[[Ranma][FanFic] FURIES 10-11

[allyn yonge]

Furies
by Allyn Yonge (all...@netscape.net
sa...@my-dejanews.com )


The characters of the Ranma « universe are the creation and
possession of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi. They belong to Rumiko
Takahashi and her licensees (Shogakukan Inc., Kitty-Fuji TV, Viz
Communications Inc.) No copyright infringement is intended. The
characters of Sailormoon are the creation and possession of the brilliant
Takeuchi Naoko. They belong to Takeuchi Naoko, Bandai, Toei Animation,
DIC, and all others associated with rights. No copyright infringement is
intended.
I would like to thank my pre-readers. Without their tireless efforts
and endless patience this fanfiction would not exist.
Angel de la Hoya, first volunteer pre-reader. It is solely due to
her early and frequent encouragement that this story is in it's final
form.
Thiemo Guenther, should be co-creator due to his detailed and
exhaustive analysis.
Ken Wolfe, WOW. To have one of my favorite authors offer C&C.
Dave Eddy, And another of my favorites.
H-Packrat, who offered some telling criticism and corrected a blunder
on the part of the author. Terence Young, a late arrival but worth his
weight in ramen.^_^
Pre-readers are worth their weight in any precious metal you choose.
Pre-reading is a voluntary action . . .but absolutely necessary to
producing a readable work of fiction. And good C&C is harder than
writing. Without their efforts This would be a much poorer story. I can
not thank the above persons enough . . .so I wrote them into the story.
^_^ As always any errors and omissions are MINE.

If you have read my "Love is a Battlefield" and "Bloodfist" you know what
I mean by [dark/WAFFy]. The following story contains some scenes of
violence. There are also some erotically suggestive portions. HOWEVER
there is nothing in this story that is not integral to plot development.

I apologize for the lateness of this post. Unfortunately my hard drive
developed a fatal problem and crashed. (While I was making backups <sigh>)
My computer is up but still having problems. Because of this I am making
this revision (6) ready for posting and saving it to 3.5 disk. This way I
hope to have at least this version available if/when my computer dies
again.(which it has done twice already today (Monday Jan. 18, 1999)) I
would like to thank all of the people who read and enjoyed Furies. Thank
you all for your kind words. If I did not answer your e-mail (or if you
received two posts) it was due to the loss of my e-mail logs. There were
several other people I wanted to thank for their help in writing this
story. Especially the person who pointed out the meaning of "Akachan" ^_^
Your name was one of the names I lost. :( My end notes will be VERY brief
due to the instability of my system. Because it has been so long since
the posting of chap 6-9 I am adding the last bit of Chap. 9 to this
posting to refresh your memories.

Also, thank you for nominating me (and voting for me) for the
annual fanfic award.
THANK YOU. ^_^ [I promise to keep at it until I get it right :) ]

BEGIN Furies Chapter 10-11 139 Kb
*****************************************************
*

Chapter 9 (a bit of what has gone before followed by
Chapter 10-11 )

*************************************************
What has gone before:
Tendou Akane finds she is the reincarnation of Weapon 4, a
super-weapon
developed to fight Beryl during the last days of the Moon
Kingdom After two fights against a new enemy Akane meets with the senshi
and explains as much as she knows/remembers about her origins.
After leaving the meeting a mysterious woman attacks Akane, an
attack which releases memories hidden in the time stream, memories of
the Moon Kingdom and a time before. The origins of Weapon 4 and secrets
long hidden overwhelm Akane. Images of the last days of the Silver Imperium,
images of the senshi, palace intrigue and Pluto's hidden agenda. And images
of her princess.
Pluto's efforts to regain control of Weapon 4 result in an assault on
the princess and her senshi. Pluto and the Outer Senshi are banished. Pluto
convinces Weapon 4 that her duty to the princess and the kingdom require her to return
and complete her training as Weapon 4 in order to protect the princess
against Beryl. We find ourselves in the 'Facility' where Pluto is discussing the
progress of the Weapon 4 project with the Director.

". . . upgrades worked perfectly. The new power
receptors are even better than we anticipated."
"And how long before we can duplicate Weapon 4?"
The director smiled.
"We have already started. We should be able to
decant the first batch within six months. Initial
programming and implant installation should be
relatively straight forward with what we have learned. I
think we should have no more than a 40% wastage."
"How soon to produce completed weapons?"
"Eighteen months for the first six. After that,
with the facilities we have, I think we can produce two
weapons every four months." Pluto tapped the table in
front of her thoughtfully.
"I think that is acceptable. Beryl is still
rebuilding her R&D facility after that fire last year.
And she seems to be concentrating a great deal of effort
in the mono-pole mining facility." A briefly wistful
look crossed her face as she remembered Queen Serenity's
almost childish glee at her ploy to distract Beryl. She
banished the thought ruthlessly. "I would like to
see. . . "
An alarm rang and a face appeared on the
communications screen. A terrified tech looked out at
her.
"Sailor Pluto, a message from the capitol! They are
under attack!" Pluto froze for a stunned moment, then
lunged for the console. She entered a code. Her heart
thudded in her chest while she waited for the screen to
clear.
"Sailor Pluto, thank the Goddess. We've been trying
to get through to you but. . . "
"The Queen! Where is the Queen."
"I don't know. I think she went to 'Cloud Song' to
rally the Inner Guard but. . . "
"Give me Commander Tarn. If she can hold the curtain
wall I can. . . "
"Tarn is dead. The wall is down. The Shadows are
already in the palace grounds. We must have. . . "
Pluto stared at the blank screen. A portal snapped
open behind her and Sailoruranus supporting a wounded
Sailorneptune stumbled out.
"Pluto. . . the Shadows. They destroyed the Outer Guard
barracks. The power grid is down and the portal system
is failing. We need to warn. . . " Pluto ignored the
senshi and turned to the director.
"How long to get the Combat Support Unit back on
line?"
"The CSU? Why I don't know, several hours, perhaps
a day. As I mentioned we are re-calibrating the power. . ."

"Strip the facility. Empty the infirmary. Unless
they're six weeks dead I want to see everyone on the
transport grid with a weapon in fifteen minutes." She
thought a minute. "Put the CSU on autonomous repair
mode. Tell it to signal as soon as it's ready."
"What do you have in mind Pluto." Sailorneptune
asked, sagging with exhaustion.
"We're going to port directly into the palace. The
Queens tower is the most heavily armored part of the
palace. If we can hold it long enough for the CSU to come on
line we can counter-attack with. . . "
"The Princess!" Misty burst into the room, panting
heavily. "Something is wrong. I can feel it."
"The palace is under attack. We are leaving as
soon. . . "
"NO! I'm not waiting on you. You don't care about
her."
There was a flare of light as Misty wrenched open a
portal to the Moon Kingdom and vanished.



*************************************************

The palace was burning. She could see people and
stone melted together. The primary weapon activated
without conscious thought. The familiar screaming pain
was swallowed by her terror for the princess.
"Active sensors at maximum," she ordered the
whisper. "Locate the princess."
##Searching.##
A nightmare shape rose suddenly before her black
and twisted; it screamed and writhed as it burned in the
fires of zero-space. A huge hand scattered buildings and
people like toys as it lunged for her.
"Kinetic Weapon. Select super-dense. Maximum
acceleration"
##Super-dense Selected. Acceleration set at 0.3C##
the voice whispered.
"Initiate phase lock."
##Phase lock complete.## came the whisper
"Fire."
Ordinarily an object that was in zero-space, that
peculiar place between dimensions, was invulnerable to
outside forces until that object chose to leave the
safety of zero-space and touch normal-space. Unless
that outside force had the ability to phase into zero-
space as well.
20,000 rounds per minute of super-dense 4 mm
needles blasted out of the "barrel" of the coil-gun at a
little over fifty thousand miles per second. The swarm
of needles blow-torched through the Shadow
destroying its containment field with. . . unfortunate and
fatal results. The Imperium's last blood Guard raced
through the expanding gas cloud that had once been one
of Beryl's elite shock troops.
##Accumulators at 0.38##
She cursed her carelessness. She'd used too much
power killing that first Shadow and without the CSU
there was no chance of. . .
##. . . nitiating power tap. NO RESPONSE. Initiating
power tap. NO RESP. . . ##
"Cancel" she told the idiot-savant computer. "CSU
not available."
##Acknowledged. 18 minutes combat capability
remains at present power drain.##
A pair of Shadows converged on her from the flanks.
Her internal map showed the princess just beyond them.
The energy weapon burned the legs off one, the kinetic
weapon blasted the second in the torso. She didn't wait
to see the results but raced on toward her duty and her
friend.
##5 minutes combat power.##
Ahead, she could see the huge figure of a woman
looming over a tiny seeming figure in armor and below
that. . .
##Princess!!##
She sent power to her contra-gravity and JUMPED.
##4 minutes power. First warning. Prepare to shut
down phase generator.## The giant figure laughed and
reached for the fragile blond figure.
##Target lock.## she put the targeting pip in the
center of the cruel laughing face.
"Select Kinetic weapon. Fire."
##Null, response. Magazine empty##
"Select Energy Weapon. Fire."
##Null response. Power below minimum level for
Energy Weapon.##
A long metallic staff appeared in her hands. It
shimmered and twisted as it formed into an ugly beaked
war hammer. She sent power to her contra-grav again and
JUMPED!
##2 minutes power. Beginning fail-safe shut down of
phase generator.##
"OVERRIDE!!" she snapped.
##Failure to shut down will result in. . . ##
"OVERRIDE! IMPERIAL PRIORITY!!" she screamed at the
computer.
##Override acknowledged.##
She was almost there. Three more jumps. Power to
contra-grav and JUMP.
##40 seconds to shield collapse.##
And JUMP!'
##15 seconds.##
The giant sneering face dominated everything now.
That and the pitiful figure hanging in the air before
Beryl.
## 8 seconds.##
She brought the hammer over her head. Fiery hooks
ripped at her body. The world shimmered and shook as
dimensional shear slowly ripped her body apart. The
dying containment shield flared and hissed as it
devoured her body and shredded her sanity. And JUMP! She
soared into the air high above Beryl. She could see the
evil face slowly start to turn upwards, comprehension
slowly come to the eyes.
##3 seconds.## She was screaming the hate and rage
and fear of a lifetime directed at this one moment, this
one target. She would fulfil her purpose. She would kill
Beryl. Then she could rest.
##2 seconds.## The hammer came down in a savage
arc, to smash that giant skull like a rotten fruit. As
the hammer neared the end of its arc a bright white
light swept over the doomed capitol. As it moved over
the ground it swept away the dead and dying, sins and
sinners, clean and unclean. . . leaving nothing in its
wake.
##1 sec . . ##

Chapter 10

MOUKA TAKABISHA!!"
The chi-blast smashed Sailorpluto to the ground,
collapsing the "Black Dome Close".
Sailorpluto vanished, leaving Akane sobbing in the
middle of the street like an abandoned child.
Ranma scooped her up in his arms and cuddled her tightly
against his chest. Even as he held the weeping girl in his arms his
head swivelled back and forth, searching the darkness for the aura he'd
felt from across the street. Blood and madness . . . so strong now that he
could almost taste it. Old blood and bright madness . . .just standing in the same
spot occupied by that . . .woman . . . made his skin crawl.
"Dammit Tomboy," he whispered fiercely, "What the
hell have you gotten yourself into now?"

