on
and the occasional movement. Hard to believe an ancient evil was in there,
having warded this place so that if one stepped across the property line
you'd become some mindless slave to a dragon!

"Come on, let's see if they'll let us use a phone," said Ami's mother,
starting for the house.

"EEEEK! NO!" Ami jumped in front of her mother to stop her. "You mustn't!
There's an evil god in there!"

Doctor Mizuno blinked at her daughter. "A what?"

"If you cross the property line, you'll be turned by the magic into that
dragon's mindless catgirl pet by the magic of a god of evil!" Ami took a
couple of deep breaths to steady herself. "That was close."

"Ami-chan, is this something to do with those doujinshi I found in your
room?"

Ami turned beet red briefly. "No! That's not it at all!"

"Hotaru said she had been over there, and I didn't see any signs of tail or
ears." Doctor Mizuno considered. "She's a bit young, but her devotion to her
fiance might just be a schoolgirl crush. You remember that one you had on
Doctor Werube?"

Ami turned beet red again briefly. "Mother, please!"

"Besides, if it was crossing the property line," the doctor said, pointing
down.

Ami looked down, she was standing on a line marking the property of the evil
god. Hands came up to feel her ears. Normal human ears. She checked for a
tail. Nope. Checked her breasts. Were they C instead of A now? No, she
couldn't suggest *that* after the doujinshi remark. "Uhm."

Doctor Mizuno had been recently disappointed in her daughter. Shortly after
she and her friends been brought back from the dead by a dragon, that dragon
had been declared a non-friend at the very least and viewed with nothing but
suspicion. (That she could see anyway.) Then they had done rather poorly in
their battle against the dirty laundry monster. Now she was making
apparently groundless accusations against someone. Though Hotaru *had*
corroborated this tale to some extent, from her brief conversations with the
young girl, the pediatrician was not inclined to see anything mindless or
"pet" oriented about her. And here was her daughter making up stories then
patting her own buttocks and examining her own breasts. "Ami. If you are
done, I'm going to go use the phone there."

"B-b-but," Ami watched as her mother went up the path, eventually reached
the door, knocked, went inside, and came back out after about five minutes.
"B-b-but I... that is."

Doctor Mizuno frowned ever so slightly at her daughter. "Somehow I pictured
a god of evil to be somewhat less polite. Not to mention less enamored of
some gaijin TV program called 'The Simpsons' or to offer me a glass of wine
while I made a phone call. Ami. We will talk."

Ami fidgeted. "...but he..."

"Actually she's quite correct in some respects, completely wrong in others,
but then she *is* simply a four-dimensional being," came a velvety smooth
voice.

"WAAAGGHHHHH!" Ami did a credible Usagi impression, leaping straight up in
the air with her hair toinged out, whipping out her henshin pen in mid leap.
Unfortunately said pen left her hand and landed somewhere in the shrubbery.

Doctor Mizuno let out a deep breath and hid her eyes. "Ami. Maybe you need a
vacation. Without those friends of yours along."

"That's him! That's the god of evil!" Ami pointed at the fellow in the
burgandy smoking jacket and trousers. "Get behind me mother!"

Doctor Mizuno raised an eyebrow at the fellow.

"She's been listening to her friends, and they've been exaggerating,"
explained the god of evil. "Don't return again."

Doctor Mizuno nodded. "Sorry about this then."

The "man" in the smoking jacket returned to his home as Ami stammered.

Doctor Mizuno began planning a vacation for Ami. Something for just the two
of them... Perhaps Shard-san had an idea! Certainly he'd be able to come up
with *something* exotic or at least save them on transportation costs.

Seeing her pen in the shrubbery, Ami hesitated for a moment. Lights blinking
as they approached indicated another ride heading their way would be of the
flying sort.

"See mother," Ami said, firming her shoulders and marching across the lawn
into the shrubs to pick up her pen. NOW her mother would believe her! She
could feel the magic altering her, changing her, turning her into a
submissive pet slave.

"See what, Ami?" Doctor Mizuno requested gently of her daughter.

Ami blinked. She wasn't some slavepet? She wasn't mindless? "Uhm..."

"Daughter. I'll start scheduling that vacation."

-------

Ranma was confused. Not abnormal by any stretch of the imagination.

He was a reincarnated princess? Damn, he really really hoped Ryouga never
found out. He'd never be able to live it down.

On the other hand, didn't that mean that he had some power up coming to him?

Except that it would probably only be for his girl side. That wasn't good.

Yet wasn't it a tenent of Anything Goes that any advantage should be used?

On the other hand...

Hey, what the heck was going on over there?!

--------

Tatewaki Kuno brought the Musashi Bokken across the dragon again and again.
His blows with the wooden sword could shatter stone and were perfect and
without peer. The beast sorcerer had been wounded by his matchless prowess.

However, the stubborn beast refused to stand still and perish before his
might. It bled profusely, his wooden blade had slashed deep into the human
guise of this nefarious being, but it still dared to mock him with its
continued survival!

"Okay, Kuno, you want a fight. Here goes!"

Kuno blinked. Nabiki Tendo? *Flying?!*

Nabiki summoned power and made the appropriate gestures. "FLARE ARROW!"

Kuno stared. The bokken, however, neatly deflected the spell.

Nabiki frowned for a second, then grinned. To heck with blackmail and
photographs. THIS was power!
"Spark flare bright,
Crimson flame alight,
FIRE BALL!"

*BOOM!*

"Yes!" Nabiki said, exultantly. Until the smoke cleared and Tatewaki Kuno
was still standing visible. "Oh."

"Foul witch, you show your true colors! No longer will you stand between the
Blue Thunder and his bride."

"SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE!"

"dead... scream!"

Tatewaki Kuno ducked one and blocked the other, though his feet dug furrows
into the pavement from the impact. "None can stand against me! With this, I
am invincible!"

Sailor Saturn took one look at her fiance's injuries, then the face she
turned to Tatewaki Kuno was not of a tearful little girl but of Death.

"Oh man, this guy doesn't look so-" *WHAM!* Realizing he had just been
thrown *through* a parked van, Ranma decided maybe this was another youma
like that moose-guy.

The Silence Glaive came up. "Death Reborn..." A hand stopped the Glaive from
dropping.

"No, Hotaru-chan," said Greylle, trying to hold the gut wound closed with
one hand long enough for the ginzuishou or natural healing talent to kick
in. "Killing yourself taking the bad guy out isn't always a viable solution.
i should know."

"So, foul beast. You seduce others to your cause. Know that I shall end thy
crimes here!" Kuno lifted the bokken into an eight-strike stance. There were
eight seperate attacks he could make from that start.

"Not a chance, Kuno," said an arriving Akane. Then her eyes widened as she
took in the scene. Greylle looked cut up pretty badly and had lost a lot of
blood (in fact some little corner of her mind put the splash trails as being
around three gallons worth - more than should be in a human body), buildings
and trees looked sliced open or smashed, the pavement was cratered and even
burning in a couple of places, and there was the sound of sirens in the
distance. The explosions that had guided her here had been from a fight with
*Kuno*?! She charged forward, experience with fighting Kuno should make this
quick and easy.

"Illusions now, sorcerer? Be done with them!" Kuno had been able to dominate
the sword through his singleminded focus on revenge. Akane's appearance had
thrown that off. His bokken swept towards the ground and a line of force
smashed Akane with about the same results as Ranma had experienced earlier.
Except that she missed the car and went through a store window.

Greylle tried to come up with a solution. Changing into a dragon with these
sorts of injuries would likely put him in shock. Not that he wasn't heading
there anyway.

Hotaru felt a warm glow within her as she held her unsteady fiance up. She
knew from that earlier fight that he trusted her, he liked her, he cared
about her. Now if she could just get him to switch from seeing her as a
little sister!

*Click KLAK!* "Vat ve haff here is a failure to communicate." *Vrrrrrrrt!*

Tatewaki Kuno began blocking the machine gun fire provided by an ARNIE unit,
using the bokken to parry the bullets.

"EXPLOSION ARRAY!"

"Kitty Flash! Pluto Evisceration Slash!"

Saturn, being a miko of Amaterasu, threw ofuda. "Akuryo Taisan!"

ARNIE tried something else. "Rocket Punch!"

"Turn Undead!" Greylle tried.

Musashi's bokken blocked the punch, faltered under the ofuda assault,
couldn't parry the area effect of the Array, and was Turned just before
Bishoujoneko Pluto's claws sliced through wood and hakama.

"Foul... beast..." Kuno began.

Finally, belatedly, the ginzuishou flared.

---------

Whatever the doctor and her daughter had expected to find when dropping the
aforementioned doctor off at her hospital, it had not been this.

Even R2's beeps sounded confused.

"Maybe a youma?" Ami suggested.

"If that's the case, do you want to transform and get the rest of your
team?" The pediatrician asked, her usual cool and elegant having taken a
severe beating today.

Male doctors and staff were tied up in the hallway, looking as if their
energy had been drained. This was familiar enough for Ami to momentarily
smile.

On the other hand, female staff and patients were not looking either drained
or normal.

Quite a few were in various states of undress, a few were fully clothed but
looked oddly out of it. The Nurse's station was occupied by a few who were
giggling about something in room E-107.

