[Ranma/SM][FanFic] Sailor Ranko Tunnel Vision, Chapter 21
Bill Heineman
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium"
by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun"
by Arthur Hansen
By Bill Heineman
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held
by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of
Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and
Mixx Entertainment in the US. Terminator characters created by James
Cameron. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My
purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement
intended.
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"REPORT: ELEVEN HK FLYERS DESTROYED BY AMERICAN COMBAT SQUAD. OUTCOME
OF BATTLE DID NOT MATCH SIMULATION."
"COMMAND: ANALYZE COMBAT LOSS. DETERMINE NEW WEAPONS."
Skynet went over the battle logs of the skirmish at the Los Angeles
Airport. The loss of the HK was acceptable; it killed two soldiers and
was able to detect the unit's strength. From this, an ambush was
planned that would result in the loss of three T-70 units but was
predicted to wipe out most if not the entire marine unit.
A T-70 having its gun jammed by a rose was an unexpected event. It
resulted in only four soldiers and the civilian who threw the rose
killed. Skynet looked at all the history of battles through the ages
and found nothing that said that roses were battle weapons.
Skynet took no chances. It sent ten HK flyers to utterly wipe out the
marine corp. unit. The simulation had shown that they were going to
destroy the unit with a possible loss of a single HK. The battle was
much different. In a single minute all ten HKs were destroyed. Seven
girls wielding energy weapons of some sort easily defeated Skynet's
forces.
The marines were inconsequential and the pursuit was abandoned. Who
was this new adversary? Only six of the seven girls were recorded on
camera. The seventh struck from behind and was not visible at all
until she attacked.
The entire log was analyzed and only one girl was recognized. She was
called Sailor Io and she was with Sailor Sun and Sailor Pluto at an
Internet monitoring station. The only connection it had to the girl's
whereabouts was that Ami Mizuno might have had something to do with
these girls.
Ami Mizuno was the key to learning about this new enemy. Skynet moved
up her termination order on the priority list. It knew where she
lived.
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Sailor Sun took Tuxedo Mask's body and placed it on a bed in the tiny
sickbay the space station had. She promptly collapsed. The other
Senshi beamed in and came to check up on Sun. Io and Jupiter dragged
Sun to bed. Sun had overdone it again. Io spoke to Jupiter, "I guess
that sunlight from dawn wasn't good enough for her."
Jupiter nodded. They tucked Sun into bed and went back to the Senshi
in sickbay.
Sailor Moon stood next to her boyfriend. She had a look of fierce
determination on her. She was somehow going to set things right. She
just didn't know how.
"Sailor Moon, I need to speak with you." It was Sailor Pluto. The
other Senshi backed away since Pluto had a look that she meant
business.
The two wandered off. The others followed but Pluto glared at them,
"Alone!" She put her arm around Moon and went off to the power room
and sealed the door.
Mars crossed her arms, "What was that about?" The other Senshi gave a
collective shrug. Pluto was always the odd and mysterious one. Why
should now be any different?
"Oh good! You are all here." Kasumi called from the dining area. She
had prepared a meal for everyone. "Dinner's ready."
The Senshi looked at each other and realized they hadn't eaten for
quite some time. They all ran and took seats with chopsticks at the
ready. The food tasted pretty good. Kasumi worked her magic on the one
thousand year old tofu blocks; freeze dried vegetable matter and other
unrecognizable supplies that were in the food stores. The kitchen was
spotless and everything was neat and tidy.
Kasumi sat among them. "So, Akane, can you introduce me to your
friends?"
Io giggled, "When I am dressed like this, could you call me Sailor
Io?"
Kasumi touched her lip with her fingers and smiled, "That is such a
cute name."
Sailor Io introduced Kasumi to all the Senshi at the table by their
Sailor names. They all exchanged greetings and idle chitchat. Io
smiled at her sister. She was so happy to be sharing a moment with
both of her families.
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Sailor Moon came when they were about finished with the meal. She for
a moment reverted back to the old Sailor Moon when she started to
munch on everything in sight. Io introduced Moon to Kasumi and then
Moon changed back to her odd state.