*************************************************

"You want me to what?"
Tendou Nabiki stared at her little sister with narrowed eyes.
"Get me transferred to another school."
"Would you like an Imperial Audience while I'm at it?"
Nabiki asked sarcastically. "Or perhaps instead of. After all
the Emperor is no longer a god . . . I can probably get you in to
see the Emperor."
Akane looked at her sister with shuttered eyes. Nabiki hated
that. Always before she'd been able to read her little sister like
a cheap manga. Now . . .And Ranma. Ranma was acting . . ."
"What do you need?"
Nabiki stared down at her little sister with a twisted smile.
"Well, a couple of HUNDRED million yen would be
nice to start with. You know, for the little things . . .new
school uniform . . .bribes . . .transfer authorizations . . .bribes . .
.record transfers . . .BRIBES."Nabiki tilted her head thoughtfully.
"You know, I sense a pattern
here. M . .O . . N . .E . .Y. To get you transferred to another
school for next year . . ."
"Tomorrow."
Nabiki's mouth dropped open with a surprised bark of
laughter.
"TOMORROW! Go with an Imperial Audience little
sister. Breakfast with the Emperor . . .hell I could get you
lunch with God for what it would cost to get you
transferred . . .IF I could get you transferred . . . by the end of
the YEAR. By TOMORROW . . . I'd have to bribe half the
Prefecture . . .no . . .the entire Prefecture up to the
Governor's office. And not little bribes either . . .getting people up this
time of night adds a surcharge . . ."
Akane's expression went blank for a moment and she tilted
her head slightly to the side as if listening. Then, suddenly and
silently she turned and went into her room. Nabiki stared at
the closed door and was startled by a harsh light that spilled out
around the edges. She took a tentative step toward the door
then stopped, startled as it opened and Akane stepped out.
"Here, will this help?"
Nabiki automatically held out her hands as Akane poured a
stream of raw gold from a bulging pillow case into her cupped
palms.
"If you need more . . ."
"No . . .thank you." Nabiki said faintly. "Tell me. Do
you want to change schools . . .or BUY one?"

*************************************************
"Haruna sensei! What are you . . .I mean please come
in." That Minako was surprised to see Usagi's old teacher was
beyond understatement. And who was the nondescript man in
the expensive suit?
"What a . . .surprise to see you Haruna sensei. I'm sorry
but I was just on my way out."
"I'm sorry to bother you Minakosan, but this is very
important. I would like to introduce you to Nagumo Seiji
from MITI. He is very concerned about recent . . .events on the
Home Islands. He would like to talk to you about them.
Minako controlled her expression with some effort. She was
not helped in this when Artemis dug his claws into her shoulder in
involuntary reflex. The Ministry of International Trade and
Industry RAN Japan Inc. The government and military
reported to them and they send orders down as to how the country
should be run.
"I'm afraid I don't understand Haruna sensei. Why would
a government official want to talk to me?"
"Talk to Aino Minako? No interest at all." The
nondescript man stepped forward for the first time. "To talk
with Sailor V? A great deal of interest."
Minako didn't even blink. She'd had a great deal of practice
dissembling as Sailor V, and even more as Sailorvenus.
"M . . .m .me? Sailor V." Minako almost bent in two
with a great sputtering laugh. "You've been talking to my
agent. I used to MODEL as Sailor V. Promotional stuff and . . ."
"Perhaps it would assist the discussion if you were to
know . . ."
"You said you wouldn't tell her!" Haruna sensei hissed
grabbing the man by the sleeve. "You promised . . ."
"If it were possible. We do not have time for foolishness.
She is, as you yourself have reported, a professional."
"Reported?" Minako was starting to have a bad feeling
about this. "Haruna sensei, what is going on?"
"I'm sorry Minakochan." Haruna sensei took a deep
breath and let it out slowly. "I KNOW you are Sailor V . . .and
Sailorvenus. I know because I watched you . . .followed you
to Hikawa Jinja. I have pictures . .. recordings. I know all about
you. About Artemis, Luna, the Princess. I know . . ."
Minako had to believe . . .the mention of the shrine by itself
was almost enough. Luna and the Princess clinched it.
"Why?"
"Because your Haruna sensei is a spy . . .for the American
CIA."

Minako couldn't help it. She burst out laughing . . .so hard she
thought she was going to hurt herself. Strangely the little man
from the ministry seemed offended while Haruna sensei had a
small smile of sympathetic humor on her face.
"Heheheheheh."Minako clutched at her aching sides. "Oh
. .oh . .oh . . .you really had me going there."
"It is funny." Haruka sensei said. "But it's no joke."
"But . . .how . . .who . . .I mean . . .why would the CIA
want to spy on a school. Why would you DO it . . .I mean . . ."
"I'm an American citizen Minako. And all I did was
watch and remember and report. The CIA knows that
everything in Japan depends on the entrance exams . . .who will be
running the businesses . . .the government ministries . . .everything
depends on the entrance exams . . . what high school you
graduate from decides what University you attend. And University
decides all the rest of your life. All they wanted was advance
warning on who was going to be running the country and the industry in the
next century."
"And . . .us?"
Haruna sensei gave Minako a small smile.
"Usagi and the rest of you were an accident. The farm . . .ummm
the CIA school teaches you to be aware of everything . ..and suspicious of
everyone. Usagi and Ami and the rest of you
were just a little . . .strange. I looked . . .and I found."
"And . . .told." It wasn't a question.
"Not everything. Just enough to protect you."
"Protect us? How?"
"People are afraid of what they don't know . . .don't
understand. I gave the Agency enough information so that
they felt comfortable with each new situation. So that they knew
enough about what was going on that they didn't feel it was
necessary to . . .interfere. You have to admit that there have
been some interesting things happening around here."
"You didn't feel it was necessary to inform the Japanese
government though, did you?"
Haruna sensei looked at small man.
"I don't work for you Seiji."
Nagumo's lips tightened with suppressed fury at the insulting
tone. It was bad enough that these . . .these girls . . .had been
running around Japan for years with absolutely no
governmental control. Acting without supervision, without orders
. . .doing whatever THEY thought was right instead of what had been
decided by policy. And now this . . .this . . .spy . . .this gaijin . .
.this woman . . .talking to him this way.
"No. You are a foreign national engaged in espionage. A
crime that carries the death penalty. You can be shot . . .taken
out and shot as a spy. A dirty, gaijin whoruurrrrrk"
Nagumo Seiji scrabbled desperately at the hand that had
clamped around his throat.
"I don't think you should take that tone with Haruna
sensei. Not in MY house."
Minako ignored the ministry flunky gasping in her grasp and
turned back to Haruna sensei.
"I'm very sorry. Please continue."
"There's not much more. I haven't been active for years.
Not much interest anymore. Or funding. Then I got a call.
There has been a lot of activity world wide. Strange sightings,
explosions. I'm not sure of everything that's going on. I do
know that I have been instructed to contact you . . .and the
Japanese government." She glances at Nagumo, slowly
turning blue. "He's . . .well he's all the ministry could spare on
short notice. I am suppose to tell you and your friends that the
American government is aware of your existence and
prepared to render whatever aid they can to support you and the
Japanese people." Haruna sensei pulled a folded square of paper
out of her pocket and handed it to Minako. "This is a list of
authentication codes and radio frequencies. You get to pick
your own code names."
Minako grinned beatifically . . . Artemis dropped his head
in sudden fear.

*************************************************

"Class, I would like to introduce Tendou Akane, a
new transfer student . Now who would like to show her. . ."
"AKA-CHAN! AKA-CHAAAN! Hiiiiiiii!" Tsukino
Usagi bounced up and down in her seat
in a manner very unlike a high school student but very
like Tsukino Usagi.
There was a moment of stunned silence followed by a
round of snickering as the class realized what
Usagi had named her new friend.
"Usagi!" The sensei began sternly. "Please control
yourself. I need someone to show Tendousan . . ."
"Thank you sensei" Akane broke in politely, " I
appreciate you letting Tsukinosan be my guide."
"But . . .I didn't. . .She's not . . ."
Sensei's mouth snapped shut.
"Very well. There is an empty desk in the back of. . ."
Sensei's mouth dropped as Akane lifted the desk in front
of Usagi, student included, and exchanged
it for the empty one he had started to indicate.
"Hrrmmph. Very well. If we can all just settle down
class will start."
************************************************
". . .swer the question Tsukinochan. Tsukinochan!"
A delicate buzzing snore, like a band-saw cutting through
glass, was Sensei's only answer. Sensei's
lips tightened and he launched a piece of chalk at Usagi's
head. Five hundred centimeters from it's
target the chalk vanished. Sensei blinked, then saw the
chalk pinched between Tendou Akane's
thumb and forefinger. Her grip tightened and the chalk
vanished in a small explosion of dust. Sensei
paled at the look in her eyes and stumbled back a step.
"Usagi-chan!" Ami shook her friend urgently
"Usagi-chan!"
"Jus' five more min'ts mom, jus fiv. . ."
Minako yanked Usagi 's head up by her braid.
"Look, somebody lost a gallon of 'Rocky Road'."
"WHAT! WHERE? It'smineIsawit first!!"
Everyone ducked as Usagi's braids lashed the air like a
flail.
"Usagi" Minako twisted Usagi's head toward the front
of the room. "Tendousan is in Samurai pit-bull mode. Do you
think you can stop her before she bends the sensei?"
"Yeah" Makoto added "we might miss lunch if we're
all in jail."
"LUNCH? "Usagi screamed the word, as a martyr
might have cried a saints name in the flames.
"Is it lunch time?"
The sensei looked at the clock, which read forty five
minutes 'till the noon recess, then looked at
Tendou Akane. Twelve years of training and education
crammed into his cerebral cortex demanded
that he maintain discipline in his class room. Ten million
years of survival instinct imbedded in his
pre-brain told the cerebral cortex to shut-the-hell-up.
"Lunch time! Class dismissed!"