After trying to get their attention for several moments, the doctor just
grabbed the chart for E-107.

Ami peeked over her mother's shoulder. "Patient Higari Katsumatsu. Age: 15.
Symptoms: massive crush injury to his... oh my."

Doctor Mizuno read the rest of the SOAP (Symptoms, Observations, Analysis,
Plan) sheet. "ER room 107. Subject unconscious through transport from scene.
According to witnesses he flashed some young girl who responded by kicking
him in the nuts. Apparently she's a martial artist. Hmmm. Regained
consciousness while ice was being applied to injury site prior to seeing if
detachment had occurred. It stops in mid-sentence here. Ami, why don't you
go freshen up in that bathroom over there while I investigate? And maybe you
should call your friends and let them know you're here."

Ami shot a grateful look towards her mom. She'd have a chance to prove the
Sailor Team was *not* all washed up!

=========

the Hentai Sorcerer's Club concept came to me awhile back. You have
libido-charged hyper hentai (always shonen) in series like Urusei Yatsura,
Ranma 1/2, Magic User's Club, etc. If they had access to a real book of
spells, what do you see them doing? In the clubs here and in Hotaru 1/2,
they're fairly pathetic and small time (it's funnier that way) with using
powerful spells to: cheat on tests, conjure panties out of girls lockers,
try to get themselves a loveslave girlfriend (and then lacking the nerve to
actually do anything), or Conquer The World (without actually having much of
a clue as to how to do it, or what to do when you've got it, it's just the
genre thing to do.)

==========

Chapter 18, Retake

DISCLAIMER: Various characters belong to various
people/companies/agencies/etc. Except them that don't.

--------

Ami transformed in the girls room, becoming Sailor Mercury, and immediately
set the "General Broadcast" alert. She expected to just get the other
Inners.

MINAKO: "This isn't another pile of dirty clothes is it? Do you *know* what
they're saying about me on the radio? 'If Sailor V is going to reappear just
to flush her reputation down the toilet, she might as well stay missing.'"

Ami swallowed nervously. "Yes, well..."

USAGI: "My mother asked where I'd gotten these clothes from and what
happened to the outfit she'd bought me. I still don't understand how that
thing taking our Senshi costumes also got our street clothes."

MAKOTO: "What did you tell her?"

USAGI: "That I was caught in that monster attack on the news and that these
clothes were a gift from a friend. Now they all want details on this
friend!"

HARUKA: "We're on our way!"

MICHIRU: "I've already called the news. This time we'll emerge triumphant
and put all these people in the wrong!"

Ami gasped. "You didn't!"

MICHIRU: "I don't like looking bad in front of an audience!"

REI: "I'm getting a really bad feeling about this."

HOTARU: "Greylle-sempai's pretty badly injured. I'm going to stay here and
nurse him back to health... Oh my goodness I can't believe I said that. I
mean I really wanted to be a nurse when I grow up and all but still... And
he *is* my fiancee so that's kinda all right... I mean..."

HARUKA: (somehow interrupting): "Who the heck was inviting the Senshi Of
Death along anyway?!"

SETSUNA: "I also will be tending to the patient's wounds."

HOTARU: "You really should go help them. You saw that fight against the
laundry monster. If someone isn't there to clean up their messes the
hospital might get totalled."

SETSUNA: "Oh, and I'm just going to leave you alone with Greylle-san?"

HOTARU: "...that obvious, huh?"

REI: "Would you two knock it off, this is Sailor Business!"

MAID UNIT: "Does that mean you don't require fire support?"

HARUKA & MICHIRU: "NO!"

Mercury closed her communicator. She needed to check on her mother anyway.

---------

Higari Katsumatsu was of two minds about this. On one hand, his spells were
working again. On the other, he hadn't really intended to get a not
particularly attractive nurse with his spell.

"Trellain's Templative Transformation" was a fairly powerful spell. He'd had
to work carefully to put it into his wand. Then all he had to do was say
what he wanted the target to turn into, and until day's end - the variables
that defined an individual would have the value for whatever he specified.
Point it at a prince, say "frog", and the prince would be a frog until the
stroke of midnight. What he'd been trying for was "loveslave" - something he
honestly felt he deserved.

Against that catgirl - not a damn thing. Against a dumpy looking nurse
though, it had worked. Pity.

So Higari would admit he'd gotten a little out of hand here.

In order to cover for the not-so-cute one, he'd cast it on a couple of other
nurses. Then to avoid suspicion, had ordered them to tie up the doctors. He
hadn't meant literally, he'd just meant to keep them busy.

So here he was with an icepack against his privates, having zapped any
woman/girl that had poked her nose into his room. He'd remembered "keep a
low profile" about halfway through.

The curtain shuffed open and a woman stepped in.

Higari stared. The namebadge said "Dr Mizuno - Pediatrics" but she was
*gorgeous*! Elegant and beautiful, lightly made up, and flush as if she'd
just been in a fight or something. Her perfect looking mouth parted.

"So you're the one. Do your parents know you've been doing things like this?
You should be ashamed of yourself!"

Higari frowned. That had not been what he'd wanted to hear. Ah well, easily
fixed. He pointed the wand at this woman. "Loveslave!"

Doctor Mizuno stood with her hands on her hips and glared at this
troublemaker. "Who do you think you're calling a loveslave! I don't know
what you did to the nursing staff here, but you'd better undo it now!"

Higari felt fear. The spell wasn't working again. Why wasn't it working?!

"D-Doctor Mizuno! Leave this to us!" A girl in a blue skating outfit came in
behind the Doctor.

"Hospitals are for healing of the sick," announced a girl in a
red-white-blue skating outfit.

"Whereas what you're doing is just plain sick," announced another girl,
crowding the doctor aside.

"Oh let's just moondust this jerk," said a shorthaired blonde in a similar
costume.

"Sailor Team, we're here to stop you!" Another girl sentai posed.

"Sailor Senshi? I've heard of you," said Higari. "Oh wow."

Several of the Senshi visibly preened. See, their reputations weren't
destroyed!

"Your skirts really *are* that short!" Higari continued. "Are you gonna
disrobe now like you did against the clothing monster? They had it on TV
earlier."

Preening turned to disgusted.

Higari smiled. Perfect. He snapped his fingers. "Come my slaves, stop these
wicked wenches from hurting me!"

The curtains to the room flew up and a crowd of mostly undressed women and
young girls rushed the Sailors.

"HEY!" Sailor Venus exclaimed. "Watch what you're grabbing you hentai!"

"I'm a nurse dearie," said that one, pulling a long tube out of somewhere.
"Time for your enema!"

"EEEEP! Sailor V KICK!" She was opposed to hurting civilians, but some
things were too much to bear!

Higari smirked. Everyone was busy. Time to try this out on these Senshi. If
*this* worked then he'd take his new slaves and become Chief Sorcerer of the
club! "Loveslave!"

--------

"Oh man. i haven't done this bad against a kendoist since that little mess
on timeline XS-420170," Greylle complained.

Hotaru schooled her face into a stern expression. "Don't move! We've got to
get these bandages in place."

Setsuna smiled and held up a bucket and a sponge.

Hotaru shook her head. She didn't think mentioning a sponge bath would get
the patient to relax at this point. As to the nurse's outfits they were both
wearing, what was up with the long skirt she had and Setsuna's short one?

Setsuna smiled. Her career as a fashion designer was assured as long as she
hung around the Dragon Prince. Who else would have such interesting programs
and machines that would let her design and manufacture clothing *this*
easily? Or... she could betray the dragon, go back to Serenity, get the Geas
reinstated, and then give up these reclaimed dreams in order to be the
lonely guardian of the Gate Of Time.

Yeah, right.

"So, uhm, what was XS- 4..." Hotaru tried to remember and gave it up as a
lost cause.

"Crossover timeline, multiple factors. The 4xxxxx code means it gets weird."
Trying to relax and letting them play with the medical equipment (besides it
hurt to move) Greylle tried to figure out how to tell these two when they
didn't know anything about Yggdrasil, the RRO, or alternative timelines.
"There was this universe where several high schools decided to remove their
violent or delinquent students and ship them to a single high school where
they could deal with each other."

"Like Ranma or Akane?" Hotaru suggested.

"Exactly, in fact there were several from Furinkan there." Greylle smiled in
rememberance. "I was still that lowpowered incubus back then. Man, that was
a mess. Daimon Senior High School."

"Daimon?" Setsuna repeated.

"Yeah. There were students from Gateway, Ohtori Academy, Juuban
'Crossroads', Furinkan, Kolkhoz - all sorts of fighters and magical girls
and devil hunters and all sorts of other problem students." Greylle let out
a deep breath. "Plus there were guys from Daimon itself. Nobody was a slouch
there. As far as anime series, that would be 'Combustible Campus Guardess',
'Real Bout High School', 'Revolutionary Girl Utena', some of the Senshi from
'Sailor Moon', a number of heavy hitters from 'Ranma 1/2', Riki 'Tigermask'
Hyoudo from 'Battle Royal High School', Ayane Mitsui from 'Ayane's High
Kick', Yohko and Ayohko from 'Devil Hunter Yohko', Sakura from 'Street
Fighter', there was more but you get the idea - a real mess."

