[AMG/Ranma/SM][FanFic] A Certain Distance - Chapter Three
Rob Kelk
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Author's notes:
What's this? It's been a whole two chapters and Ranma hasn't learned
that he's been engaged to one of these lovely ladies? I suppose it's
time to remedy that oversight! But first somebody else has to learn
something more vital to the plot - if she can get her nose out of her
book, that is ...
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Legal disclaimer:
"Aah! Megami-sama" (or "Oh My Goddess!") was created by Fujishima
Kosuke, and is licenced to Kodansha and AnimEigo.
"Ranma 1/2" was created by Takahashi Rumiko, and is licenced to
Shogakukan Inc., Kitty, Fuji TV, and Viz Communications Inc.
"Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" (or "Sailor Moon") was created by Takeuchi
Naoko, and is licenced to Koudansha, TV Asahi, Toei Douga, and DIC
Entertainment, L.P.
No challenge is intended to any of these intellectual properties.
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Chapter Three - The Enemy of My Enemy Had Better Be My Friend ...
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Ami and Makoto were talking after class. "Are you sure that's what you
saw, Makoto?"
"I saw Saotome change from a boy to a girl. I'm sure, Ami."
"Could he be a Starlight?"
"No; he wasn't wearing a fuku after the transformation. Besides, why
would a Starlight be here, now? But that isn't important right now.
What did you want me to do?"
"Skuld wants to speak with me. Would you mind watching from over here?"
"And come to your rescue if she's an enemy? Of course." Makoto pulled
her henshin wand from her bag and sat down to watch.
"Thank you." Ami walked over to the spot where she expected to meet
Skuld, and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
After five minutes, she remembered that Skuld's note had said "Bring hot
water", got Makoto's thermos bottle from her bag, and opened the lid.
Skuld appeared from the flask in a beam of pure light. "Hello, Ami! I
was wondering when you were going to open that thing!"
"H-hello, Skuld. How did you do that?"
Skuld noticed the worried look on Ami's face, and decided not to tease
her. "I just *did* it. Each Goddess has a special mode of
transportation, Ami. Mine is the ability to move through hot water."
"'Goddess'?" Ami's expression had changed from suspicious to shocked.
"I'm afraid so. Can I still be your friend?" Skuld looked as if she
was about to cry.
The tears in Skuld's eyes were almost enough to weaken Ami's resolve,
but then she remembered deadly opponents who had played upon her
emotions in the past. "If being friends means we try not to hurt each
other, then we can always be friends, Skuld."
That got a smile. "Thank you, Ami. I hope 'not hurting each other'
includes keeping each others' secrets. Nobody's supposed to know that
I'm a Goddess - the only reason I told you is because Kami-sama said it
was okay. And I think you don't want everyone to know that you're
Sailor Mercury ..."
"What are you talking about?" Ami gasped.
Skuld looked straight at Ami, and spoke in the gravest voice she could
manage. "All secrets become revealed in time, and I am the Goddess of
the Future." Her tone lightened. "Besides, I can see the symbol on
your forehead!"
"Oh."
Skuld passed her hand over her own face, and her Goddess Emblems became
visible. "And now *you* can see *mine*!" She made another motion and
they disappeared. "Ami, I have a confession to make. When you and the
others left at lunch, I spied on you."
"You did?"
"Uh-huh." Skuld switched her computer on and showed Ami the recording
of the call from Luna, and the Sailor Team's reaction to it. Skuld then
asked Ami, "Are all of these people Sailors?"
Ami thought for a moment, then decided it would be pointless to try to
lie to Skuld. "Yes, they are."
"Okay, they can know about me." An alert box popped up on the display,
in a language Ami didn't recognize. Skuld read it, then turned toward
where Makoto was hiding. "Hi!" she shouted as she waved.
Makoto jumped, then looked at Ami, who motioned for Makoto to join them.
She walked over to the two girls. "How'd you spot me?"
"I didn't. The Skuld Comet, Mark IV, picked you up on its sensors."
"The what?"
"My current geosynchronous satellite."
Ami cleared her throat. "You have a satellite in orbit?"
"Yeah, I know - what does a Goddess need with a satellite?"
Makoto gasped. "'Goddess'?"
"Do I have to go through everything again?" moaned Skuld.
Ami put a hand on each of the other girls' shoulders. "Makoto, Skuld is
the Goddess of the Future. She knows who we are. Skuld, Makoto is my
teammate and one of my dearest friends, and she'll keep your secret."
The other two girls thought for a moment, then smiled and shook hands.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Meanwhile, three other students were having a serious discussion. At
least, it was as serious as these three usually got ...
"Okay, you two - why are you fighting?"
"What do you mean, Ranma-honey?"
"These bruises on my face didn't just show up on their own, you know."
Akane and Ukyo blushed. "I'm sorry I hit you, Ranma," said Akane. "But
you shouldn't have interfered in a fight between women."
"That sounds like my line, Akane. But it still doesn't answer my
question: why *are* you two fighting?"
They thought for a moment. Finally, Ukyo said "I'm not sure. I guess
it could be because it's something we know how to handle. Remember when
I first showed up in Nerima?"
"That's right," added Akane. "You got into more than your share of
fights until you got comfortable around us."
"It's nice that you two have found a way to cope with our changing
schools, but it's gonna put me in the hospital if you're not more
careful!"
"Sorry, Ranma-honey."
"Sorry, Ranma. I'll try to keep my fists to myself."
"So will I, Ranma-honey."
"Thanks."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Two Senshi were trying to puzzle out an apparent problem while waiting
for the others to join them for their weekly meeting.
"Rei?"
"Yes, Usagi?"