*************************************************

"Ami can I. . ."
"No.!"
"Minako, are you going to eat. . ."
"Yes."
"Makotoooo. Could I have a little. . ."
"You already ate mine during first period, remember?"
"But I'm starvvvvving."
"Here Usagisan." Akane handed Usagi a bentou.
"Thiffgooojewmatii?"
"She says 'This is good. Did you make it?'" Ami
translated helpfully.
"Any bentou Akane makes is considered a lethal
weapon."
Usagi and her friends were startled when a petite red-head
swung down from the tree.
"RANMA!. . ." Akane screeched in the most normal
tone the senshi had heard that day. "
What are you wearing?"
Ranma swung in a circle, skirts flaring cutely.
"It's my new school uniform. Like it ?"
"You Pervert! What are you doing wearing a dress?"
"Who you calling a pervert, tomboy ?"
"Tomboy! TOMBOY!! WHY YOU . . ."
"Ummm. Akachan. Whose your friend?"
Akane turned sheepishly to Usagi.
"Ahhh this is. . .ah. . .Ranko. A, uh, friend of mine."
"Ranko? I thought she said Ranma?" Minako
wondered aloud.
"Just call him a pervert." Akane fumed while Ranko
grinned at her.
"Him?"
"Akane just called Ranko him?"
"I thought it was Ranma?"
Akane ignored the chattering voices and turned fiercely
on a chuckling "Ranko".
"What are you laughing at?"
"AKA . . .chan?" Ranko smirked at the fuming Akane.
"Aka . . .CHAN. That's a perfect . .."
" Would you SHUT UP!" Akane ground her teeth in
frustration, turning an alarming shade of . . .
"Just what are you DOING here." she hissed "and
wearing a DRESS!"
"I go to school here now. I'm in your class as a matter
of fact. I would have been here earlier but Nabiki insisted on cash
up front. She gave me a discount 'cause she'd already done the hard work gettin'
you in."
Fascinated Ranma watched Akane turn colors he never
even knew existed.
"You . . .school . . .HERE!! . . ." Akane sputtered
incoherently as she tried to grapple with the concept.
Almost immediately she latched onto another grievance.
"That . . .that skirt. Just what do you think . . ."
"You're just jealous 'cause it looks better on me than
on you."
Ranko backpedaled hastily as Akane's aura flared,
creating a double shadow of everything in front of
her.
"I'm wearing a dress 'cause I'm registered as a girl. A
lota' the classes, like Gym, are segregated. An I'm not lettin'
you outta my sight. Not 'till I find out what's goin' on."
Akane's aura flickered out like a match in a typhoon.
Ranko gently reached out and pushed her jaw
shut.
"Wha. . .what are you talking about."
"I'm talking about you disappearing all the time. I'm
talking about your new 'friends'." Ranko
swept a hand to indicate Usagi and the others. "I'm
talking" Ranko backed Akane against the tree
"about last night" slender arms like silk covered steel
snapped out to either side of Akane's head,
pinning her in place "and the strange woman" Ranko
stretched up on tip-toe 'till her eyes were level
with Akane's "who tried to KILL YOU!"
"What!"
"What happened?"
"You didn't say any. . ."
"Why didn't. . ."
AKA-CHAN!" Usagi nearly bowled Akane and
Ranko over as she hurtled herself at her friend.
"Are you all right!"
"Aaaaaak! Can't breath!" gasped Ranko who found
herself the filling in an Usagi/Akane sandwich.
"I'm fine Usagisan." Akane replied peeling Usagi off
her, thereby saving the Saotome line from
extinction. "Ranko is exaggerating as usual."
"What did this woman look like." Ami asked worridly.
"It's nothing to be concerned. . ."
"She was about this high" Ranko held her arm above
her head. "She had long dark hair, an' it may have been the light
but it had a funny shine to it . . .kinda . . .greenish." Ranko didn't miss the
looks the girls exchanged.
"An' she carried this long stick with a big ball on top,
sittin' inside this valentine heart thingy."
"That's S. . ." Usagi blurted.
"Strange. Really Strange" Makoto finished, slamming
a hand over Usagi's mouth. "Did you tell the police. . . or anyone?"
"You guys have got idea who it coulda been?" Ranko
ignored the question and pinned Makoto with a hard look.
"Who it could have been? Uh . . .no . .no idea at all?"
"You're lyin'!" Ranko said flatly.
Makoto stiffened at the insult and took a combative step
forward. She stopped suddenly, unsure what to
do as she realized the charge was true.
"Ranma!" Akane was furious "How can you say some
thing like. . ."
"I find you unconscious in an ally, beaten half to
death" Ranko held up a hand and folded down
a finger "You disappear and no one know where you've
gone" another finger disappeared "some strange woman tries to
kill you , you transfer to a new school and suddenly you've got all these new
'friends'." The fingers had turned into a fist which Ranko
shook in Akane's face. "THAT'S how I can say something like
that." He glared up at the taller girl shaking with emotion.
"But it don't matter what's goin' on 'cause I"M here
and I ain't leavin'"
"Are you saying I can't take care of myself? That I
need someone to look after me?"
"Listen ya stupid tomboy. . ."
"OH! Now I' m stupid."
"Listen.Ya nearly got killed on Phoenix Mountain. An'
I'm always havin' ta chase after you 'cause some prince or
somethin' has kidnaped you or. . ."
Usagi and her friends in amazement as Ranko catalogued
the misadventures of Tendou and Saotome.
". . .ve you from some ridiculously huge animals or . . ."
"Well if I'm so much trouble. . ." Akane tearfully tried
to shove Ranko away from her.
"You never LISTEN" Ranko shouted in frustration
"You just NEVER listen. If ya would just. . . AH Hell!"
Pietite hands grabbed Akane by the ears and jerked the
startled girl off balance. Akane opened her mouth to protest this
rough treatment just as Ranko opened her mouth to berate Akane about her
stupidity. Time slowed to a crawl. The two teen's froze in
place . . .so close to each other that a hydraulic ram couldn't have
forced a postage stamp through the gap . . .yet not touching still. There
was a tiny freckle in the corner of Akane's mouth. Ranma
had never noticed that before. Fascinated he watched her nostrils
gently flair with each breath she took He could spend hours just watching her
breath. Often at night he would hang outside her window just . . .listening.
Each breath she took brought Akane an aroma that was
Ranma . . .no matter what form he took . . .uniquely Ranma.
It made her feel . . .warm . . .safe. Akane could see a vein in
Ranko's throat gently pulse. With life . . .Ranma's life. She
could feel her insides get all squishy as she inhaled and
Ranma's essence filled her lungs. Her eyelids felt heavy and
against her will closed. She could just . . .
"Wooooo! Somebody get a bucket!"
"Bucket! We need the fire hose!."
"Akachan. Doesn't that hurt?"
Akane was distantly aware of an annoying buzzing sound that
gradually resolved itself into voices. She opened her eyes to confront
a pair of dazed sky blue orbs peering muzzily back at her.
She opened her eyes to confront a pair of dazed sky blue orbs
peering muzzily back at her. Startled she tried to pull back
only to find her hands had somehow trapped themselves inside
the waistband of "Ranko's" skirt and were cupping. . ."
"Eeeeeeep!!"
The two blushing teens hurriedly disentangled themselves.
"An' let that be a lesson to ya'" Ranko panted.
Akane flushed with embarrassment . . .and something
else . . .something that she chose to identify as anger.
Anger was safer . . .much safer than . . .something
else.
"PERVERT! Just what do you think you're doing?"
Akane didn't pause to give Ranko time to answer.
"How dare you follow me. And how dare you call
my friends liars. And another thing . . ."
Akane was on a roll. "What were you doing following
me. And what's this business about someone
trying to KILL me?" Akane laughed sarcastically. "That's
the stupidest thing . . ."
Usagi and her friends watched apprehensively as Akane
tore a strip off the petite red-head. Apprehensive partially because
of the slight tic beside Ranko's right eye . . .evidence of superhuman
effort to hold back a retort. But also because the small
red-head was absent-mindedly folding a section
of chain-link fence between her fingers like a piece of
paper.
". . . can't believe the nerve you have . . ."
Akane stopped abruptly when Ranko held up a hand,
palm out.
"All right. You had your say . . .now it's MY turn. Ya
got other people worried . . . Kasumi for
one. An' Nabiki. Ya got her worried enough that she
helped me change schools . . .at COST!! Don' ya
think that comin' home all beat up . . .talking to yourself .
. . transferring to a new school . . .well they're
all worried about you." Ranko paused. "Me too."
Akane looked down at the ground, seemingly fascinated
by her toes.
"Y . . .they don't need to be worried. I'm fine. I . . ."
Ranko cut through her protestations.
"An' that . . .woman . . .that tried to kill you. We don't
gotta worry about her neither?"
Akane's head came up . . .intending to object. That
protest died under Ranko's glare like a moth in a
furnace.
"Umm . . .Rankosan?"
Ranko turned at Ami's softly questioning voice.
"Rankosan. What makes you think this woman was
trying to kill Akanesan. I mean . . .what evidence do you
have . . ."
"I'm a martial artist. That's all I've done my whole life.
Maybe I ain't so good at other stuff . . .but the Art . . .there
ain't no one better than me. I know when someone's ready for
a fight . . .how good they are . . .if they mean business. I
KNOW! An that woman was tryin' to KILL Akane."
"What do you mean . . .you know." Makoto put in
skeptically. "How could you just look . . ."
"The way I know about you." Ranma speared Makoto
with a look. "I know that you try to act big and tough. An' you're
brave all right. Got a lotta heart. Ain't no one gonna stop you . . .
But deep down . . .you're scared. Scared you're gonna' be alone."
Makoto paled at this summation, but Ranko had already
started on her next target.
"And you." She pointed to Ami, who shrank slightly
under Ranko's consideration.
"Cool, calm. Real smart." Ranko paused. "Real . . .real
smart. Got good instincts . . .but don't believe in 'em. Don't believe
in yourself. So you hide behind your smarts. So no one will see . . .you."
Ami paled and hid her head in her hands as Ranko swung on her
next target, Minako.
"And you . . ." Ranko paused, puzzled. "You're a deep one."
Ranko's brow wrinkled. "You . . .you're dangerous. There's blood on your
hands."
Minako stiffened slightly, then relaxed.
"There's blood." Ranko continued. "But it's clean. Just
like you." Ranko bowed slightly, one equal to another. "We ought
to spar sometime."
Minako brightened and returned the bow.
"An' You." Ranko stepped up to Rei, who stood her
ground and glared at Ranko, daring her to do her worst.
"You . . .try to make people think you're tough. And
you are. Ya got a lotta chi . . .a whole lot."
Ranko cocked her head and raked Rei with a long
searching gaze. Rei resisted a compulsion to cover
herself with her hands at the sudden sensation of being
naked in public.
"You're always . . .afraid . . .but not for yourself . . .never
for yourself. You're afraid of failing . . .someone . . .else.
Someone you love more than your life . . .some . . .one . . ."
Rei paled, swayed and would have fallen if not for small
hands which suddenly were there to catch her.
"And as for you." Ranko turned her gaze to the small
blond figure supporting Hino Rei. "As for you . . ." Ranko's
cocky attitude disappeared and her eyes
went wide with shock Straightening suddenly
she executed a very low, profoundly respectful bow.
"Forgive me for my impertinence master. I meant no
disrespect. But I believe that I have demonstrated why I
believed the . . .woman . . .I saw was a threat . . .a deadly
threat to Tendou Akane."
The other senshi were amazed at the transformation . . .from
sarcastic, rough talking . . .to polite almost formal . . ."
Akane was beyond amazement and well on her way to
shocked. She grabbed Ranko by one sleeve and
spun her around.
"Just what are you doing." Akane hissed. "Mr. "I bow
to nobody". I thought you didn't call anyone master."
"I didn't." Ranko replied so simply that Akane could
think of nothing to say.

*************************************************

"Setsuna! Where have you been? There's a new
enemy and . . ."
"Weapon 4 is active. Yes I know." the guardian of
time looked at her companions. "We are
facing the strongest enemy yet. If we loose this battle
every living thing on Earth will die."
Kaiou Michiru and Ten'ou Haruka looked at each other
then back at Meiou Setsuna, Sailorpluto.
"What do you want us to do?"
"You must retrieve Weapon 4. Without it we have no
chance of defeating this enemy."
"That should not be a problem." Michiru started "she
has already helped in two battles and . . ."
"That is not enough. Weapon 4 must be FULLY
activated under our control."
Haruka hissed in dismay.
"That. . . may present problems" Michiru said slowly
"the Princess will not. . ."
"What the princess does or does not want is
irrelevant." Setsuna said cooly. "Our mandate is to
guard the outer reaches of the solar system against
invaders or to repel them by any means necessary. By
any means."she repeated flatly. "Against the loss of
billions of lives and the life of an entire world, the
loss of one individual is a small price."
"What do you want us to do?"