Sailor Moon ordered for Sailor Sun to take a break. The teleportation
has been taxing her and she was concerned that if she didn't get any
rest, she could hurt herself. She told them to leave her in bed. She
was going to be needed soon in full health. She told Io to keep an eye
on Sun.
Sailor Moon took the Inners to the hospital where they assisted the
nursing staff and gave a huge morale boost to the people of Tokyo.
Sailor Moon was getting to know her future subjects.
Pluto stayed at the station. She was back at the computer
communication console scanning Earth. She was looking for Skynet. She
was getting close. She could feel it.
Io was sleeping next to Sun. She want to make sure that Sun didn't
sneak off somewhere.
Sun couldn't sleep. She was having a nightmare about her mother's
death. "MOM!" She jumped up out of bed and landed in a fighting
stance. She slowly put her hands on her knees and calmed down. She
looked at the alarm clock by the bed. She still had an hour before she
needed to be up. She sat on her bed and was restless. Io was still
asleep. Sun thought about Ukyou. She hadn't checked on her. She tried
to sense her. She couldn't from the station. She had to be much
closer. She concentrated and teleported.
Io opened her eyes. She quickly looked around the room for Sun. "Argh!
She got away!" She ran off to tell the others.
Sun stood in front of Ucchan's. Her heart sunk into her feet. The
restaurant was totally destroyed. She walked into the area where the
grill once stood. There were fragments and protrusions from the ground
that hinted the outline of the booths and the counter that Ukyou's
smiling face once stood behind. Sun didn't want to, but she had to
know. She relaxed and let her Senshi sense detect the presence of
Ukyou. It led her to the back of the restaurant where the storeroom
once was. There were some twisted metal and broken poles still
sticking out of the concrete foundation. Otherwise, there was nothing
here. She stood in a former corner and felt the former presence of two
people. "At least you were not alone Ucchan." Sun kneeled and gave a
prayer for her dear friends Ukyou and Konatsu. She vowed to never
forget them.
Sun teleported into the courtyard of the Tendo dojo, she looked around
at the ruins of what was once her home. She went to the former kitchen
and stood where she found Kasumi. She used her Senshi senses to feel
the life that was once there. It felt good. It felt a little like what
it was not so long ago.
She gazed at the dark sky, staring at where her bedroom once was. She
took a deep breath. How she wanted to go back to the way it was. The
way things currently are truly wasn't a world she wanted to live in.
She still had Sailor Io and Kasumi, so she still had people who cared
for her.
She felt her mother. She was directly above her. In the next room, she
felt Nabiki. Sun sighed thinking how she probably was complaining how
her stock prices were dropping before it didn't matter for her
anymore. She looked farther down and knew that was where Mr. Tendo
was, taking the bath that he so loved.
She sat down in the former dining room and recalled all the times she
ate there. How she fought with her father for scraps of food and
gotten clobbered from everyone on a regular basis. She missed those
times.
She felt people in the area. She thought that they might be others
who, like her, were trying to reclaim a tiny piece of their former
lives. There was sadly no going back. She meditated for a moment to
reflect and to remember her mother. She remembered her in a good way,
the times she taught her to cook, taking her shopping and just trying
to be a good surrogate mother to Ranko.
Sun had a feeling of despair. It broke her meditation. She opened her
eyes and saw a somewhat familiar person walking past the former front
of the house. Ryoga looked like he had aged twenty years. His hair had
fallen out in places and he had a strange burn mark on his finger
where a ring would be. His skin was discolored and he looked very
pale.
Sailor Sun was overjoyed. Someone else she cared about had survived.
"Ryoga!" Sun stood up and totally forgot that she was dressed as a
Senshi. "Wait up!"
Ryoga stopped in his tracks and turned to the strange red-haired girl
that was calling him by name. He stumbled a bit and regained his
footing. "Hello?"