"Oh? What were you doing there?" Setsuna calmly began sewing up a jagged
flesh wound and wondered how the boy could even talk with that kind of mess.
Hotaru saw the injury, turned pale, and sagged onto a chair.

"Investigating. The fighting had been constant but it was always to defeat
or knockout. Something happened that escalated the level of violence
considerably. Turned out to be a Demon First Class named Velsper."

"You fought a kendoist there?" Setsuna asked while placing a knot.

"Not intentionally. Makes Tatewaki Kuno look like Hikaru Gosunkugi. Girl by
the name of Ryoko Mitsurugi, real samurai warrior wannabe. LOTS better at
fighting. Yeah, that one was... a mess..."

"He's asleep," said Setsuna after checking.

"Poor sempai," mumbled Hotaru, holding her fiance's hand and trying to
channel healing energy.

"Hey now, none of that, he's got to get a break between magical healings so
his body can recover resources." Setsuna reminded the girl, though gently.
"Maybe we ought to see how the Sailor Senshi are doing in the meantime."

"Don't you think they can handle it?" Hotaru asked, then read the
expression. "Okay. Fess-san! Please monitor his condition and let us know if
anything goes wrong."

--------

Kumori Mizuno had struggled through High School, through a marriage that had
gotten her stonewalled from her family, the seperation when her artist
husband had gone off to pursue his "starving artist" lifestyle, and raising
a daughter on her own. She had gotten through medical school, internship,
and setting up her practice in a land where gender roles were pretty strict.
These were pretty much true of any near-baseline Sailor Moon timeline.

In this particular one, she'd also been a minor member of a secret
organization known as AEGIS in 1969 during her first year of high school.

In either case, "weak" was not an accurate description.

"This is *enough*," said the Doctor as she watched her daughter doing tricks
for this pervert boy. "Gate. OPEN!"

*FWAM!*

Two icy-blue concentric circles formed in midair near her outstretched hand.
If you looked closely you could see the same counter-rotating circles in her
eyes.

"What?!" The Senshi that weren't grovelling at this boy's feet were rather
shocked. So was the boy.

"Aren't you too old to be a Senshi?" Higari asked. "Girls, restrain her."

It hadn't been enough of a Gate ability to get her a Gatekeeper position,
she'd ended up a bridge bunny on the night shift. Of course, she wasn't
exactly a 15 year old kid anymore either. Not nearly what Kaoru's Gate Of
Pursuit or Megumi's Gate Of Protection could do. Still, all of the Senshi
were about to get their first sexual encounter and as the adult present -
she wasn't going to stand for it if there was anything she could do. "Gate
Of Spirits. GENMAKEN!"

"What was... that..." Higari's voice trailed off as the "Fist Of Nightmares"
manifested. "Oh dear kami. AAAAAAAAA!"

The Senshi, nurses, patients, and pretty much everyone else on that floor
likewise gave into screaming until they were hoarse.

Except for Doctor Mizuno, who simply walked up and took the sparkly wand
away from the boy before he could recover. Followed by her running off with
the villain's prop.

Because, just as you couldn't say that Doctor Kumori Mizuno was weak, she
also wasn't an idiot.

------

Hotaru and Setsuna looked at each other in the gloom as the car (a 1969 Ford
Mustang with anti-grav plating) settled into the parking lot near a police
cordon around the building.

"Looks like the news crews are here too," said Setsuna.

Snoopy wurfed and brought up a display.

"One of the channels has gotten someone into the security monitor room? Oh
that *is* bad." Setsuna tsked. "Well, how do you think we ought to handle
it?"

Hotaru triggered a change. "Saturn Kitty Power, FUR up!" She made a gesture
with her long claws. "Better nightvision and reflexes."

"Not to mention stealth." Setsuna nodded, knowing darn well that their
catgirl modes didn't actually require an activation phrase. It just didn't
seem right though to just transform without *something.* "Pluto Kitty Power,
Transform."

-------

When she had been younger, the Gate Of Spirits had been a tiny effect. The
Genmaken, the Nightmare Fist, caused one to momentarily face something
frightening from the target's own mind and memories.

Not only was she older and more experienced than the young bridge bunny from
1969, she had just gotten a power upgrade she didn't fully know about yet.
The same one that had given her immunity to Higari's transformation spell.
Compared to the power level of the binding already on her, that spell had
been unnoticeable.

So Kumori Mizuno, MD, sensibly ran off. With the magic wand that had been
used against her daughter among others.

Higari however was reliving every rejection, every put down, every beating
he'd ever gotten from women. The absolute hopelessness that was his normal
day to day existence.

Still, as bad as that was, his victims were having a worse time.

------

In television sets across Tokyo, people got disgusted with the Sailor Senshi
*again* falling down on the job. Though the strip tease had been nice for
the young male crowd.

On the other hand, seeing "Super Doctor" use a power and then do exactly
what the color commentators had been urging somebody to do was sitting very
well with the audience.

A flying car? Two cute catgirls racing to the rescue? All caught by a
newschopper?

People were already beginning to organize fanclubs.

------

Aware that the news people had already tapped into the video feed, Kitty
Saturn and Kitty Pluto turned on a vidcam remote drone and had it follow
them. Once there, the two nodded. This was Japan, they were superheroes,
certain sentai elements were demanded if they were going to be on camera.

*SLASH!* A section of wall came apart in nice even strokes. From the dust a
looming form with really darn long hair and lashing tail. "From the coldest
and loneliest planet, I am the elegant Kitten of Solitude & Contemplation.
Kitten Pluto!"

While the various loveslaves continued retching from the earlier Gate
attack, the curtains abruptly exploded into thin strips. One strip came down
over the new arrival's head, and she as quickly removed it. "From the ringed
planet of splendor, I am the cute Kitten of Nursing &, uhm, something
besides destruction... Kitten Saturn!"

Taking a spare wand out, Higari pointed it at the dangerous looking one.
"Sexpet!"

*SLASH!* (clatter)

Kitten Pluto sneered at Higari (especially effective with the prominent
sharp-looking teeth) over the little sliced segments of wand. "Foolish
pervert! We are immune to such petty magic!"

"Yeah?" Higari wasn't ready to surrender yet. "Slaves! Attack these two!"
Various nurses and Senshi tried to respond.

Pluto and Saturn smiled.

"Villains like this are *so* predictable," Pluto remarked.

"Too bad we don't have a magical attack," lamented Saturn. "All we can do is
fight hand-to-hand. Oh. You two are the ones who were calling for my death
earlier, weren't you? Kitty Take Down Attack!"

Higari saw his Sailor Slaves getting beaten up and he was out of wands. Time
to escape!

------

"The *real* Sailor Senshi are here," announced Sailor Marionette Uranus. The
entire marionette team had assembled. Of course, some extra marionettes had
come along because they wanted to get in on this. Which was why there was
not only the regulars (Mercury, Venus, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune,
Pluto) but a few extras (Sailor Vulcan - one of the Rei Ayanami units,
Sailor Maid, Sailor Nurse, Sailor Proxima Centauri (one of the supermodel
units), Sailor Masked Catgirl (the Sakura catgirl unit), and Sailor Barbie)
along as well.

Higari stopped and pointed back where he'd come. "But... they..."

The android waved off the point. "Minor stand-ins. Useful but did you really
think the *real* Senshi could be subverted so quickly?"

"Uhm. You do have a point there," agreed the hentai sorcerer.

"No, we're the real Senshi!" Sailor Uranus said, running out of the
hospital.

"Oh, we'll prove it then. As you know, all real sentai teams have a number
of accessories and different outfits so that they can be properly
merchandised!" Marionette Uranus proclaimed. "URANUS ARMOR-UP!"

Hidden speakers began playing an instrumental version of the BubbleGum
Crisis song "Blow Up" as the other marionettes likewise responded with their
"Armor-Up" commands, pirouette and pose as armor snapped into place around
them.

Higari started sneaking off. He was going to be caught in a fire fight here?
No way!

"Saturn! Ring Toss Capture!"

Higari gulped as glowing rings dropped into place around him. "Oh dear."

Having changed from catgirl to Senshi, Sailor Saturn was smiling at her
powerup. Nothing to do with death or destruction and it let her catch bad
guys! Pose, peace sign, smile at camera. "Ushering in a new age! Sailor
Saturn!" Wink. Pose.

The marionettes, seeing their presence was no longer mandated, went in to
see about their originals. They found most of them tied up and stuck out of
the way immediately.

Pointing the business end of her staff at Higari and letting green crackling
discharges of energy show, Sailor Pluto looked particularly menacing.
"Ending the insult of those who pervert the very concepts of love and
justice. Sailor Pluto. You *don't* want me to show you what my new attack -
'Pluto death sniper' would do to you, do you villain?"

Higari shook his head very rapidly in a negative fashion. He didn't know
what it would do, but it sounded nasty as all get out.

"Then perhaps you should consider removing your spell," suggested Pluto.

"I can't. I'd need my wand to do that!"