*************************************************

Shoho (Rear Admiral) Ugaki Yusho was waiting for the
Americans. As he stood on the port wing of his flagship
Kurushio he wondered if his father has felt the same way fifty
years earlier. If he had it had not, he thought sourly, been for
the same reasons. Then his father, under the command of
Tanaka Raizo Japans greatest Destroyer commander, had lain
in ambush to destroy the Americans. Now he was burning
incense and saying prayers for the safe and quick arrival of the
American task force from the Indian Ocean. The Admiral paced
slowly up and back on the small wing.
"Measles!"
He still couldn't believe it. Two weeks earlier there had been a
carrier group within six hours steaming of Japan. Then an
outbreak of . . .MEASLES . . .of all things had sent the
Americans on their way back to Hawaii. A new strain the
doctors had said. Very dangerous. Now he was waiting on
the task force the Americans had diverted from the Indian Ocean.
Admiral Ugaki paced to the rail and looked at his force;
twenty ships to defend all Japan. Under normal circumstances he
would have been confident. The JSDF utilized one of the
worlds most sophisticated coastal and air-born radar
networks. Admiral Ugaki was confident his ships, especially
the new Aegis destroyers backed by the F15J's, F3's and older
Phantoms of the Air Defense Force could pin any normal enemy on
the beaches where the Ground Defense forces could deal with
them. But now . . .he took another quick turn and stared at
the ships wake. Now . . .there would be no warning . . .no
time to move forces . . .to alert air wings. Not against an enemy
who could appear from nowhere . . .appear INSIDE the
Home Islands with no warning. How could he defend . . .
"Admiral! Sir . . .The Capitol . . .it's under attack!"
Ukagi bolted through the opening into the bridge in time to
see a brilliant white flash that lit Tokyo bay.
"Captain , take us into the bay . .. flank speed. CIC,
what do you have?"
There was a rumbling whine as the big jet turbine slammed to
full power and Kurushio heeled sharply in a crash turn to port.
The rating at the console that linked the bridge to the combat
information center turned slightly toward his Admiral.
"Sir, CIC reports many air-born objects. Very small . .
.fast . . .hard to lock up. Tentative count . . .15 . . .no . . .18.
And a large distortion that appears to match reports of the
enemy's transport effect."
"Flag to all ships." Ukagi settled himself in his leather
chair. "Form on Kurushio. The enemy is inside the bay. Fire
plan Autumn Wind." He could hear the atonal shriek of the
General Quarters alarm, the pounding feet of sailors . . .young
men in his care . . .racing for their action stations. Forward he
could see the single 176 mm mount traversing as the gun crew
made last minute checks. Aft he knew the missile crews were
readying their SAM's and hoping they wouldn't need the
Phalanx Gatling gun. Ukagi hesitated for a moment then
continued. "I know every man will do his duty. May the
Emperor live ten thousand years. EI!"
"OU!!"
Ukagi smiled as the enthusiastic response came back from all
over the ship . . .and over the radio from the rest of his small
fleet.
"What air support do we have available?"
This was no idle question. Japan's Air Defense Force was at
the breaking point, being the only force that had a realistic
chance of engaging an enemy that didn't need roads or sea-
lanes to travel.
"Ummm." The rating ran a finger down a list detailing
squadron readiness. "The 801'st has two F15J's at plus five.
And three more at plus thirty."

*************************************************

"Isurugi! Would you quit fiddling with my aircraft!"
"Sorry Mitakasan" The young private bowed in
apology. Well as much of a bow as was possible when
crouched on the wing of an F15 fighter. "Sorry Hanedasan."
He twisted and sketched another half-bow at the pilot of the
other F15 just a few meters away. "But this is a very serious
time. . . it's important that I do my job well . . .so that you can
do yours."
"You need more than a good job to help that clumsy
little bitch." Came the sneering retort from Haneda. "You
need direct intervention from God."
"WHAT! Why you whoring little . . ."
"PLEASE . . .SHUT . . .UP!!!"
The uncharacteristic outburst from the normally mild (but
enthusiastic) private silenced the two pilots. Chest heaving
with emotion private Isurugi glared, first at his girlfriend and
then at his mistress. (Exactly who was which had yet to be
decided.)
"I have been studying reports on this enemy. As a
result of what is known I have loaded your guns with depleted
uranium anti-tank rounds. I also managed to . . .borrow four Phoenix
missiles. You have two each. The rest of your missiles are Longbow
Hellfire II anti-tank missiles."
"What! Why anti-tank. Why not . . ."
Isurugi turned to Haneda.
"The Phoenix gives you a much longer range. With the
Hellfire you have to close to six thousand meters. But the
enemy is very tough. They are armored more like tanks than
conventional aircraft. I don't think standard AAM warheads
are enough. But the Hellfire's might . . ."
Whatever Isurugi had to say was lost in the blare of the alert
signal. Instantly Isurugi snapped shut the inspection port and
slid off the wing. Running under the plane he yanked loose the
wheel chocks. As he did so the F15J's engines roared into life.
Sprinting hard he yanked loose the wheel chocks of the
second jet and fell to the ground, covering his head as the two
planes rolled off down the runway. Recovering from the awful noise
Isurugi rolled to his feet just as the two planes, wingtips less
than a meter apart rotated off the concrete. As if the two
planes were flown by one person the jets accelerated to one
thousand feet, gear and flaps came up simultaneously and the
fighters turned toward Tokyo at full afterburner.

************************************************

"Would you quit following me!" Akane hissed.
"Hey, I'm just takin' a walk!" Ranma grinned
infuriatingly down from his perch on the fence
top. "Just pretend I'm not here."
"I wish I could pretend you were in Hokkaido.."
Akane muttered to herself.
"I think it's kind of sweet of her uh I mean him." Even
after an explanation of Ranma's rather unique . . .outlook on life
Usagi was still a little confused. She wasn't the only one.
"There's at least a 35 kilo mass difference between your
male and female forms. How on earth do you balance the mass
energy equation!" Ami asked again. "I mean, if you just
converted that much mass to energy you'd blow up all of
Tokyo. I suppose you could shunt it off using. . ."
"Do you have any idea of what Ami's talking about?"
Makoto whispered .
"I think she's upset about how Ranma loses so much
weight when he changes to Ranko." Minako replied.
Makoto frowned over at her small friend.
". . .blem of acquiring mass for your conversion UP to
your male feeeeeeeeeeepppppppp!"
Ami squawked as she was snatched into the air by
Makoto.
"MAKOTO! What areeeeeee. NO! Don't
heheheheheh!" Ami squirmed and giggled as Makoto
poked and prodded her sides.
"WHAT are you DOING!" Ami gasped after Makoto
put her down. Tugging and pulling her clothes back into place
Ami glared up at her giant friend.
"You're not at all fat." Makoto said seriously.
"What?"
"In fact you could stand to GAIN some weight."
Makoto frowned. "If some guy said you're too
fat, you just let ME talk to him."
Ami looked at her big friend as if she were crazy.
"Makoto, what in the world are you talking about?"
"I know it's easy to get hung up on your appearance
and all that. But your health is more important. You're smart
and pretty and I think you look just fine like you are and . . ."
"Thank you, I think? But why this sudden interest in
my weight?"
"Well Minako said that you were trying to find out
how Ranma loses all that weight when he changes into
Ranko, but if you try to loose that much it'll make you sick and . . ."
Ami placed a finger against Makoto's lips to stop the flow
of words. She looked up into her friends concerned face,
then dropped her gaze to see Minako, Usagi and Rei all looking
back with identical concern on their faces. She glanced up at Ranma who
shrugged with a "don't-ask-me-haven't-understood-a-thing-you've-said-all-day"
look. Finally she looked at Akane who grinned back with
sympathetic understanding. Ami drew in a deep breath
and looked back at her friends.
"Thank you for worrying about me. I promise I won't take
any chances with my health."
"That's great!" Makoto said with relief. "Why don't I
make a bentou for you every day?"
"That's not necess. . ."
"And supper too!" Makoto enthused "That way we can
be sure you're getting proper nutrition."
Ami looked at the circle of faces surrounding her and
suddenly understood the old adage that it's easier
to escape from enemies that from friends.
"All right." she surrendered "That sounds nice."
"Yayyyyy! A party." Usagi was ecstatic.
"Uh, That's not what . . ." Ami began.
"We could have it at my house." Akane added shyly.
"As long as you don't cook. . ."Ranma began.
"There's something evil. . ." Rei's head came up
suddenly. She turned her head like a hound
casting for a scent. She stiffened , then took of at a dead
run. Usagi and the others were a split second behind her.
"HEY! Wait for me." After a startled instant of
hesitation Ranma bounded along behind the group.
Rei's impression of evil was soon confirmed by screams
and explosions in the distance. As they drew
closer to the scene the impression of disaster was
magnified by the streams of terrified people fleeing the
scene.
"Uh. . .what about. . ." Makoto jerked her head in the
direction of Ranma who was hovering protectively over Akane
who in turn was hovering over Usagi. Usagi was feeling a bit mashed
since Rei was crowded protectively and possessively on her other
side.
"I'm not sure. . ." Makato flinched as the sky flashed
white and the top of a distant building rose
lazily into the air like a leaf blowing in the wind.
"DOWN!!"
She dove for cover, dragging Ami and Minako with her.
Moments later the shock wave roared over
them in a blast of hot wind and a rumble that shattered
windows and rippled the roadway like a bowl of
jello.
"Is everyone OK."
"OK here."
"Fine."
"What the hell was that?"
"We're alright here."
"I'm getting Muuuuuushed!" Usagi complained from
the bottom of a protective mound of senshi, Blood Guard and
bystander.
"Better than getting your baka head blown off." Rei
snapped.
"Akane! Can we trust. . ." Minako jerked a thumb at
Ranma.
"With your lunch, money or panties, NO!"
Ranma bristled at this and his mouth opened to protest.
"With your life or honor, absolutely."
His mouth snapped closed and he felt his face heat up.
"All right then, Henshin YO!"
"MOON. . ."
"MARS. . ."
"JUPITER. . ."
"MERCURY. . ."
"VENUS. . ."
Ranma looked at Akane who was watching her princess
transform into the pretty sailor suited soldier for love
and justice.
"Hey, tomboy, don't you have a transformation?"
"No, I'm not a senshi."
"MAKE UP!!"
Ranma paused to watch vari-colored energies surround
the five girls.
"That's too bad."
"Huh! Why?" Akane dragged her eyes away from
Usagi to see Ranma watching the five girls.
She suddenly realized what Ranma was seeing, or rather
what he WASN'T seeing.
"Why you perv. . ."
"I bet you'd be really cute."
"C. .c. . cute?"
Ranma winked at her and all of Akane's higher brain
functions promptly turned to mush and ran out the
soles of her feet. The five senshi finished their
transformations to find Akane staring with huge dazed
eyes at Ranma, who was rocking back and forth on his
heels, a look of complete innocence on his face.
"If you two are quite finished?" Minako politely
inquired. "We have some 'Big Nasty's' to pound."
She turned to the senshi of water. "Mercury, what do we
have."
Mercury typed commands into her computer as her visor
gathered data from the surrounding area. She looked up sickly at
her friends.
"A. . akane. Would you please scan the area and give
me a count of the enemy.
"Passive Sensors to maximum sensitivity. Search for
hostile's." Akane commanded the voice.
##Working## the voice whispered.##Multiple targets
found. Energy signatures consistent with
previous contacts.## the whisper paused ##Active portal
detected. Flying vehicles detected. Listing contacts now.## A
mental grid map of the area popped up with a tabular listing
of enemy numbers and types in the lower right corner. As she
watched the portal icon flared and another icon, tentatively
identified as a vehicle, crackled into existence.
"I estimate one hundred plus infantry" Akane reported
"in powered armor accompanied by six to eight vehicles.
Maybe twice that many. The vehicles appear to be a lightly
armored flying scout. I'm sorry the count isn't more precise
but the proximity of an active portal interferes with my sensors. In
addition they are using some sort of jammer . I could try to
burn through on Active, but that would give away our
position."
"That agrees closely with what I'm finding as well."
Mercury looked at her friends. "I think we may have a
problem."
Before she could say more two jet fighters, emblazoned with
the rising sun, roared overhead.
"Wha . . ."
"I believe help has arrived." Venus watched closely at
the two planes reefed around in a tight turn, less than a
thousand feet above the street and accelerated hard toward a
clump of enemy flying machines swarming just above the now
ruined docks. There was a rumbling noise and as the amazed
senshi watched a trio of GSDF tanks charged down a side
street, treads ripping up the asphalt as they headed for the
dock area.
"WOOO!" Ranma shouted involuntarily. "Do we
follow . . .or what?" He asked, not being familiar with senshi
combat etiquette.
"We follow . . .carefully." Venus decided. And with
that the small group headed for Tokyo bay.