"I'm so glad you're alive pork butt!" Sailor Sun held Ryoga by the
shoulders. Ryoga just stood there totally shocked that a stranger
would call him that.
"Do I know you?" Ryoga moved his head up and down gawking are this odd
girl. He thought that he knew this girl but really couldn't place her.
"It's me! Ranma!" Sun held her arms akimbo and held out her chest in a
male fashion. It looked rather strange coming from a female body in a
skintight leotard and mini-skirt.
"Ranma? Why are you wearing that stupid disguise?"
Sun stopped. She slowly looked at her dress and turned red. "Whoops!"
She ran off and jumped behind a piece of wall just large enough to
hide her body. She transformed to Ranko. She then hopped back over to
Ryoga. "It this better?"
"You are getting weirder all the time Ranma." Ryoga just shook his
head. He paused for a moment, "Where's Akane?"
"Oh, she's safe bacon breath..." was all Ranko could say before Ryoga
jumped on her and shoved her to the ground.
"THAT DOES IT!" Ryoga slammed his fist into Ranko's stomach and Ranko
returned the favor with a kick that flung Ryoga over her head. Ranko
got up and charged Ryoga at full speed. Ryoga landed on his feet a
little clumsily but compensated by tilting with the fall and lifting
his leg to meet Ranko's left shoulder. Ranko swerved to soften the
blow and did a flip to reduce her forward speed.
Ranko made a quick u-turn and stopped to see what was wrong with
Ryoga. He rarely landed improperly and the way he looked gave away the
fact that he wasn't healthy.
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Ryoga was on his side and was having trouble
getting up. He finally stood and faced Ranko and lifted his arms to
fight. "Never call me that again! Do you hear me?"
Ranko stood her ground. She saw that Ryoga was really in no condition
to fight. She gulped and asked very gently and softly, "Akari?"
The sound of that name set him off again. He made a battle cry and ran
straight for Ranko. She easily jumped over the charging Ryoga who
dived, missed and fell flat on the dusty ash covered ground. He didn't
bother getting up. He punched the ground, "DAMN YOU RANMA!"
"What did I do?" Ranko stood over his fallen friend, ready for him to
try to attack her again.
Ryoga didn't have an answer. He was so used to Ranma being at fault
for all his problems that he cursed her by instinct. He slowly turned
over and sat. He hung his head low and let bitterness and despair take
hold.
Ranko knew what happened. It was obvious. She kneeled down at a safe
distance from Ryoga. "I'm sorry Ryoga." She bowed towards her friend.
"SORRY!" He leapt at Ranko who had no problem jumping over Ryoga and
avoiding the attack.
"Will you stop that?" Ranko was getting tired of being a punching bag.
Ryoga again lay there in the dusty ground. He turned on his back with
tears in his eyes.
Ranko added, "Do you think you are the only one who has suffered? I
lost my mother."
Ryoga didn't care. Nothing could match his despair.
Ranko saw that her loss meant nothing to him. She filled with rage.
"My mother means nothing to you huh? How about Akane? She lost her
father and Nabiki! Does that mean anything to you P-Chan!"
Ryoga was both furious and despondent at the same time. "Nabiki? Mr.
Tendo?"
Ranko took a step back to avoid an attack, "Yeah. So go ahead and
wallow in your own self-pity. Look around; does this look like a town
of happy people? Does it?"
Ryoga just stared at the black clouds above. "Everything I had that
mattered is gone. I have nothing anymore."
Ranko wanted to cheer up her friend. "Well, you've got me." She blew
it.
Ryoga lifted his head and spat out, "Like I said, I've got nothing."
Ryoga took a good look at Ranko and noticed that she was in perfect
health. He examined his own arms and saw the radiation sickness that
he was suffering from. Everyone he met in his travels was suffering
from it in some form as well. Ranko though, looked like she had a nice
hot bath and her clothes were perfectly clean. It was not normal.
"Ranma, where have you been?"
"Right here stupid. Where else would I be?" Ranko crossed her arms
again giving a typical Ranma stance.
"Why are you not sick? Did you find a cure?" Ryoga tried to stand up,
but fell back down.