*crackle* *crickle* *BOOM!*

Seeing a smouldering crater three feet wide and he didn't know how many feet
deep open up in front of him, Higari practically wet himself. "But the
transformation ends at midnight and I can't really do anything else now
anyway..."

"Got that out in one breath," said Saturn, admiring lung capacity if nothing
else.

Uranus shook her fist and stalked forward. "How dare you threaten our
Master! You are not worthy of even speaking to him! WORLD SHAKING!"

"Saturn." Pose, spin, hold Glaive up, spin it around briefly, down. "Wave."
The end of the Glaive glowed and formed a disc of light. "Motion." The World
Shaking hit the disc and splashed harmlessly to the sides. "Gun."

"AAAAAAA!" Uranus said, picturing her atoms beings streamed layer by layer
off her bones in "Star Blazers/Space Cruiser Yamato" fashion.

"Healing Version, one tenth power!" finished Sailor Saturn with a flourish.

"You get Wave Motion Gun as your new Ultimate Attack?" Sailor Pluto sounded
envious as they watched the sphere of energy lock onto Sailor Uranus and
begin chasing her around the parking lot. "My major attacks are dead scream,
death sniper, Tempus Fugit, and death dance."

Saturn shrugged. "Oh well. Can you speed up time on the Senshi so that
midnight comes faster for them?"

"I don't think that'll work, magic isn't always logical, but I'll give it a
try."

One of the marionettes stuck her head out of the hospital. "Has anyone seen
Sailor Mercury? I mean the other one."

-------

Various watchers weren't quite sure what to make of this. Which was the real
Sailor Team? What of the two catgirls? Magical girl power armor?! And who
were those two Catgirls and what was their connection to the Senshi? What
was the connection of Saturn to Space Cruiser Yamato? Could someone get some
better pics of those catgirls? How about those first Senshi that had been
doing the strip tease?

The TV announcer to suggest this was immediately beaten over the head with a
cue card by his co-anchor for being a putz.

-------

Doctor Mizuno tossed her daughter in the back of the convertible. "To that
house we were at earlier."

R2 whooped and buzzed - inquiring if the doctor had noticed she had a tail
and cat ears.

"Later R2. If she's been enchanted to be turned into some pervert kid's
mindless slave, a stronger enchantment will override it."

R2 allowed that was so and tootled a tentative agreement.

"Did you see how they fought against those marionette versions or dealt with
my attack? They were even worse off than against the laundry monster."

R2 couldn't find anything to disagree with *there* either. Weren't these
supposed to fade at midnight though? That was only four hours away, wouldn't
it be better to wait?

Doctor Mizuno wished that R2 would just say something instead of making all
those synthesizer sounds.

------

The old President had been ousted. The Vice President had been ousted. The
First Lady couldn't be impeached from office but there were proceedings on
*that* going on anyway.

In fact, there were darn few in the three branches of American government
who looked to survive the Day Of Truth with careers intact. Most of those
who were able to, were currently secluded. It was not a happy time in the
United States government.

Perhaps because of this, it was the Australians who first detected it.
Followed by the Canadians, and followed by most private astronomers.

Except for the French, but most civilized nations knew better than to trust
the French anyway.

However, most of the governments kept quiet about the whole thing. These
might have been the ones who'd done that nasty to the USA government. In
which case nobody wanted to tick them off any further.

An asteroid was going to hit the Earth.

Then it was upgraded to a small rogue moon.

Then the various viewers started getting a real handle on the size of the
Intruder.

------

Fess had detected the hyperspatial emergence and recalibrated instruments
and run a general diagnostic on seeing the results of the initial scan.

Speed: 1/4c and decelerating.

Length: 19 miles. Width: 118 miles. Depth: 12 miles.

An asteroid of that mass and speed hitting the Earth would be rather like
using a mortar round on a watermelon. Very messy and you'd have trouble
finding anything left of the watermelon.

Except that it was slowing down and had regular faces. Also wings which must
be for decorative functions since there was no way it could be used for
atmospheric travel.

Not an asteroid. A ship.

Fess calculated current trajectory and deceleration rate. Lunar orbit in
three days.

Time for some preparations.

------

There were things about Ranma Saotome that varied from timeline to timeline.
There were other things that were *usually* true about Ranma no matter what
else might be different about him and his situation.

Ranma Saotome didn't like to lose - normal. It didn't matter if it was
scholar Ranma from timeline RN-LH-201301 or a martial artist Ranma as in
RN-100010 or a superpowered mutant as in RN-X-209177.

Now the whole idea of reincarnation was not a new one to Ranma - most
Japanese are "born Shinto but die Buddhist" and in the meantime are largely
nonreligious, except for the ceremonies and festivals. While he still had
significant problems with the idea of being a reincarnated princess of some
Earth kingdom from 10,000+ years previously, it was neither the royalty nor
the reincarnation parts that disturbed him. The idea of some grand destiny
laid upon his shoulders didn't bother him that much either - for one thing
it meant all the crap he'd taken in his life had some Purpose behind it.

Ranma was pondering all of this, and trying to figure out *what* he wanted
to do. Be some prince of some ancient kingdom, and then he could do
something about the mess his life consisted of. Fight the good fight and all
that sort of crap.

"Penny for your thoughts."

"WAAAAAA!" Ranma knew darn well that he had been alone on this rooftop a
minute ago. "How did you..?! Nevermind. I don't wanna know."

"Suit yourself," said Morgana. "I just wanted to see this 'Earth Princess'
for myself."

Ranma glared at the strange woman. "Don't call me that."

"Well?"

"Well - what?!" Ranma sulked. Try to get his head clear by finding the
highest rooftop available and it didn't matter - the nutcases still found
him.

"Oh. You want to be alone?" Morgana asked the "princess."

"YES, DAMN IT!"

"Fine," said Morgana, raising a hand and causing Ranma to dissolve in
sparkles. "Typical spoiled princess. Ha. Oh well, maybe that'll cool him off
some. Ha ha ha ha! Damn, it's been way too long since I've cut loose."

-------

"What?!" Ranma exclaimed on suddenly finding himself twenty feet up over a
snowbank.

*POOF!*

Climbing *out* of the snow, Ranma said something uncomplimentary about all
the crazy chicks in his life and wondered "Where the hell am I now?!"

Thousands of miles to the North, Ryouga sneezed.

-------

R2 whooped and buzzed, indicating that getting the car running again would
take a few minutes.

Kumori Mizuno was many things in many timelines. In most timelines she was
the pediatrician physician mother of Ami Mizuno, whose marriage to a
wandering artist type had ended in seperation. In a few she had different
personal names. In quite a few, she ended up one of those who would not give
up her individuality and was exiled to Nemesis with all those who would not
accept "purification" at the hands of Usagi Tsukino/Neo-Queen Serenity.

In *one* timeline she was actually Morgana Le Fey. In another, Ami's mother
was a Chinese Amazon who had left the village ages ago. In yet another
timeline, Ami's mother had married an irresponsible slob of martial artist
named Genma Saotome and Ami had a brother named Ranma. Another timeline had
Ami's mom marrying an American and after several years of marriage in that
country returning to Japan with her daughter to try and keep Ami away from
those hentai American boys.

In *one* timeline at least, in 1969 she had been a member of AEGIS (Alien
Exterminating Global Intercept System) Far East Branch. She had seen the
Gatekeepers off on their missions, her own Gate ability ineffective against
those Invaders. The Gate Of Spirits only worked on those with a conscience
to bother. She had watched from her "bridge bunny" position as Shun Ukiya,
Rurippe, Megumi, Kaoru, and even Reiko had fought the evil Invaders again
and again.

Therefore, in *this* timeline, it was somewhat gratifying that her own
daughter was a member of her *own* generation's sentai team. Fighting off
menaces not that dissimilar from the Invaders.

"Mom! I'm okay now, you can untie me!"

Of course, she'd have been a lot more pleased if Ami's track record was a
little better.

First the Sailor Suited Warrior Of Love & Exams had not done terribly well
against the Dark Kingdom. Yes, they'd succeeded against the bad guys, but
coming home at the end of your grand adventure was a definite plus. Then the
laundry monster. Now some child throwing spells around.

"MOTHER!"

"Ami, you're still under the influence of that boy's spell."

"No, seriously, I'm fine! It's worn off."

Kumori Mizuno let out a deep breath. Having children was exhausting.

"Uhm, by the way, Mother. Did you realize you have cat ears and a tail?"

"Yes, Ami." Kumori shrugged. Greater strength and speed made carrying off
one's brainwashed daughter a lot easier.

"...but you weren't affected by that... oh no."

"Yes and no."

"..."

"Yes- I was affected. No - it apparently is not what you think." Kumori's
ears flicked. "You might consider changing your affiliation anyway. Your
Sailor Team hasn't been doing well lately."

"Just a string of bad luck," protested Ami.

"Hmmm," Doctor Mizuno commented, not sounding convinced.

"Could you at least untie me?"

"Not until you're free of that enchantment."

R2 beeped a long series of interrogatives.

"Go ahead and finish fixing the emitter, R2, we can wait until the vehicle's
fixed."

"No! I have to get back to... uhm."