*************************************************

"I have tone." Haneda announced. "Fox two. Fox two
on the big guy stationary over the docks."
The Phoenix missiles left their hard points and headed toward
their target at mach 3 plus. Immediately she jinked hard left,
pulling nine gees in the turn, then jerked the heavy Eagle back
around to close on burner on the remaining targets. The
Phoenix missiles, hers and Mitaka's, had impacted with little
apparent effect. Peripherally she noted Mitaka tied to her
starboard wing as if by a steel rod matching her move for
move as they moved in to launch their Hellfire's. If they
survived , they would close and engage with guns.
"I have tone. Launch, launch ,launch." Eight Hellfire
anti-tank missiles ripple fired from her wings and accelerated
past mach 2.
"Launch, launch, launch." Haneda heard Mitaka's
voice over the radio and could see a flash as eight additional
Hellfires streaked toward their target. Her Eagle lifted as it
suddenly became lighter by several hundred kilograms.
Haneda pulled back on the controller and kicked hard right rudder
in the start of a reverse Immelman. A hammer of sound and fire
slammed her against the side of the cockpit and centripetal
force pinned her in place as her Eagle spun earthwards and
flames ate at her nomex flight suit.
"NO!" The involuntary denial was forced from Mitaka
as Haneda's Eagle was blasted apart by a bolt of lightning
from a black armored flier that came, literally, from no-where.
Even as she recoiled in horror from the sight of Haneda's death
spiral, her hands and feet moved with the effect of years of
training and an inborn warriors heart. Her Eagle shuddered as
she chopped power and popped the dive-brakes. Stall and
engine warnings shrilled, ignored, as Mitaka kicked the rudder
hard over and her Eagle slid drunkenly through the air. The
black flyer shot past the fighter and into Mitaka's sights. Tone
sounded and she ripple fired her remaining complement of
Hellfire missiles. Without waiting to see their effect she
dropped the nose of her jet and went to full burner,
wondering if she had enough air to recover from her stall. At one
hundred feet Mitaka pulled out of her dive, low enough to see a
flash of blond hair and . . .sailor suits? There was no time to sight-see
as she roared skyward like a home-sick angel in a zoom climb.
Half mad with grief and looking for revenge Mitaka scanned
the sky for, looking for the enemy and found. . . .

Haneda didn't remember triggering the charge that blew her
clear of her dying Eagle. She remembered the explosion that
had killed her beautiful plane . . .remembered the fire . . .
praying she wouldn't burn . . .And now she was floating in the
air. Haneda took a deep breath and winced as her ribs
protested. Bruised? Broken? Who cared. She was alive. She
hadn't burned. That was a plus in any . . .

"Haneda . . .you bitch. You stupid, stupid . . ." Mitaka
didn't realize she was crying as she cursed the slowly
descending figure of her team mate. "See if I ever let you
forget . . ." Her prayerful curses cut off as she saw the black
flyer coming back . . .trailing oily smoke and fire . . .but flying
still and headed for . . .
"Damn you . . ." She was out of missiles. Mitaka
selected guns . . .centered her targeting pip . . .and went to
war emergency power.

Haneda heard the scream of abused jet engines and twisted in
her harness. She saw the black flyer . . .dark and evil as it
scudded through the air toward her . . .she saw an Eagle.
Mitaka! She could see it growing . . .larger and larger as is
shrieked through the thick air.

"uh oh."

Haneda grabbed the risers of her parachute and pulled,
spilling air, trying to drop . . .as fast and as far as she could
before . . .
Lightning blasted from the black flyer . . .toward the Eagle.
Jinking, twisting and rolling the Eagle closed on its prey.
"DIE!" Mitaka toggled her cannon and the Eagle
shivered as the 20mm gun slammed back at the black flyer.

Swinging gently in mid-air Haneda had a wonderful view of
the battle. The same view, she suspected, a mouse had just
before it was swallowed by the cat. The black flyer was
obviously hurt . . .it's maneuvers were slow . . .awkward. But
still deadly as it fired bolt after bolt of lightning. Thunder
rolled and shivered the air until Haneda was almost deaf and the
air stank of ozone. But the Eagle was a whirling, twisting
impossible target as it twisted through the air stressing the air-
frame with maneuvers that McDonnell-Douglas had never
dreamed of.
"Good girl . .. good girl." Haneda twisted her body as
she unconsciously mimicked Mitaka's piloting. "You got
him . . . you got him. Now break off . . ."

Mitaka was beyond reason. Beyond fear. Her panel was a
blaze of warning and failure lights. She didn't care. Like a
wolf with it's teeth in the throat of an enemy . . .Mitaka wouldn't
let go . . .COULDN'T let go.

"Break off . . .break off . . .Please Mitaka. . ."
The big jet fighter slammed into the black flyer at 600 knots.
Haneda wrapped her arms around her head and drew her
knees into her chest just as the shock wave hit. It tossed her like a
leaf in a typhoon, twisting and turning in her lines in a way
that could have easily collapsed her parachute dropping her to her
death.
"Damn you . . .Damn you." Haneda swung limp and
uncaring as she drifted toward the unseen ground.
"mine . . .was . . .bigger."
Haneda's head jerked up at the faint cry and she dashed tears
from her eyes. Twisting wildly about she searched the sky,
starting wild and dangerous gyrations in her parachute.
"mine . . .was . . ."
THERE! Above her and almost a thousand meters distant.
Straining Haneda could see the tiny figure dangling beneath a
silken hemisphere, hands to mouth as she shouted . . .
" . . .bigger . . .mine . . .was . . .bigger . . .than . . .yours."
Haneda inflated her chest and hands cupped to mouth shouted
back.
"I . . .SLOWED . . .HIM . . .DOWN . . .FOR . . .YOU. . ."
She had to get this stupid grin off her face before she landed.

************************************************

Noses pressed against the window of the hastily evacuated
'All Players Caf‚' Usagi and her friends watched horrified as
the second fighter rammed the alien craft and both machines
then slammed into the Odaiba Seaside Park. A huge ball of
fire and black smoke erupted from the park and even from
their fifth floor vantage the small group could see park
visitors stream from the disaster like ants from an overturned
anthill.
"oh god,ohgodohgodohgod." Makato wrapped her
arms around her stomach and closed her eyes. It was
impossible at this distance but she thought she could hear
screams from the center of the fireball.
"Come on!" Usagi called to her friends as she dashed
to the stairs. Rei snagged her arm and dragged her to a stop.
"Just where do you think YOU're going?"
"We have to help . . ."
Rei cut her friend off and pointed out the window at two
trucks; one with JSDF markings, the other a civilian fire
truck. It was a pitiful response to a disaster of that magnitude,
but amazing that any response at all was possible.
"WE do nothing. We're not equipped for fire fighting.
And we've got another job . . .stopping the things that did
that."
Usagi started to argue when Akane put a hand on her
shoulder.
"Reisan is right."
Usagi looked at her Blood Guard in hurt betrayal but
whatever words of protest she had were stillborn by Akane's
white faced calm.
"Reisan is right." Akane repeated. "It is our job to
stop this from happening . . .ever again."
Usagi took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Jerkily she
nodded once in agreement then turned to her other Senshi.
"Ami . . .what should we do next?"
"We've got to close their main portal." Ami rapidly
entered commands into her computer. " It's near the
International Trade Center . . .there's a distortion consistent
with the alien transportation effect that covers an area from
the Takeshiba Pier northeast to Hamacho Park and west past
the Nakkei Building.
"That much?" Makato whispered.
Ami had just described an area of influence that gutted Chuo-ku,
one of the three central wards of Tokyo, one of the most densely populated areas
on earth and only 4 km from . . .
"The EMPEROR!" Makato gasped in sudden
realization. "We have to . . ."
"Relax." Ranma put a calming hand on the big
Senshi's shoulder. "The Emperor has the best security in the
world. I'm sure he's just fine."

************************************************

"COWARDS . . . .FOX CHILDREN . . . UNCLEAN
ILLEGITIMATE OFFSPRING OF PORTUGESE . . ."
"Stupid boken boy keep head down." Shan Pu yanked
Kuno into a ditch as a vaguely beatle shaped flyer shot
overhead on a firing pass. Kuno jerked free and leapt from the
ditch screaming imprecations at the departing flyer. Shan Pu
cautiously peeped over the lip of the ditch in time to see the
burning Fujimi Tower fall with a resounding crash.
Brushing mud and filth off her clothing Shan Pu emerged
from cover to bop Kuno on the head to get his attention.
"What silly samurai boy think he do with sword
against flying machine and cannon?"
Grumbling Kuno turned to the Chinese Amazon.
"Know you that a true Samurai fights not with steel
but with a warriors heart. Mere technological toys can never
overcome the JAPANESE SPIRIT!!!"
Shan Pu rolled her eyes as Kuno struck a pose and started to
slap him again, then stopped as she noticed a cable running
from his armor to the hilt of his sword.
"What this?" She asked, fingering the cable. "Japanese
spirit run on batteries now?"
With a disdainful sniff Kuno pulled free of Shan Pu's grip.
"Jest if you will. Know that Kuno is faithful and obedient to
his Emperor's wishes. As a true Samurai, son, grand-son and
great-grand-son of Samurai . . ."
Shan Pu whapped Kuno, in the same fashion (and for the
same reason) one might strike a stuck phonograph.
"Just tell what cable for. No give family history. Shan
Pu have weak stomach."
"Gaze then upon the miracles of JAPANESE
SCIENCE and be amazed." As he spoke, Kuno drew his
sword and pressed a switch inlaid in the grip. A narrow beam
of light flashed from the sword. As Kuno swung the sword in
a narrow arc Shan Pu heard the whine of electric motors.
Turning she watched as concealed SAM batteries slid
smoothly into position, tracking the moving sword.
"Hmmph. General Electric Laser Designator." Shan
Pu sniffed as she looked Kuno up and down. "Maybe stupid
boken boy not so stupid." She tilted her head to one side
consideringly. "So . . .here is order ramen and pork bun."
Shan Pu pulled out a covered tray. "Please to pay 500,000
Yen."
"500 . . .!?!" Kuno's face twisted in rage. "That's
robbery. I won't pay."
"Oh-Key_Do-Key." Shan Pu agreed cheerfully,
putting away the steaming tray. "You no want . . .Shan Pu no
give. Many hungry people in city under attack by alien. Not
so many take-out-place still deliver. I go now. Find hungry
person with Yen, Dollar, Deutsche Mark . . .maybe hungry person
with gold or jewel. Bui-Bui."
"Aaaaaaa. Kuno must have food to fuel his iron body.
For the good of the Empire, and for no other reason, will I
agree to this . . ."