"Cure for what?" Ranko was being her usual ignorant self.
"Radiation poisoning you moron! Everyone has it! Look at you!" Ryoga
was furious that Ranma was holding out on him. "Why are you healthy!"
"What's radiation poisoning?" Ranko started looking around for a
poison gas cloud or a pool of bad water.
"You can't tell me that you hadn't gotten a flyer or heard the alerts.
You can't be that clueless." Ryoga took a second to think about that,
yes, Ranma could be that clueless.
"No, I haven't gotten a flyer. But you do look like you've come down
with something pretty bad." Ranko bobbed her head left and right to
look at Ryoga's receding hairline. "Are you going bald? Little young
for that aren't you?"
Ryoga just stood with his mouth agape. Ranma had no clue what she was
talking about and yet she was a vision of health. Where she lived must
have been shielded from the fallout. That had to be the answer.
"Ranma, take me to your place."
Ranko, being her usual self, "Oh, Ryoga, this is so sudden." She
batted her eyes and made a girlish pose.
Ryoga couldn't take it anymore. He just didn't have the strength or
the will to rip Ranko's head from her shoulders and throw it to China.
He just fell to his knees. "Just leave me to die. You don't care."
Ranko realized that she took things a bit too far. Usually she figured
this out after a mallet strike. "Ok, I'll take you to my place. I
think you need to see a doctor first."
Ryoga tossed his head aside to look away from Ranko, "I'm terminal. I
made the stupid mistake of packing my backpack with radioactive metal
cans. The nurse at the triage unit said I'd be lucky to last another
week."
Ranko swallowed hard. She didn't know what to say. "Uh..."
Ryoga just sighed. He gave a small smile, "At least my pain will
finally come to an end." Ryoga turned to look at Ranko who was looking
around for something. "What's your problem Ranma?"
Ranko looked at the dust all around her. It dawned on her that she had
been Sailor Sun since the apocalypse and this was the first time she
had reverted to human form. She already started feeling a little
nauseous but thought it was because Ryoga punched her in the stomach.
She still had some Senshi powers in human form and can sense that she
was in danger where she was. "Oh my god, so that's why I didn't get
sick."
Ryoga was wondering what Ranko meant by that.
Ranko produced a small yellow rod with a reddish glow to it. "You
wanted to know about my disguise?"
Ryoga was not in the mood for games. But humored her anyways, "Yeah,
why were you dressed in that stupid mini-skirt?"
Ranko got angry. She was proud to be a Senshi. She was proud of her
uniform, just like Akane was proud to wear her fuku, "It's not
stupid!" She held her henshin stick high and exclaimed, "Sun Star
Power, Make Up!"
Ryoga couldn't believe his eyes. Ranko was encased in flames, her body
lifted in the air and her clothes vanished replaced by red ribbons
that formed a white leotard. She lifted her arms and white gloves with
red trim appeared. A red mini-skirt and yellow bows appeared on her
leotard. She spun around and kicked up a leg and red knee high boots
materialized. Her hair unraveled its ponytail and became a waist
length full mane. Red earrings and a gold tiara appeared on her head
with a fiery red gemstone in the center. Her face got a full makeup
treatment. Sailor Sun then landed on the ground and made a pose.
Ryoga fainted.
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A long-range speedboat came quickly into Tokyo harbor. Two Austrian
looking men wearing trench coats and dark sunglasses came ashore. The
boat sped away back to its base. The two men took a look around and
began to walk to Juuban.
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Ryoga woke up in an unfamiliar location. He was in a forest deep in
the center of Japan. He looked around and found his backpack cleaned,
his clothes washed and a new supply of food. His tent was set up and a
small campfire was lit. He thought that he must of had a strange
dream. He looked at his body and he was the picture of health. "Whew.
That was weird."
"What was weird?" A female voice called out from on top of his head.
Ryoga recognized the voice and didn't at the same time. He made a
guess, "Ranma? Get off my head!"
"Guess again."