Kumori regarded her daughter. "Ami. Your group was defeated by myself and
then by two catgirls. Your team has not been doing well of late. Let me tell
you how it was when I was about your age..."

--------

Morgana checked in on a few people here and there.

She'd just put that Saotome boy/girl on a nice segment of Antarctica. Give
him time to cool off before she pulled him back.

That fellow Ryouga was even worse. She didn't even bother approaching him.
Otherwise she'd admit it would be likely that Ryouga Hibiki would be sitting
on a lilypad for the night.

The two catgirls might be fun to hang around with. No, she had enough
problems with allergies today. Damn cherry blossoms.

The sulking group of Senshi? No, not hardly. Trying to recapture their lost
glory?

That big alien ship heading....

Big alien ship?!

Morgana blinked and checked the Astral. Yes, that was a rather large ship.
Oh well. Size wasn't everything. She'd met many a knight who relied entirely
on the size of their lance and the strength of their charge. Idiots.

Right now though she was looking for a little fun. Hmmm. Now *they* might
do.

-------

Cologne watched the display and tried to put aside the questions about
matchups and the little object in her possession to the side for now.
"Exactly what is this, Fess?"

Fess turned his main attention from Akane's attempts to move in a 3g field.
"Replay requested. Answer to question regarding behavior pattern."

The Elder frowned. "I thought it was a Japanese soap opera."

"Actually it was one of my first assignments after that abbreviated
Ragnarok, and i'd never seen 'Love Hina' so i had no idea what to expect."

Cologne looked disapprovingly at the boy. "Should you be moving with those
injuries?"

"Dragons heal fast," answered said boy absently. "Though yes, they *do* hurt
quite a bit. Fess, are you showing everyone in creation how badly i screwed
up on certain missions?"

"Not at all. Cologne's question regarded your potential acceptance of an
Amazon alliance," said Fess. "I believe your response here was succinct."

"Oh?" Greylle tried to think of it. "Let's see. That was the one where
Keitaro Urashima, 3rd year university ronin, had just been referred to as a
'waste of space' by his true love - Naru Narugesawa and ended up crawling
off to try and find something not pathetic about himself. i ran across him
on the train and listened to his story, suggested that girl he mentioned in
Southern Japan might have been the girl of his past (that's how some of
these stories work) and that he was abandoning his duties as manager of a
place called Hinata House. He ended up appointing me emergency manager.
Which gave me a base of operations while i tended to my *real* reason for
being there."

"Who's the girl that just attacked you? Or that girl that's attacking you
now? Or *that* girl who's trying to throw things at you?" Cologne, Elder of
an Amazon village, wondered what made Japanese women so prone to violence.

"The one i threw onto the roof was Naru Narugesawa, self styled genius
student. The one who just got skimmed across the hot spring and into a wall
is named Motoko, and the one who threw the rock but didn't dodge very well
when it was returned was Kitsune. i think what Fess wanted to point out to
you was that when i'm being attacked and people are bellowing death threats,
i get rather upset."

Cologne winced as the boy on screen grabbed the attacking swordswoman, took
the sword away from her, then proceeded to leave Motoko-shaped indentations
on various walls, ceilings, boulders, floors, and some blonde girl who'd not
gotten out of the way fast enough by slamming her into said obstacles. "You
don't handle such things very well, do you? Heavens, if I had a 10yuan coin
for every time someone threatened me?"

Greylle shrugged. "Urashima let people walk all over him. i had just come
from extensive combat training from some really sadistic valkyries. Four
tenants, three of whom had attacked me while i was trying to get the sliding
doors to the bath fixed. Two of which were making death threats. i flattened
them, then showed the note Urashima had written for me, then began eviction
proceedings. As i explained then - you attack me making death threats, don't
be surprised if i take it personally."

Cologne frowned again. Two of the three girls had gone down immediately. The
swordswoman had gotten back up despite the pounding she'd received, but had
then been beaten up and held underwater until she stopped struggling. If one
of her Amazons used the standard initially-hostile approach, they might
require lengthy recuperation times. The thing was, there was only one Amazon
not currently pursuing someone as a future husband. And that particular
Amazon was not one that Cologne could rely on.

On the display - one girl, looking younger than the rest, had fainted. She
was carefully picked up and carried into the inn.

Cologne touched the carefully wrapped bundle in her sleeve pocket. It was
looking more and more necessary if she were to gain this ally for the tribe.

---------

Cameramen (and women) seemed to come out of the woodwork whenever the
supermodel androids went about.

Like the originals, the androids took to the media attention rather like
barbeque sauce to a chicken. The chicken might not be happy about it, but it
did so very well indeed.

One of the problems was trying to remember to operate within human
capabilities. While they continued to modify themselves to human existence,
in the case of the supermodel series they were becoming more human inside
and out. They still had superhuman levels of strength, reaction time,
durability, and sensory abilities - just not as much as a purely robotic
version would be.

So they smiled, and posed, and were polite, and tried to lose the paparazzi
as soon as was possible. Which would have been a lot easier if they had
antigrav generators or something. Roof hopping was possible, but often
impractical in the sorts of clothing the originals they'd been patterned on
wore.

After seeing one "chick flick" they'd been interested in others. They'd seen
three and had formed a loose database labelled: "Activities - Romantic -
Event & Response" based on these movies.

Unfortunately, as they quickly determined, there were three types of males
they'd encountered since then.

Type 1: temporary nomenclature - "Lounge Lizard" While possessing sufficient
confidence to approach one of their number, the individuals in question fit
behavior patterns deemed superficial at best to wildly dishonest at the
worst. As they *were* androids, this last pattern was not acceptable at all.
Currently three units had encountered the more superficial varieties and
were attempting to uncover further data.

Type 2: temporary nomenclature - "Geek" While possessing technical knowledge
that was usually focussed into narrow channels, the Geek type was prone to
some illogical behavior. One, despite the fact that their brain was part of
their body and therefore affected by day-to-day activities such as eating
and bathing - their dietary patterns and maintenence were poor at best. Two,
they seemed to regard any intrusion into their area of specialty as
encroachment on some territorial boundary. Three units were investigating
further and hopefully some useful data could be acquired.

Type 3: temporary nomenclature - "Professional" Signs of intelligence,
narrowly focussed as with the Geek, but also with some degree of being able
to maintain basic health on their own. Unfortunately also completely locked
within a narrow paradigm and unable to adapt well to changing situations.
Sararimen seemed to fit largely within this category or within category
"Lounge Lizard." Four units were currently accompanying individuals of this
typification and collecting data.

Information was shared within the network. A fourth type was added.

Type 4: temporary nomenclature - "Fixer Upper" Seen within the films, but
this was the first physically encountered. In the movie cases the male
encountered had some bad habits but showed signs of being able to learn from
mistakes and adapt. Many of these were gainfully employed but not all. Some
exhibited initial signs of being reluctant to speak to the units, however
once engaged in conversation on their area of focus became much more
communicative and interested. As this new type seemed the most likely to
produce useful information, two units were accompanying the single
individual found so far and the remainder of the units began seeking out
more of these.

Others among the units simply returned to the base. Construction of ship
Arcadia was now a priority due to solar intruder. If necessary, group 4
might need to be relocated to ship Arcadia as a safe zone for further data
collection.

-------

For a young man by the name of Takeshi Mori, life had been just a big
disappointment.

Never dated a girl in his life. Success had always been just out of his
grasp. His academic performance had been nothing special. He was good at a
few things, but they were things that had little practical value in real
life. His best skill so far had been in art, he could visualize a scene and
how things would look best but couldn't quite draw it well enough to become
a manga artist.

However, as the evening wore on, he kept pinching himself. This could *not*
be happening. Any moment he would wake up and return to his dull and
uneventful life of broken dreams.

"...so you think that Princess Himiko, who began the unification process of
Japan in c. 200 AD, was actually Korean," said someone who looked a lot like
some gaijin lingerie model.

"Yeah, there isn't a lot of hard evidence, but there is *some* to indicate
she was probably the leader of a tribal migration from Wa in what is modern
Korea now," exclaimed Takeshi, "maybe a kind of High Priestess according to
some of the Chinese documents dating from the middle of that century."

"Fascinating," agreed Takeshi's *other* companion. "Since written Japanese
history wasn't established until after 700 AD and was spotty then, by which
time the mythos had already been developed for political self-validation,
you'd mainly *have* to rely on outside accounts - which would tend to be
slanted by their own viewpoints and agendas."

"Yes, well," Takeshi stalled while wondering when he was going to wake up.
Two girls?! Both of whom had that exotic gaijin beauty, perfect makeup,
perfect clothing, perfect bodies?! Nineteen years of *nothing* and now
this?! "History is written by the winners, you know. Usually."

"You appear to be getting increasingly uncomfortable," noted the first one.
The stares directed towards their table probably were a contributing factor.
"Would a change of location to a more private one serve to set you more at
ease?"

Takeshi tried to will his heart to stop beating so loudly. Had she just
suggested...

"Indeed, a quieter location would probably be beneficial," seconded the
second one.

"M-m-m-my apartment is nearby," weakly suggested Takeshi who was wondering
if he could even stand right now. His legs felt awfully weak.

"Excellent," said the second one.

"If you don't mind then," seconded the first.