************************************************

" . . .close enough for Usagi to attack the portal. She's
the only one with enough power to collapse it."
"What about Akanesan?" Minako immediately
regretted the question as Ranma stepped protectively between
Akane and the Senshi.
"Akane ain't . . ."
Akanesan doesn't have the endurance." Ami cut in.
"She has a lot of power but she exhausts herself very rapidly
in combat."
"What about getting some help from the SDF?" Rei
questioned, pointing out the window toward the bay where
ships could be seen maneuvering as they fired cannon and
missiles at alien flyers swarming over the bay. On shore tanks
and artillery pieces fired and moved in a maneuver known to
militaries world wide as 'shoot-and-scoot'.
"I'd like to "Ami admitted. "but without the proper
authorization codes we have no way . . ."
"Ooooops."
"Oooops?" Ami turned to a blushing Minako. "What
do you mean . . .Oooops?"
"Ummm." Minako dug her toe into the carpeting.
"Here, this might help." Ami took the folded square of paper
from Minako's hand.

************************************************

"What's it look like Tigger?"
Colonel Terrence Young asked his Defensive Systems
Officer. First Lieutenant Antoinette (Tony the Tigger) Tregarth
scanned her panels.
"Green here Skipper. Nothing on the board."
"Thumper? Were coming up to 'feet dry'. You ready
to blow things up?."
Captain Mike (Thumper) Morgan the Offensive Systems
Officer looked at the diagnostics for his two nuclear tipped
missiles.
"Green and mean. You fly it, I'll fry it."
"Don't quit your day job. OK . . .how's it look Nash?"
"I think . . ." Whatever Captain Preston Nash thought
was lost at the B1B gave a sudden lurch.
"Skipper . . .we've lost the navsats!" Tigger called
from the back.
"Can you fix it?"
"Negative. It's not us. The satellites are just . . .gone."
Colonel Young swore under his breath. Everything that could
go wrong had gone wrong. Out of an twelve plane flight of
six bombers, four F22's and two tankers, two of his precious
B1B's had aborted from mechanical troubles. A storm front
had forced them to re-route, costing six hours flying. Then
he'd lost one of his tankers and ALL of his fighter escort to
an enemy attack over the Philippines. Finally, an hour ago, all
three of his remaining bombers and his tanker had been
diverted to China; Leaving Colonel Terrance (Terry the
Pirate) Young feeling VERY lonely as he approached Japan.
And now he'd lost the nav-sat's. His inertial navigation
system was the finest in the world. However at 900 mph ,200
feet above the ocean . . ."
"I think we better call ahead to confirm our
reservation . . .and maybe get directions to the hotel."
"Roger that." Captain Nash set the scrambler to the
pre-sets for the JASDF and readied a message for burst
transmission."

************************************************

" . . .Narita is under attack at this time. Haneda
airport has been heavily damaged. Repairs to the runway will
take at least another 10 hours. The sixth air wing at Komatsu
may have a runway open in three hours. No other airfields
under our control can be ready any sooner. Also we have
no . . .repeat NO aircraft available for escort at this time. The
second air wing may have an F4 Phantom ready to fly out of
Chitose in three or four hours."

Colonel Young listened to the litany of disaster crackle from
the speaker. He did NOT want to be fiddle-farting around off
the coast of Japan with no air-cover, two nukes and lots of bad-
guys in the air. Plus they'd been in the air over 20 hours. And
even at cruising speed the B1 was a thirsty beast. It would be
awfully embarrassing to run out of gas.
"Negative . . .negative. We need a tanker and fighter
support. Otherwise I will have to divert to Taiwan. You can
call in a strike from there once you . . ."
"No . . .No . . ." Even digital encryption could not
filter the desperation from the voice. "We must have help
now. You have atomic weapons. You must destroy the
Tokyo Bay portal."
"We can organize a strike from Taiwan. With proper
support, by tomorrow . . ."
"By tomorrow Tokyo may be gone . . .and soon all of
Japan."
"Can you at least give me navigational aids? And an
update on the local terrain? I must have this information for a
low level approach."
"We have lost all air traffic control apparatus. And we
have no way to send terrain data . . ."
"Hello . . .hello?" A young female voice cut into the
secure channel. "Is this the American airplane?"
"What? Who is this?" Colonel Young glared at his
pilot who shrugged his shoulders.
"Ummmm , this is . . .ahhh this is 'Mermaid',
authentication bravo phoenix niner niner six five star star, and
I think I can help you."

************************************************

"Mermaid?" Rei stared at Ami who flushed in
embarrassment and looked accusingly at a grinning Minako.
"Hey , I got to pick our code names and I wanted
something appropriate."
"What's mine?" Minako looked away from Rei toward
Makato.
"You're 'Oak Tree'."
"Oak Tree. I like that."
"Yeah, you're Oak Tree, Ami is Mermaid , Akane is
'Hammer' and Usagi is 'Angel. '
"Oooooooo." Usagi looked wide-eyed at Minako.
"Angel, that's pretty. Thank you Minako. And what are you?"
"Beauty, of course. Sorry Ranma, I don't have one for
you yet."
Ranma shrugged, uncaring. Not so another member of the
little group.
"HEY. What about me? Don't I have a code name?"
Minako turned to the fuming Rei. "Oh, sorry. I forgot. Of
course you do. It's . . ."

************************************************

"PYRO?????"

Colonel Young winced as the soprano scream knifed from the
speaker into his brain.
"Reichan . . .keep it down. I'm trying to talk to the
Americans. I'm sorry Youngsan. As I was saying, I will
transmit navigational data to you. I am sending location data
in degrees, minutes, seconds of latitude and longitude."
"Thank you . . .uh Mermaid." Strange as it seemed the
preposterous code-names and identifiers had been entered
into their authentication data base. And at a level higher than
any one else in the JSDF. He could either trust the gentle
voice (and Air Force Intelligence) and continue on to Tokyo
or abort, divert to Taiwan and hope there was enough of
Japan left to be worth saving at a latter date.
"Thank you." He repeated. "And can you send terrain
data? We will be coming in at a very low altitude. The lower
we are the safer from enemy attack. But we need to know
about buildings, power lines, enemy fortifications."
"Hai . . .uh I mean yes. Yes I can provide that. Please
tell me what format you need and . . ."

************************************************

Ami closed the cover to her computer with a snap.
"Let's go."
"Go? Go where?" Usagi looked bewildered. "Don't
you want to wait until . . ."
"I've done everything I can. Either I succeeded and
now an American bomber can shoot an atomic missile into
Tokyo . . .or I failed and four brave men will die, and Tokyo
with them." Ami turned stony faced to her friends. "I've
detected another portal operating somewhere between
Shibuya-ku and Shinjuku-ku. The SDF doesn't have anything
that can respond. If we hurry perhaps we can . . .can stop it
before the enemy gets established. If we hurry . . .if we . . ."
Usagi gathered her friend into her arms.
"Amichan . . .Amichan . . .you're not God . . .you're
not even a Bodhisattva . . .you did what you always do . .
.your very best. And that's all anyone can do."
"Oh Usagichan . . ."Ami squeezed her friend tightly.
"How do you always know what to say . . ." She paused and
looked down at Usagi. "And how did you know what a
Bodhisattva is?"
"Uh . . .hehehe . . . .well there was this new manga
and . . ." Laughing Ami led Usagi and her friends down the
stairs. Rei started after her friends, then hesitated as she saw
an unopened bottle of club-soda on a table. Coming to a
sudden decision she picked up the bottle and quickly cleaned
her mouth and hands with the water. Placing a coin on the
table as an offering she turned to face the sea through the
window and bowed low twice, twice clapped her hands and
bowed deeply once more.
"Although the people living
across the ocean surrounding us, I believe
are all our brothers and sisters,
why are there constant troubles in this world?
Why do winds and waves rise in the
oceans surrounding us?
I only earnestly wish that the wind will
soon blow away all the clouds which are
hanging over the tops of mountains."

************************************************

"Admiral!"
Ukagi spun around at the excited cry.
"Sir . . sir . . .LOOK. . . .the AMERICANS!!"
Ukagi followed the pointing finger to see the massive B1
bomber slicing through his frantically maneuvering fleet at
over Mach 1.3 . . .10 feet BELOW the level of his ships bridge.