"Fine, if you want to be Ranko. I'll call you Ranko." He shook his
head and the person jumped off and in front of him and it turned out
to be Sailor Sun.
"Were you expecting Akane?" Sun said sarcastically.
"Where is she?" Ryoga demanded.
"Is this how you repay someone who saved your miserable life?"
"Huh?" Ryoga took a step back. He looked at himself, the campsite and
his things. "How did you?" He looked at Sailor Sun, "What are you?"
"I'm the Beautiful Sailor Suited Senshi Sailor Sun."
"Run that by me again Ranma."
Behind Ryoga came another voice. "I'm the Beautiful Sailor Suited
Senshi Sailor Io."
Ryoga spun around and saw Sailor Io. Ryoga knew it was Akane. He just
didn't remember why. "Akane?"
"Yes P-Chan." She giggled.
No! No! No! Ryoga dropped to his knees and held his head in despair.
Sailor Sun came forward, "You fell unconscious. You were almost dead
when we took you to a friend of ours who healed you. Too bad the nurse
bathed you with cold water first. You should have heard her scream."
Ryoga's mind was spinning. Oh no! I transformed in front of a nurse!
Oh the shame!
Sailor Io crossed her arms. "Guess who was the nurse."
Ryoga turned white. "What were you doing there?"
Io tapped her foot, "When I heard that you were at the hospital
waiting to be treated by Saturn, I had Sun bring me there."
"You owe me your life a second time bacon breath." Sun said smugly.
"She wanted to serve sausage right there and then to the hospital
staff. If I hadn't stopped her, you would have been dinner for six."
Ryoga tried to accept the fact that his dark secret was out. "Forgive
me..."
Io went over to Ryoga and gave him a hug. "I'm so sorry to hear about
Akari."
Ryoga flooded into the darkest regions of despair. He finally found it
inside himself to let out the grief he held back and fell to the
floor.
He gave a gentle weep, for the unrequited love for Akane and the loss
of his soul mate Akari. He looked at Sun with a new purpose, "Who
killed her?"
"Akari? We are not totally sure yet. Whatever it is, it's trying to
kill everybody. We are looking for it."
Ryoga jumped up to Sailor Sun and held her dress by the collar. He
meant business. "Looking for it?"
Sun got wide eyed; she knew if she said the wrong thing, Ryoga would
go ballistic. "We are close."
Ryoga made the demand of all demands, "You find him. I want in!
Understand!"
"Uh... If you say so."
"RANMA! YOU GIVE ME YOUR WORD! YOU FIND HIM! I WANT IN!" Ryoga raised
a battle aura higher that Sun had ever seen before.
Sun raised herself to be at eye level with Ryoga, "You wouldn't last
five seconds against its army."
Ryoga looked her in the eye. "That's all the time I need."
Sun gulped. "Ryoga, I swear as a martial artist, I'll bring you."
Ryoga let go of Sun and she fell to the ground.
Sun stood back up. "Well we've got to go. I also left you a ceramic
kettle and a heating unit. Just in case you pork out."
Io went to Ryoga. "Be careful."
Ryoga stared at Sun with revenge on his mind. "Don't you break your
word!"
Sun stood steadfast. Io went up to her and held her tight. "Sun Beam
Transport!" They disappeared.
Ryoga was alone again. He was staying put. Ranma may have been an
obnoxious, ignorant, insensitive jerk. Ryoga knew. He or she will be
back.
Ryoga went bug eyed and froze. Wait? Why was Akane calling herself
Sailor Io?
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Author's Notes: I wonder if those two men look like a famous
bodybuilder?
Some people have asked, how did Ryoga recognize Sailor Io as Akane?
Well, when I wrote this, the discovery scene ended up being so large
and so funny that I felt that it would make a better side story than
included in the main story. To keep continuity, I had to keep that
part since he did see Akane detransform at the hospital before she
chased him all over the place trying to kill him.
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue
planned. This is a huge story.
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor
Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!
Bill Heineman
October 17, 2002
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bur...@contrabandent.com
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