Takeshi Mori was right. His knees *wouldn't* support his weight. With the
two helping him though, he could manage. And wonder how in the world he was
going to thank the kami for being carried between two girls like *this.*

---------

The American government had been built on a series of checks and balances.

This said, those founding fathers had never foreseen some of the changes and
technological advances that had occurred since their compromise system had
been put together.

Still, it did have self-correcting elements. When most of those in power had
admitted scandal, wrong doing, outright criminal activity, immoral
activities, or done things that otherwise caused the public at large to
become more hostile towards them, others rose up to replace them.

Investigations were called for, committees organized, long winded oratories
delivered.

Things were returning to normal scant days after everything had fallen
apart.

Though at certain top levels, the news of the aliens held responsible for
this heading in on a ship big enough to hold a doomsday fleet was viewed
with some concern. On the one hand, it was widely believed that if they
could do *that* then what had occurred was simply a warning. People forced
to tell the truth for one day in one major city was negligible to what
various scientists were extrapolating based on speed, deceleration rate, and
mass.

The scientists advised not attacking until you were darn sure they were
hostile - because once you did attack you guaranteed they were hostile.

The military advised not attacking until they knew what they were facing and
had the supply lines in place, besides it was 1992 and they'd just started
taking massive lay-offs and downsizing.

The career politicians were advising not to do anything because they were
still either making use of the new vacancies or trying to shift blame off of
themselves.

The media was covering the appearance of some new supermodel lookalikes in J
apan.

The movers and shakers behind the scenes were investing in handguns and
canned foods.

And otherwise, life went on as usual.

-------

Morgana looked around. Harry was obviously researching these kids and their
spells. What kind of idiots were running amok here?

"Really, I'm fine. You don't have to do this." Ami protested.

"She's right, NOW," said Morgana as she removed the spell. "A templative
transformative? How pathetic."

Ami blinked. Blinked again. "oh... Can I get some mouthwash? Please?"

Doctor Mizuno smiled. "NOW I know you're out of it, Ami. Welcome back."

Morgana conjured a quick bottle of Listerine X-Tra Strength and passed it to
the Senshi. "The spell broke apart on reaching you, Mizuno-sensei. Do you
know why?"

"A stronger enchantment was already in place," said the doctor matter of
factly as her daughter gargled.

"Do you know what that enchantment *is* by any chance?" Morgana asked as Ami
tried to sterilize her mouth by repeating the procedure.

The doctor considered telling Ami that she was overreacting for kissing some
boy's shoes. Doing the gargle/rinse/spit into a ditch routine once would
have been sufficient. "According to my daughter, something I find difficult
to credit."

"Have to give the dragon credit, he knows how his luck on love spells work,"
said Morgana quietly. "It was fairly open ended and was shaped by Hotaru and
Setsuna - and their ideas on what it was. The whole idea was to have
'soldiers of love & justice' dedicated to their Prince - who happens to be
that dragon. Add into that their own concepts and interpretations, and you
have the current mess. You, Doctor Kumori Mizuno, view the dragon with some
affection and a desire to see him expand his operations."

The Doctor's tail arched behind her. "And how am I actually different? I
haven't made any secret on how much I want access to his technology, though
I do tend to agree with his rationale for keeping it away from the general
public."

"Your Gate abilities are stronger, and you can now transform into catgirl
and physician," explained Morgana.

A shimmer and Doctor Mizuno was wearing her labcoat and hospital IDs. "You
know, this could come in extremely handy."

"Yes, I suppose it would." Morgana gestured towards the house behind them.
"Your daughter was within the field of effect earlier but as she neither
wanted to reach the house nor be affected - she wasn't. On one level both
Hotaru and Setsuna *wanted* to be affected."

"Much like Ami's doing now, standing over there," pointed out Doctor Mizuno
to the sorceress.

"Well, I suppose if you just want a powerup, that *might* work too," allowed
Morgana.

-------

Looking around, Greylle wondered again if Fess hadn't exceeded the term of
"going overboard" here.

Yes, he was stuck in this timeline for the foreseeable future. When one is
used to hopping along lines of probability and visiting alternate worlds
regularly - this was restrictive. When one has a job in Heaven (well, ok,
Asgard) and makes a positive difference regularly in mortal existence, this
was sort of a prison sentence.

On the other hand, the glass was also half full. He was still a dragon,
still the apprentice of Hephaestus, still a cleric. He was hardly restricted
to the resources of, just for example, a poor Moslem girl in Argentina.

He could see how some of this had all started. He had even approved of it at
the beginning. A starship certainly increased the scope of one's prison.
Having people around who would live as long as he, also some appeal. Having
a base of operations and some measure of safety. Also good things. Being
able to make a positive difference in his new home - likewise perfectly
understandable and something he approved of.

Supermodel replica androids? Martian colonies - ok. Jupiter orbital
factories? Interstellar probes? Hinata House? Animeland?

Greylle blinked. "i'm sorry, Cologne-san, i missed that. Events catching up
with me, i think."

Cologne blinked owlishly for a moment. "Well enough. I was simply asking
about the potential of making use of your former apartment for one or two of
my Amazons. As I understand it, you're already paid until the end of the
month."

"Sounds reasonable," agreed Greylle. "Though space is not terribly large."

"The matter remains on how I would reimburse you for such a thing," began
Cologne.

"Actually Cologne, i was hoping for your assistance in training Akane Tendo.
She could benefit from the Bakusai Tenken training, if i read her right."

Cologne's eyes narrowed. "And what do you know of secret Amazon techniques?"

"Not much, other than what they purportedly do," admitted Greylle.
"Otherwise I'd do the training myself."

Cologne considered the potential for goodwill versus teaching one of the
more well known of their secret techniques.

"Besides, this way your Amazons get to use high gravity strength training,
plus you'll be able to use Akane learning a technique into strengthening the
Amazon position with Ranma." Greylle smiled at the elder. "You've seen how
Ranma is about learning new martial arts - he could be quite the asset to
your tribe."

Cologne nodded, seeing the point. "Yes, that might work. Though you weren't
going to do anything with that apartment anyway so the cost to you is
nonexistent."

Greylle shrugged.

"I suspect that you're a softie anyway," suggested Cologne with a gesture
towards the display. "You didn't evict any of the girls in the end. Though
you *were* pretty rough with that kendoist."

"She kept attacking me," said Greylle. "She set the rules. i attack back."

Cologne smirked as the scene showed the little girl who had fainted pleading
that the three others not be evicted. A weak point that could be exploited?
Perhaps.

--------

Soun startled as the shrine in his dojo abruptly fell over. "Hmmm. A bad
omen."

"Buqiii," said Genma.

A mirror shattered. Soun started worrying. "I hope nothing has happened to
my little girls."

"Where are your girls anyway, Soun old boy?"

"Why they're..." Soun turned pale. That hadn't been Genma's voice. "No. It
couldn't be."

"SQUEEEEEEEEEE!" A little black pig caught back up with Soun and saw who
else was here.

"Genma? You look a bit different somehow. Same beady little eyes though."

Slowly, stiffly, Soun turned. Then looked down.

"Is that any way to greet your old Master?"

--------

Fess listened to R2's transmission and added a third mecha.

Ranma was in the furo trying to get warm again after crossing a glacier.

Sayuri was already asleep, dreaming of a normal life not complicated by
jetbikes or power armor or crazed martial artists.

A girl named Motoko in a place named Hinata House got this horrible chill up
her spine and decided an extra workout the next day would help purify her.
Which has absolutely nothing to do with the main story.

The Hentai Sorcerer's Club, having viewed the defeat of their fellow,
realized that their single previous success had been in using a powerful
minion monster. Which was why they spent the entire night getting ready to
summon the next Beast.

Soun called the base from the number Kasumi had left and advised his
daughters to stay over there for tonight at least.

SETI took the measure of that big rock heading their way, noticed the
straight edges, and began frantically beaming signals at it while trying to
confirm the images being received.

Aiel and Anne took stock of the situation and decided there was too much
competition for this world and left to find another one, completely
derailing the entire Doom Tree saga.

With no future Crystal Tokyo finalized yet, the future was too much in
turmoil to produce timetraveling menaces like the Black Moon family.
Therefore those menaces were also likewise not going to show up and begin
ridiculous attacks involving blackband magical manifestations.

Ami Mizuno received a stern talking to from her mother, and was grounded for
the next two weeks. Permission to go off to save the world was allowed
however.

And so the world turned.

=========

Elle 1/2, an omake based on an idea at http://addventure.bast-enterprises.de

-------

The Ranma at Mimir's Well grumbled and whined.

"Could be worse," offered Bacchus. "Offer you some wine?"

"Akane's the only one for me," griped Ranma.

"Even after she killed your kid, blamed you, and ran off with Ryouga, before
she was committed to a sanitarium, you remain faithful to her," Bacchus
summed up with a smile. "Constancy. Honor. Faithfulness. Man, you're a
weenie."

Ranma blinked. "Huh?"

"You want an interesting match, check out this timeline," Bacchus made a
gesture.

------------

"Oh come on, the 'catfist'?" The stranger looked over Genma and the pit and
rolled his eyes. "Are you an idiot or just a moron?"