************************************************

"So far . . .so good." Colonel Young checked his
board a final time as they entered Tokyo Bay. "Thumper . . .heat 'em up.
I don't think we're gonna' get but one chance at
this, so I want to fire both nukes at once. Tigger, you handle
the decoy's. I want to burry the two big boys in the middle of
all our decoy missiles." Acknowledgments came from his
back seaters.
"Feet dry coming up in 2 minutes boss."
Young glanced out to see the blurred shapes of the Japanese
'fleet' swell and vanish in an instant. He checked the radar
scope for the amorphous return that indicated an active
portal. Placing his hand lightly on the side-arm controller
waited for the proximity warning that indicated dry land. The
tone sounded and he spoke to his pilot.
"I have the aircraft." He felt the slight shiver as
control was transferred to him.
"Commanders airplane." Nash acknowledged, moving
his hand away from his controller and focusing on the
instruments.
"I have acquired the target." Thumper called from his
position. "We can launch now if you want."
"Negative . . . we're going to carry our birds right
down their throat. Tigger . . .decoys at your discretion."
There was a brief rumbling shudder as the first clutch of
decoy missiles dropped free. Aft, chaff and flares were ejected
in a pre-programmed pattern. G forces hammered the four
against their harnesses as the terrain-following system
slammed the big bomber over, around and sometimes under
bits-and-pieces of down-town Tokyo. As they broke into the
clear a clutch of black insect-like flyers popped into existence
off their port wing. Immediately Nash swept the wings to full
aft position as Young snapped off the TFS and rammed the
four throttles to the fire-wall. At full after-burner the big plane
leapt forward at Mach 1.6, each of the G.E. turbofans gulping
fuel at over 3 gallons per second.
"Missiles away!" Thumper called from the back seat
as the two nuclear tipped cruise missiles dropped free of the
bomber buried in a cloud of the remaining decoy missiles.
Freed of their weight the plane lifted suddenly and Colonel
Young pulled back on the controller, hauling the bulky
bomber upward in a zoom climb more suited to a fighter than
a 400,000 pound bomber. The airspeed indicator spun rapidly
upward even as the fuel gage dropped by 12,000 pounds. As
they passed 55,000 feet the missiles detonated in the heart of
the portal. At 62,000 feet the edge of the shock wave,
distorted and channeled by the space twisting properties of
the portal caught the bomber, tossing it through the air like a
child's toy. Even as they spun through the air like a piece of
lint on high spin cycle Young and Nash fought to regain
control of their aircraft. Engine stall warnings, Low oil
pressure warnings, Engine fire alarms and of all things the
ground proximity warning all sounded.
"Flame out skipper. All four are cold." Nash called.
"We got nothing burning. Aux. power coming up . . .now."
"Restart procedures . . .number one." Young kicked
hard right rudder and pushed the nose down in an attempt to
kill the spin while keeping enough airspeed to windmill his
dead engines.
"Skipper . . .fuel temp's BELOW -5 degrees."
"WHAT? That's imposs . . .never mind." Young
dismissed the strange aftereffects of the alien portals
destruction. " Fuel heaters. ON."
"Roger. Fuel heaters . . .ON."
"Generator breakers . . .ON."
"Generator breakers . . . ON." Nash confirmed.
"Main booster pump ON."
"Main booster pump . . .ON."
Ignition switch ON." Young called to his pilot.
Ignition switch ON."
"Pressurize main tank."
"Main tank pressurized . . .pressurizing fuel cross feed
system."
Quickly the two pilots ran through the restart procedure.
"Nothing skipper. Still cold."
"Restart . . .number four."
Nash and Young repeated the restart procedure on the
starboard outboard engine as the big plane bled altitude like a
hemophiliac at a glass eating contest.
"No joy on number four."
"Restart . . .number two." Young rapidly went down
the checklist. "Gentleman." Young spoke to his crew while he
went through the In-Flight engine start procedure. "It is my
opinion . . .(Generator Breakers ON ). . .it is my opinion that if
we pass 5,000 feet . . .(Main booster pump ON) . . . .5,000 feet
without a restart . . .(Ignition switch ON) . . .without an engine restart
. . .(pressurize main tank) . . .that our contract with the Air
Force to fly this airplane is null-and-void and we should
leave."
"Number two cold skipper."
Young looked at the altitude indicator . . .12,000 feet. Time
for one more try."
"Restart . . .number one engine."
Nash looked startled. "Number one? But we . . ."
"Restart number one engine." Young repeated firmly.
Quickly the two men raced time and altitude to restart the
number one engine. At seven thousand feet the engine
coughed once and died. No time for another try.
"Stand by to eject."
"Hell skipper." Tigger drawled from her back seat
position. "If I wanted to swim I'd 'uv been a squid. These are
zero altitude seats. Guaranteed to blast you free at ground
level or double your money back. How 'bout one more try."
By the book Young should, and could, eject all four of them.
But the cold Sea of Japan was not an attractive spot for
swimming. And the middle of a war made it unlikely a search
and rescue effort would be either speedy or thorough.
"Alright Tigger . . .give me an altitude count. And we
all leave at 1,000 feet. . .Restart . . .number one." All four of
them could be clear of the bomber in 2.0 seconds. Plenty of
time. The altitude indicator unwound like a broken spring as
Young and Nash raced through the restart procedures again.
"Generator breakers . . .ON."
"5,000 feet."
"Generator breakers . . . ON." Nash confirmed.
"Main booster pump ON."
4,000 feet."
"Main booster pump . . .ON."
Ignition switch ON." Young called to his pilot.
Ignition switch ON."
2,000 feet"
"Pressurize main tank."
"Main tank pressurized . . .pressurizing fuel cross feed
system."
"1,000 feet." Tigger called from the back seat.
"Eject . . .Eject . . .Ej . . . " Nash ordered . . .as the
number one engine coughed . . .sputtered and rumbled into
life."
"CHECK FIRE." Young and Nash called
simultaneously.
"Restart number four." Young ordered as he pulled
back on the controller. At 500 feet number four rumbled into
life. Young shoved the throttles to full power while bringing
the controller back to lift the nose. At the same time Nash
brought the wings completely forward to increase lift.
"This is going to hurt." Young thought as the black
oily surface of the Sea of Japan filled his vision. Number two
engine rumbled into life and Young automatically corrected
for the uneven thrust caused by flying on three engines. And,
suddenly as a heart attack, the horizon was falling BELOW
the nose of the big plane, although it was a few moments
before Young realized what this meant. Just as the realization
that he wasn't going to die (just yet) sank in, the number three
engine snarled into life.
"Well, hell. That was easy. If we can scare up a
tanker, what say we just head for home now?"
"Ummm. You might want to re-think that skipper."
"Oh, why is that Captain Morgan?"
"Take a look to starboard."
Young looked in the direction Thumper indicated . . .to see
the outer third of the starboard wing canted upwards at a 20
degree angle.
"I . . .see what you mean. Well, I've always wanted to
see China. Or maybe Korea."
"If it's dry, I'll be happy."
"You always were easy, Tigger."
"Colonel Young sir . . .while I realize this is a low
level bomber, I don't think Rockwell ever rated it as a
submarine."
"Huh?" Young returned intelligently.
Silently Nash pointed forward . . .at a small fish plastered
against the armored glass."

************************************************

"Are you alright?" Ranma looked at the big Senshi in
concern.
"fast."
"Huh?"
"fast. i was going fast."
"That's right Makato." Ami said soothingly. "You
were going fast. But we're stopped now."
"Hasn't she ever ridden the monorail before?"
"Generally," Rei staggered up, holding onto Minako.
"We ride INSIDE the cars." Rei paused, gulping in air. "Are
you INSANE!! Jumping on the roof . . ."
"Wheeeeeeeee!!!!" Usagi danced up, spinning around
in a little circle. "That was Fuuuuun!"
Minako gave a little shake of her head. Rei was not nearly so
restrained.
"Fun? FUN! Are you crazy! We could have been
killed. You really are a . . ."
"Especially when we changed trains at Shimbashi.
Juuuuuump . . .WHOOOOSH . . .Juuuuu . . ."
Rei turned green at Usagi's exuberant pantomime of their
recent journey and made a mad dash for the bushes.
"Something she ate?" Ranma questioned.
Akane whapped her iinazuke on the head.
"We're getting close." Ami looked up from her
computer. "The portal is operating intermittently so it's hard
to localize . . ."She paused, tapping a few keys, then closed
the cover and put her computer away with a little sound of
disgust. "They've shut down again. I know the epicenter is
within a kilometer or two of here, but I can't localize until
they start up again."
Minako looked around trying orient herself. They'd taken one
of the still operating trains as far as they could before
being forced back onto the streets. Even at the best
of times Tokyo was a confusing place to navigate. Now . . .
the streets were filled with rubble, some were completely
blocked. Smoke and dust filled the air and sirens wailed in the
near distance.
"Ami, I need directions. Which way should we go?"
Ami activated her visor and turned in a slow circle. "That
way." She said stopping and pointing. "Shinjuku station is just
ahead . . .I think. And it's within five or six hundred meters of
the outer edge of the epicenter of the portal effect. Perhaps
we can find someone at the station who has noticed enemy
activity in the area. That may help us localize the portal
before they activate it again."
Five minutes of running that included a great deal of climbing
over and through fallen walls and overturned vehicles brought
them suddenly to an open area facing the southern entrance to
Shinjuku Station, framed by the giant 'Times Square' building
on the right and the 'Southern Terrace' on the left. Although
'open' was a relative term. Clear of rubble and debris the
space, including the elevated crosswalk connecting the two
buildings, was a solid mass of humanity . . . men, women,
children . . .salarymen, housewives . . .and dotted here and
there the white helmets of policemen providing a token
appearance of order and safety.
"What the . . .what in the world is going on? This is a
dangerous place. These people should leave."
Ami looked up at Makato from her computer.
"I think that's what they're doing. A train just left here
. . .it's about 4 kilometers down the line. And it looks like
another one is loading. It appears to be an evacuation center."
"Evacuation! But . . ."
"It makes sense Rei." Minako added. "Things are
looking really bad. And it's probably going to get worse. I
only hope that they can evacuate more of the city."
"But where are they going to PUT everyone?"
No one had an answer to Usagi's question.
Deciding that the southern entrance was impassible Minako
quickly led the small group around to the east-park entrance.
There she hoped to get close enough to a policeman or one of
the scattered military personnel to ask about enemy activity in
the area.
"Hey . . .look!" Usagi shouted suddenly, causing a
spasm of combat reflex among her body guard. "It's 'Long
Vacation'" Her friends looked stupidly at her , dumfounded
by her seeming non-sequitur. Stamping her foot impatiently,
Usagi pointed her finger. "There . . .up there. Ohhhh. There's
Minami . . .and she's just found out her iinazuke's run off
with all her money." Following her pointing finger the others
saw a giant TV screen on the side of the building filled with
the image of a desperate looking young woman.
"BAKA." Rei cuffed Usagi. "The world is ending and
you're watching re-runs of a stupid soap-opera?"
"But Reiiiii . . .I never got to see how it ended. Mama
made me start studying for exams just when that mean old
teacher told Sena he had no talent for the piano. And he was
about to give up his scholarship and . . ."
"Minami bought a keyboard and started to take
lessons to learn to play the piano in one weeks time. She
wanted to show Sena a miracle so he would believe in
himself again. But she was also dating someone else at the
time and . . ." Ranma trailed to a stop as he suddenly
realized everyone was looking at him slack jawed.
"Ummmm . . .at least that's what I heard . . .somewhere."
He finished weakly.
"Makato, if you'd make a path for me . . .I see a
truck with JSDF markings over there." Ami pointed off to
the left. "I'll go ask if they've seen anything that might
indicate the center of enemy activity." As the two headed
off Usagi rounded excitedly on Ranma. "Ooooo! Then what
happened . . .after she bought the keyboard? And started
lessons. Did Sena start playing again? And what about
Shinji . . . and Momoko?"
"Well . . .uh . . .I uh never actually watched it
myself. But I heard that after Minami bought the keyboard .
. .and remember her iinazuke ran out on their wedding with
all her money so this was a really big purchase for her . . .anyway
she really dedicated herself to her piano lessons and . . ."

************************************************

Minako decided that Usagi was safe enough with Ranma and
Akane on one side and Rei hovering close by on the other
side. The mass flight from her beloved city depressed Minako
. . .and when she was under stress she liked to be up high.
With a great leap she sprang to the top of the pedestrian
concourse. She had a brief flash of slack-jawed adults and
awe-struck children as she hit the side rail and jumped again.
Twice more had her at the top of the train-station. There was
a wild roaring cheer from the crowd and Minako flashed a V
sign and waved at the people. Taking a deep breath she let it
out slowly and gazed out over burning city. Here and there
she could see emergency vehicles . . .further out she could see
small dots darting through the air. The distance was too great,
even for senshi enhanced vision, to determine if they were
human or alien. She hoped they were human but was afraid
that the Skroach controlled the skies of Japan. A flash, low on
the horizon, drew her attention toward the west. Shifting
position she shaded her eyes with her hand and stared intently
for a moment. The flash came again, and she thought she saw
a cluster of alien fliers, like a swarm of insects, skimming just
above what was left of the skyline. Swearing under her breath
she dropped quickly toward the ground, looking for Ami as
she descended.
"No . . .Kittychan . . .I want Kittychan."
As she jumped from street-light to tree-top above the packed
mass of humanity Minako heard the shrill piping voice . .
.above the rumbling murmur of the thousands . . .she heard
that one small voice. Looking down toward the sound her
vision suddenly narrowed on a small boy . . .five or six years
old . . . being thrust bodily toward the entrance of the train
station by officials anxious to load another evacuation train
with as many children as possible. Following the desperate
child's gaze Minako saw a flash of color almost buried in a
sea of shuffling feet. With the precision of a surgeon Minako
threaded a golden chain between the dense packed, sweating
mass to snatch the . . .cloth doll . . . from the ground. A cold
chill shivered Minako's bones at the sight of the doll . . .like
some half remembered dream. Shaking off the feeling she
flipped the doll into the child's hands and bounded off to find
Ami and tell her she might have found the enemy.