"Didn't Sailor Pluto tell us that there wouldn't be any more enemies for
us to fight?"
Hino Rei thought for a moment. "I think what she told us was that we
wouldn't have to worry about any more enemies until the Earth was
frozen."
"So, who were Uranus and Neptune fighting, then?"
Rei's response was cut off by the arrival of Mamoru. Usagi's attention
immediately shifted to her boyfriend, leaving Rei to wonder about her
friend's question ...
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Whatever it was, it was dark.
And malevolent.
And cold.
And on a course that took it directly past Pluto.
It approved of Pluto - it found the ice on that planet aesthetically
pleasing.
It decided to cover the other rockball planets in this star system with
ice, as well. That would look pretty, and solve the problem on the
third planet as well.
All that life was giving it the equivalent of a headache.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Not much later ...
"Ami, Makoto, why are we visiting a Shinto temple?"
"Our friend Rei lives here, Skuld," replied Ami. "I think you should
meet her."
"Why?"
"Because she's a nice person," answered Makoto.
"That, and because she can sometimes see the future," added Ami.
"Really? She can *do* that?" Skuld was estatic. "Can she teach me?"
Ami and Makoto stopped walking.
"I thought you said you're the Goddess of the Future."
"Don't you already know what the future holds?"
Skuld blushed. "Well ... I'm still learning how to use my powers.
Neither of my sisters has the gift of foresight, so they can't teach me
how to use *my* gift. But if your friend can help me, I'd be really
really grateful ..."
"Help you with what?" asked a girl at the doorway to the shrine's living
quarters. "Hello, Ami. Hello, Makoto," she added quickly.
"Hello, Rei. This is Skuld." Skuld bowed as Ami introduced her. "She
has a favour to ask of you."
"Can it wait for a few hours? Usagi, Minako, and Mamoru are already
here."
"I guess so ..." replied Skuld.
"No, it can't," interrupted Makoto. "All you need to do now is tell
Skuld 'yes' or 'no', then we can start the meeting."
"Makoto!"
"Ami, there's no point in waiting." Makoto turned to Rei. "Skuld needs
to learn how to control her visions of the future. Can you help her?"
Rei, Ami and Skuld were shocked at Makoto's bluntness. Skuld didn't
expect anyone in Japan to behave that way, and the others didn't expect
Makoto to behave that way in front of a new acquaintance.
"What? Rei, you already pointed out that we're short on time. Besides,
if we aren't going to be able to keep secrets from Skuld, then she
shouldn't be keeping secrets from us."
Rei looked Skuld straight in the eye. "What is Makoto saying about us
not keeping secrets from you?"
Skuld didn't flinch. "I'm a Goddess." She looked at Rei's forehead.
"Oh, you're Sailor Mars! Hello!"
Rei turned to Ami and Makoto, fire in her eyes. "Which one of you told
her?"
Skuld waved her hand, and a bolt of light came from the sky and singed
the grass at Rei's feet. (Skuld knew that a defence system would come
in handy on the Skuld Comet, but she didn't think she'd ever use it like
*this*. Now she'd have to be on the lookout for blasts from other
people's particle beam satellites ...) She glared at Rei. "Stop that!"
Rei bowed deeply. "I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted." Skuld smiled, and the tension left her voice. "So,
can you help me learn how to see the future, Rei?"
"I'll do my best."
"Yay!" cried Skuld with the enthusiasm she usually reserved for
high-quality ice cream.
Ami and Makoto let out the breaths they had been holding. "Let's go in,
and introduce you to Mamoru."
"Okay!"
Rei grabbed Ami's sleeve. "Is that really a good idea?"
"Usagi told me to find out as much as I could about Skuld. Why not let
Skuld answer everyone's questions herself?"
"I guess that makes sense ..."
"Besides, do *you* want to tell a Goddess 'no, you can't come in'?"
"That's a good point, Ami." The four girls went to join the others.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Meanwhile, an attractive woman was walking around a corner, fully
expecting to bump into someone special. She didn't like what she was
about to do, but she had done many things she didn't like ...
"Ouch!"
"Oof! Hey, I'm sorry about that, miss."
"That's all right." His friends should speak up right about now ...
"Ranma! Why weren't you paying attention to where you were going?"
"Yeah, Ranma-honey - that was really clumsy of you."
Ranma turned to Akane and Ukyo. "I was distracted, okay?"
The woman affected a surprised expression. "Excuse me? Did they say
your name is 'Ranma'?"
"Yeah, I'm Saotome Ranma."
She really hated what she was about to do, but it had to be done.
"Ranma, I've finally found you! It's me, Meiou Setsuna, your fiancee!"
And she jumped into his arms.
"Ranma!!!!!"
"It's not my fault, Akane! I've never met this woman before in my
life!"
Akane and Ukyo looked at each other, then looked at Ranma. For once,
they saw the look of helplessness on his face. They looked at each
other again, and spat out one word in unison.
"Genma."
Meanwhile, Setsuna was smiling. Everything was going according to
the Plan ...
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Coming in Chapter Four:
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The first Big Fight, the first Big Mistake, and the first Big Loss. And
two of those are pointless.
Ranma's jaw was on the ground. "*You're* Sailor Moon?"
This puzzled the two girls. "Who else would I be?"
"Judging from your battle aura," replied Ranma, "you'd be
my classmate, Usagi."
--
Rob Kelk http://members.tripod.com/~robkelk/ rob...@ottawa.com
"I'm _not_ a kid! Nyyyeaaah!" - Skuld (in "Oh My Goddess!" OAV #3)
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of
childishness and the desire to be very grown-up." - C.S. Lewis, 1947