"I'm an idiot!" Genma said angrily, then stopped. Wait a minute.

The stranger looked over the boy and seemed to see something that made him
smile. "You want to train him in unbeatable martial arts, give me a year
with him."

"One week," countered Genma.

"Nine months."

"One month."

"Six months."

"Deal, now about payment," began Genma.

"I'll give you this," said the stranger, holding up a wad as thick as a
panda's paws of yen notes, "if you throw in an engagement for him to marry
my daughter."

Genma blinked. With *that* he'd be rich! Besides, it wasn't anything he
hadn't done before! "Done! My son is only five years old, however."

"Not a problem, just sign here." The man held out a pen and contract. After
a brief hesitation and many looks at the cash, Genma signed. It wasn't like
he planned on keeping the agreement.

Genma paused after signing. "This your name? It doesn't look Japanese."

"It's not," agreed the man. "The name's Corellon Larethian. I'll be in
touch."

--------

"Who's the kid?" One of the other elven gods asked.

"You know how I've been after one of my daughters to drop the 'maiden' from
her name? How she's rejected everyone from the elven pantheon - including
Hanali and you know how hard she can be to turn down."

"Eilistraee? Yeah, she's in that war against your ex-wife."

"I've just engaged her to this boy," indicated Corellon.

Elves do not spit take. It isn't elegant or dignified. Neither do elven
gods. Therefore this was an optical illusion of some sort. "WHAT?!"

"He's got a year here, before he's re-inserted into his original timeline
six months after his departure," said the smirking Father Of All Elves.
"He'll learn bow and sword and woodcraft from the best. When he returns, his
father will seek to make him a master of unarmed fighting."

"Does *she* know yet?"

"She'll find out any -"

"FATHER?!!"

Corellon smirked.

--------

many years later

Ranma sighed as he got ready to enter the house. This just absolutely stunk.
Here he'd rescued Nabiki from a fall, now Akane was mad and switched the
engagement to Nabiki and everyone was saying it was his fault and now he'd
just gotten belted outside. "Stupid tomboy."

"Remember."

Ranma blinked and a woman seemed to solidify out of the shadows. "Who?"

The woman put the hood down on her cloak, revealing black skin, white hair,
and eyes that seemed yellow. "Be at peace, Ranma. Do you remember the woods
of mist and shadow, where you learned of sword and bow?"

Ranma looked at her then at the pointed ears and got a bit more excited.
"Yeah, yeah! That was uhm that was."

"Where you and I were engaged?" The woman said softly but the voice carried.

"Engaged?!" Akane accidently snapped her chopsticks.

"Excuse me, but *what* are you?" Nabiki asked as this girl didn't look like
your typical downtown Tokyo-ite.

"My name is Eilistraee, the Dark Maiden. Patron of good drow. Goddess of the
dance, swordsmanship, and... are you challenging me?"

Akane realized she was stalking towards them but then realized she had
signed over Ranma to Nabiki. "See if I care! It's *your* problem, Nabiki."

"Hey, uh, wait a minute, that is," Ranma began trying to find a way to
rescue this situation. "It ain't my fault."

"You're not *that* much a prize, Ranma Saotome. This was my father's deal
with *your* father."

"GENMAAA!" Soun raged.

"You have twelve fiancees - most arranged for you by Genma," said the drow,
"you should consider your choices carefully."

"Twelve?!" Ranma yelped.

"Twelve?" Soun began to get angry.

"Twelve?" Nabiki repeated as she considered methods of profiting off of
this. Wait. Replay. "You're a 'goddess'?!"

"Hah!" Akane said.

*crickle* *crackle* *BOOM!*

"Akane! Your skin! Your hair! Your ears!"

Akane blinked. "What about me?! Look at you Nabiki!"

"Oh my oh my oh dear!"

"I do not care for people calling me a liar," said Eilistraee. "Just a
helpful lesson. When you are dealing with a god or a goddess, even if you
disagree with them, be polite."

Nabiki was looking at herself in the mirror. "What-"

Ranma was reduced to boggling.

"You're all elves. I *could* have made you all drow but I understand that
drow get a poor reception in some areas. Therefore, one wood elf, one sea
elf, and one winged elf. Nice set don't you think?"

Kasumi experimentally flapped her wings, went out to the porch, and started
flying around the yard.

"K-k-kasumi!" Soun stared about briefly then focussed on the stranger. "How
dare you?"

"Because I am a goddess of the drow. Don't worry. It's temporary."
Eilistraee turned to Ranma. "We're going out on a date tomorrow. Be ready at
eight."

"Wait a minute," said the sea elf, "he's my fiancee."

"By a verbal agreement, whereas my father has a written contract that
includes a clause to negate previous arrangements." Eilistraee pondered the
two elves. "Now, don't you think this is better than starting some pointless
martial arts battle?"

Akane stood up, a green flush showing on her cheeks. "Go ahead Ranma, see if
I care!"

Eilistraee just cocked an eyebrow.

"You want to go out with some kuronin tramp! Have urk!"

"The 'blackskin' I'll admit to, Akane Tendo. 'Tramp' I do not." Eilistraee's
eyes narrowed as she took a step back, having just gotten in Akane's face.
"As I understand it, in this land it is customary to challenge those who
besmirch your name in battle. Therefore I challenge you."

"Fine, we'll settle this now," said Akane, ignoring the little voice saying
this wasn't Ranma's fault and the other little voice that was saying this
*really* wasn't a good idea. "'Goddess' my foot. You're another Amazon
bimbo, I'll bet!"

Eilistraee drew her sword. "Fine. Shall we dance? If I win, you shall
retract your words."

"Hah! When I win, you'll pack up and leave," said Akane confidently. This
girl wasn't even in a Kendo or fencing stance. This would be easy.

"B-b-but?!" Soun began looking at the two ready to fight, and up at where
Kasumi was cleaning the eaves of the house while hovering.

[I'm just a cute little panda.]

"Akane, you *might* want to reconsider this." Nabiki wasn't sure the girl
was a kami. If she *was* then this could be short and extremely one sided.

"Yaahhhhhhh!" Akane's answer was to rush forward, ready to smash this
smirking girl.

Ranma was ready to try leaping in between the two and stopping this.

Eilistraee quickly saluted her opponent with the sword, then thrust. Quickly
and precisely.

Everyone stared.

Akane saw the blade go into her chest, felt the cold length of it, felt the
hole in the back of her gi as it penetrated that as well. She stumbled to a
halt, knowing she was dead.

Eilistraee withdrew the blade. "Well, Miss Tendo?"

Akane's hands went to the neat slice in the front of her gi, then checked
the back. Confirming the holes, she turned her attention to the unbroken
flesh. "What?"

"Would you have rather I killed you? A far simpler thing. Will you now
retract your words?" Eilistraee waited a moment for an answer.

"What exactly did you do?" Nabiki asked.

"I have taken her life," answered the drow. "Unless I receive an apology
immediately or a suitable substitute, she will become my handmaiden in this
world. You don't seem to have elves of any sort and that's really not good.
Besides, part of the deal that Genma Saotome signed was for the
establishment of a race of good aligned drow on this world."

"Good?" Akane lifted a tearful face up. "You call *this* good?"

"My dear, you could have apologized. My chief opponent would have eaten your
liver after killing the rest of your family in front of your eyes."
Eilistraee let out a deep breath. "I do wish I could find a better
handmaiden."

"I'll do it." Nabiki admittedly had an ulterior motive, but one major one
was that Akane was thinking with her pride - and would likely never
apologize.

Eilistraee considered briefly. "A bit more mercenary than I'd prefer, but
done."

------------

There had been attempts to get Ranma to take Akane out on a date and not be
at the dojo when the drow came.

There had been attempts to purify the currently drow elf Nabiki at a shinto
shrine.

There had been attempts to browbeat or marry off Ranma prior to the date.

There had been arrows appearing in the household. Cutting through
newspapers, taking off the hat of a priest, pinning the crotch of Mister
Saotome's gi to the wall of the dojo, and otherwise not actually hurting
anyone but reminding them that people who live with paper walls shouldn't
annoy marksmen.

Nabiki found a book on her desk detailing the faith, rituals, holy
observances, and spells. A note pointed out that if she *had* to think of it
in monetary terms - priests could often make a fair living.

The school had been rather put off by Nabiki the dark elf.

Akane and Kasumi had woke up returned to human. Akane was ecstatic. Kasumi
considerably less so.

And at eight o clock, Ranma found that his ropes had been cut through and a
dark maiden quietly took his hand. "Saotome, I had expected more from you."

"But I..." Ranma slumped. Didn't anyone care what he had to say?

"Ranma, you need to make your own decisions." The elf said to him as they
walked. "You can choose myself, or Ukyo, or Shampoo, or Kodachi, or Bast, or
Ami, or Hotaru or... Something wrong?"

"Who?" Ranma twitched, suddenly remembering the mention of other fiancees.

Eilistraee snapped her fingers. Nabiki appeared.

"Nabiki make a note. Ranma Saotome has twelve seperate engagements. Those
arranged by Genma are: myself, the Tendo-Saotome merger, the Daikokuji
arrangement, Ukyo Kuonji, Hotaru Tomoe, Ami Mizuno, and the Egyptian goddess
Bast. Until he actively denies it publicly, Kodachi Kuno's engagement must
be considered valid. Arranged by his grandfather and the clan head of family
Mano is an engagement to a Yohko Mano. Arranged by his mother and *her*
mother was an engagement to the Kino family." Eilistraee considered the
stars briefly. "The remaining two only come into play if Ranma is stuck as a
girl."

"Pops arranged for me to marry a guy," said Ranma softly. "He needs his head
examined."

"He needs to be taught a lesson, what a pity that you'll never bring
yourself to actually teach him that lesson," Eilistraee put in.

"What are these from, anyway?" Nabiki looked up. "I'll put these down in a
table for reference later."

"Myself was 11 years ago with an undisclosed amount of yen and learning bow
and sword techniques that would make him unbeatable in either category. His
healing factor also comes from that. The Tendo arrangement resulted 19 years
ago from an agreement made during their training under Happosai. Kuonji was
a dowry - an okonomiyaki yattai also 11 years ago. Daikokuji - a bowl of
rice and three pickles 15 years ago. Tomoe was an agreement he made in High
School with a friend. Mizuno was payment for medical bills accrued when
dumping his child into a pit of cats. Bast was payment for the Shadowcat, a
demonic spirit that manifests the true Cat Fist, not getting involved. Mano
was a claim made in similar circumstance to the Tendo arrangement, 52 years
ago. The Kino arrangement - 21 years ago while Ranma's mother was graduating
High School." Eilistraee considered the fair briefly. "Nabiki, return to
your home."

Nabiki vanished, wondering why she was so quickly dismissed.

"Ranma, try not to get too involved," advised the goddess.

"Huh?" Ranma wondered what was going on.

"Hello," said a slinky goddess. "You wouldn't believe the formalities in
Heliopolis. It's not like this the first time I've taken a mortal lover for
a few decades."

"Hah?!" Ranma wondered why he wasn't freaking out at the catgirl.

"I'm the goddess of cats and sensual pleasure," said Bast. "I don't want you
to be scared of cats. Therefore - you're not."

"Oh," said Ranma, accepting that.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

"I was wondering when the floor show would start," murmurred the drow
goddess.

"Usagi, let's go, NOW," said Luna on seeing the two girls below.

"Minako-chan, let's tiptoe away quietly while apologizing a lot," suggested
Artemis.

Sailor Neptune began puzzling over the appearance of one and stopped as
their eyes met across the distance. Suddenly she KNEW. She'd seen
representations at enough museums after all. "Maybe we ought to listen to
your advisors."

This coming from Neptune drew more response than the sudden turnabout from
the mooncats.

"What kinda silly damn costumes are those? Skating outfits?" Ranma was
puzzled by this scene to say the least.

"BURNING MANDALA!" Mars wasn't sure what was going on but a quick Burning
Mandala ought to-

-fizzle about halfway there.

"Was that a chi attack?" Ranma was suddenly fascinated. He had to learn
that. Next time Ryouga came around, boy would *he* get a surprise.

"JUPITER THUNDER-" "WORLD-"

Bast opened a little metal cylinder, pointing it at the Senshi.

Eilistraee groaned. "Let me guess. A 'neko can'?"

Bast smirked.

"EEEEEEKKK!"

"I told you this wasn't a good idea," a black furred catgirl said as she
covered herself.

"I knew this wouldn't be good," a white furred catboy said as he covered
himself.

"We're... catgirls?!" Sailor Moon summed up. Then, of course, she fainted.

Eilistraee cleared her throat. "Ami Mizuno, Hotaru Tomoe, Makoto Kino. I'd
like you to meet your mutual fiance, Ranma Saotome. Now that we've got the
preliminary genre misunderstanding fight out of the way, can we sit and
discuss this reasonably?"

----------

Akane twitched. "*MORE* fiancees?"

"Worse, apparently the Cat Fist normally involves 'demonic possession' as
well as insanity." Nabiki smirked. "There are times I am *so* glad I didn't
become a martial artist."

Akane looked at her blackskinned/white haired sister and for once didn't say
anything.

Soun considered.

Ranma wasn't around.

Genma began to feel nervous for no apparent reason.

"Saotome, when you meant to honor the Tendo-Saotome arrangement, did you
perhaps have plans to go home and father a lot more children?" Soun asked
very calmly and carefully, as if something nasty might happen if he did not.

"No, Tendo, I was pretty busy teaching Ranma the Art." Genma grabbed another
beer. It was unusually warm tonight.

"I see."

"Well, I can't marry Ranma, I have too much to lose if I oppose a goddess.
You can have him back, Akane."

Akane glared at Nabiki. "WHY WOULD I WANT HIM?!"

"Don't bellow, Akane. Elves have sensitive ears."

"Oh really, Nabiki?" Kasumi pleasantly sipped at her tea. "What else is
different? There were a few things I noticed from my brief freedo... time as
a winged elf, but I'd like to hear more."

"I've been reading the book. Did you know a drow elf life expectancy is at
least 300 years? Winged elves live 150 on average but there are some types
that live closer to 800 years," said Nabiki with a smirk. "Most of that time
you look young, it's only until your last half-century that age catches up
with your appearance. Elves are also naturally graceful and skilled in
magic. Kind of like those ones in the Tolkein books."

Akane began tuning the whole thing out. That baka had extra fiancees. Baka.
Stupid Ranma making her worry.

----------

"So when are you going to..." Elegant catgirl Neptune flicked her tail to
indicate what she wanted fixed.

"Try dropping your Senshi transformation, Kaioh-san," indicated Eilistraee.

Catgirl Neptune became Michiru Kaioh. She looked relieved.

"I've decided," said Bast. "You need new members."

"Eh?!"

Reaction to this ranged from Usagi's "we-get-new-friends" enthusiasm to
Haruka's "how can we trust anyone who turned us into purring catgirls"
scowl.

Bast concentrated and a pen formed in her hand. "Hmmm. Too easily lost." The
pen turned into a brooch. "Too obvious." The brooch turned into an Egyptian
style bracelet. "Better."

"Uhm," Hotaru considered pointing out that she was an excellent choice for
Sailor Catgirl since the idea of being "the Sailor of Cute And Cuddly" had
uses that "the Sailor of Silence And Death" just couldn't quite manage.
Being able to switch from one to the other at need sounded like it would be
an improvement.

"I'll have to find someone to be my champion," considered Bast. "Someone
who'd like a powerup. Someone who'd be a good choice for a hero. Someone who
doesn't mind getting into fights."

Ranma gulped as he realized everyone was looking at him. "Uh uh. I ain't
wearing no sailor suit."

"As a side effect, while you're wearing the bracelet, you won't change due
to your Jusenkyo curse."

(SNATCH!)

Eilistraee frowned. "Hardly fair, Bast."

"Never gunna be a girl again," sang Ranma, clicking the bracer into place
and changing. "Hey what?!"

"A tigerman?!" Makoto realized she was drooling and stopped herself with
effort. "So, uhm, do you mind if I call you sempai?"

"While you wear the bracer, you can switch at will to a rather buff and
virile humanoid tiger form," explained Bast. "Granting you some supernatural
strength and access to your Catfist abilities. Of course, if you're in girl
form and you put on the bracer, you'll transform into a tigress."

Ranma shrugged. Like he was gonna take the bracer off.

"Then I suppose I'll have to choose a champion," Eilistraee began. "Ah. Just
the person."

----------

"SHAMPOO KILL! MEOW MEOW meow... meow?!" The kitten abruptly realized that
she was way over her head.

"So, what do you think, Cologne-san?" Bast smiled at her first choice for
Priestess.

Cologne smiled back. It paid to be polite to goddesses. "What of Shampoo's
claim on Ranma?"

Bast made a dismissing gesture. "Don't forget who you're talking to. If
Shampoo wants to be cut in, she's in. Just lose the attitude."

"meow?" Shampoo tried to figure out what they were talking about. They knew
she'd figured it out when her ears went flat and the fur along her spine
fluffed. "MEOW!!!"

Cologne weighed the problems, the benefits, and the potential hazards. "Does
your involvement and the other involvements mean..."

"Probably Lolth won't bother to do more than send a champion, same with
Set," Bast explained. "Yes, they *will* be coming. Plan on allying with them
instead?"

Cologne considered the chances of getting a fair shake from a God Of Evil.
"Well, you said something about increasing the number of catgirls and drow?
I've got a deal for you."

---------

several months later:

Nabiki answered the phone. "Tendo Residence and Church Of The Dark Maiden.
Oh, hi Ami. Uh-huh. Storming a dark palace full of nasties eh? Okay. I'll
contact Tigermask and Sailor Housewife. Uh-huh. Uk, uhm, Catgirl's gonna be
there too? What about Sham- I mean Sailor Drow? Good good. Yes, I'll pray
for you."

Akane grumbled from her seat.

"Kasumi? Ranma?" Nabiki paused at the stairs. "The Sailor Senshi are
requesting backup. Are you two available?"

"Oh my!"

===============

that's all folks, it's just an omake.