*************************************************

"All right. This is gonna be great!" Ranma enthused
looking at the sight below him. On Akane's
advice they had followed him to the top of the highest
building still standing. Now Usagi and the other
senshi looked at him as if he were crazy. Akane merely
shook her head in fond exasperation.
"I know you're salivating at the prospect of fighting
your first alien species. . ."
"Second." he retorted. " What about Taro?"
"He's not an alien, just cursed. Besides, didn't he
bounce you around like a rubber ball?"
"HEY! He just got lucky."
"Yeah, a couple of dozen times. We can't afford any
mistakes here, these 'guys' are playing for keeps."
"Yeah, Yeah." Ranma grumbled "OK, see we got one
big problem and one little one. That" he pointed to the
rippling of the air that indicated a Portal "is our big one. As long as
that thing is working they can keep reinforcing. The little one is
those" this time he indicated a swarm of small craft that were
darting in and around the wrecked buildings. "As long as
they got the 'high ground' we can't move freely, can't attack,
can't disengage without them seein' us. And if you can see the
other guy before he sees you-you win. If HE sees YOU first-
you lose."
"And what about the hundred or so soldiers-in
powered armor. You don't consider those a
problem?" Rei asked sarcastically.
"Nah." Ranma waved a hand dismissively. "We cut off
that portal thingy and they run out of gas sooner or later.
Then all that armor and stuff's just so much dead weight. And we
get rid of their 'eyes in the sky' and their infantry is blind, deaf and
dumb."
"Nice tactical analysis" Mercury approved. "But the
fact is they DO have the flying scouts, they DO have the
portal and they CAN reinforce. And I don't see how we can do
anything about any of that."
"Hey." Makoto objected."Why not do what we always
do. Jump in the middle, blast everything that moves while
Usagi does her stuff." Makoto's eyes gleamed at the idea of mixing
it up with this new enemy. She hadn't forgotten the last time and
she was looking forward to some payback.
"Because as soon as Usagi powers up for her attack
they'll detect it. At best they'll mount an infantry attack, at
worst they'll bomb us from the air."
"Or maybe a combined attack." Ranma added.
"Ok, so if we attack the portal, the infantry and air will
kill us. If we try to take out the infantry, the air will locate and
pin us down while the infantry kills us. And in the meantime
more and more of those things are coming through the
portal." Rei summarized.
"Yeppers." Ranma grinned.
"Quit teasing them Ranma." Akane admonished.
"Bleeeeee!" Ranma stuck his tongue out at Akane,
then turned and grinned at the senshi.
"See, we're going to use their own strength against
them."
*************************************************

"I don't like this." Ranma muttered grimly.
"It's your idea Ranma." Akane reminded him.
"It wasn't my idea for YOU. . ."
Akane put her hand on his shoulder. She could feel his
body shiver with repressed tension.
"Look, someone has to. . ."
"It doesn't have to be YOU!"
"Yes it does." she said patiently.
"Let me do it."
Venus came up behind him and put a sympathetic hand
on his shoulder.
"I sympathize with you Ranmasan. But, like it or not,
you're a soft target compared to the senshi. And all of us put
together can't take as much punishment as Akanechan. You
came up with a good plan, now let us carry it out."
"Dammit, I'm a better martial artist than Akane,
I should. . ."
"That's why I'm leaving you with Usagi and Ami."
Akane interrupted. "I would never leave them otherwise."
"Why do YOU have to do it!" Ranma repeated
stubbornly.
"Who else is there? Ami is our command and control.
Her sensors are at least as sensitive as mine and she has much
better analytical skills. Or perhaps we should send Usagi?"
Even Ranma grinned faintly at that as Akane continued.
"Usagi is staying put until we have their air and
ground elements tied down sufficiently to give
her time to launch her attack" She glared sternly at
Ranma. "This is all your idea and it's a good one.
Venus, Mars and Jupiter are all used to working as a
team. It doesn't make sense to split them up. That
leave you and me. You're a better martial artist but I"VE
got all this nifty hardware. You don't have
armor, you don't even have a communicator. You're
good, but no one's that good unarmed against that
many guns. " Akane sighed and leaned against Ranma.
His arms came around her reflexively and she
relaxed in his embrace. "I'm scared Ranma." He
tightened his grip at her words. "Really sacred. The
first two times I did this, I was just reacting, not thinking.
This is the first time I'm going to do it deliberately. And
I'm scared. Scared I'm going to die.
More scared I'm going to klutz out and someone
else will die because of me. I need to know that you're
here with Usagi. And Ami. If. . .if it goes wrong, I know
you'll get them out of here alive. Please. Promise me you'll stay
here and look after them?"
Ranma tightened his grip then pushed her to arms length
so he could look directly into her eyes.
"Do it just like we planned. Nothing fancy. Do NOT
get mad. Gettin' mad's the fastest way to loose a fight. Stay
centered. Keep the music in your head. Dance, don't slug
Don't let 'em pin you down."
"Hai, sensei!" Akane grinned impishly.
Ranma shook her lightly. "I mean it. None o' your
'What-the-hell-let's-pound-the-snot-outta-somethin'-
'till-it-breaks' stuff. You've told me about all your weapons . . .
Snipe at 'em and KEEP MOVIN'. An' you got good instincts,
you just think too much. I ain't never seen anyone, an' I mean
ANYONE you couldn't land at least one punch on. DON'T
think about what your doin', just do it. And keep doin'
it over an' over 'till the bad guys are done."
"Promise me you'll look after Usagi for me? And
Ami?" Akane stared intently into Ranma's eyes,
willing him to understand, to agree.
Curtly he jerked his head in a short up and down motion.
"Thank you Ranma." She stood quickly on tip-toe and
brushed her lips against his, then disappeared down the side of
the building.
"I think that's our cue to get going." Vensus said
watching Akane disappear. " Give us a few minutes to get
into position. We'll give you a single 'click' on the communicators
when we're ready."
"You guys be careful." Usagi was nearly in tears.
"No problem. We beat Beryl, The Black Moon Clan,
the Dead Moon Circus, Galaxia. We even passed the entrance
exams. We'll wax these guys and be back in time for a late
supper." Jupiter gave her princess a quick hug.
"Right!" Venus exclaimed cheerfully "When the going
gets tough, we take a shortcut."
"OK, baka brains. Try not to fall asleep up here." Rei
said gruffly.
Usagi stared intently into her eyes for a moment then
threw her arms around the senshi of fire, squeezing her
tightly. "I love you Rei. You're the best friend I ever had."
Rei stared, silent and stunned for a moment. Then she
turned away quickly and without a word descended down the
side of the building opposite the side Akane had descended.
Venus and Jupiter quickly followed leaving Ami, Usagi and
Ranma alone on top of the building.

*************************************************

"She's starting now." Mercury whispered pointing at a
display on her computer. Usagi and Ranma looking over her
shoulder could see a moving graph spike suddenly.
"That's her primary weapon activating. We should see
someth . . ."
There was a sudden rumbling buzz, like a jet turbine
eating a bucket of ball bearings and one of the
small flying craft fell from the sky trailing a plume of
greasy smoke.

**********************************************

##Target destroyed.## the whisper announced with
satisfaction. ##Two hostile flying craft approaching on
reciprocal vector. Hostile ground forces converging.## Icons
bloomed on the mental grid map. Akane could see two swift
moving flyers and at least fifteen ground troops headed her
way.
"Active sensors to maximum power. Bounce a tight
beam off that lead flyer."
The whisper hesitated.
##Warning. Active sensors will reveal position to
hostile flyers.##
"Won't it just." Akane murmured.
##Not understoo. . .##
" Go active, maximum power."
##Acknowledged.##
A massive surge pulsed from Akane's sensors, pinpointing
her location like a giant "Here-I-am-please-come-shoot-me-now"
sign. Being well mannered murderous alien invaders, the
flyers politely and instantly turned toward this
energy pulse and dove toward Akane's signal. Prudently they
maintained a wide separation and jinked randomly to throw
off any defensive fire.
"Select Armor Piercing. Weapon power set to 0.5."
This was likely to be a long fight. She had
to conserve power. " Contra-grav to standby."
##Acknowledged.##
Akane stepped into the open and watched the two flyers
approach. The lead ship opened up with what
seemed to be a heavy version of the infantry warp-gun
professor while the wing 'man' ripple fired a particle
beam weapon. Both flyers achieved direct hits on their
target. They watched the ground explode into a
white hot vapor of rock and steel. Even had their
instruments been able to penetrate the sensor hash
created by their own weapons fire they would not have
believed the results. As the two flyers zoomed
over an obviously destroyed target, a small figure erupted
from the expanding dust cloud behind them.
They had absolutely no warning as super-dense darts
moving at 10,000mps blasted through them like
an anvil through wet tissue.
##Targets destroyed. Accumulators at 57%.##
"Nuts." Akane muttered to herself as she descended
toward the ground. She'd still used too much power killing
those two. She didn't need to vaporize them, just knock them
down. She looked around guiltily, hoping that Ranma hadn't
seen her mistake.
##Input not understood.##
"Reduce kinetic weapon acceleration to 5000mps."
That should reduce power consumption and still give her
enough "oomph" to knock down the flyers if she aimed
carefully.
##Acknowledged. Enemy flyers on intercept course.##
Four icons blinked on her mental map, coming in from widely
divergent courses. ##Enemy ground force numbers now
estimated at between 40 and 60.## More icons crawled
across the virtual ground covering the map like a malignant
fungus Akane snarled at the oncoming flyers and she swung
her kinetic weapon up and over to target the closest attacker.

*************************************************

"That's number three down." Mercury tapped
commands into her computer. She examined the
changing alpha-numeric crawl on the screen. "I think
she's really made them mad now."
Ranma grunted from his position peering over the edge of
a broken wall.
"Let me see."
Sailormoon tried to wiggle forward to Ranma's side.
Mercury snagged her ankle and dragged her back
without raising her head from the screen. There was a
long, wide furrow in the dirty rubble showing
where this action had been repeated many times before.
Sailormoon spat dirt from her mouth and glared at
Mercury.
"If you want to see what's going on you can look at the
computer." Mercury said, still without looking up."
"You're just being mean." Sailormoon hissed. "Ranma
gets to look and I. . ."
"Ranma is suffering from testosterone poisoning. It's
common among teenage boys. They grow out of it if they live
long enough."
Sailormoon sniffed at her senshi and settled back down
grumbling under her breath. Mercury decided
she really didn't need to know and turned her attention
back to her computer. . . and Ranma. He hadn't
said a word since Akane had left, didn't even respond to
her deliberate gibes. His attention was on the
distant battle as if human eyes could pierce the growing
darkness, rubble filled streets and clouds of dust
and plasma thrown up by weapons fire and exploding
vehicles.
"She's alright, Ranma. Akane shows up on my
scanners like a beacon. They're not even
getting close." Mercury lied. Actually Akane had been hit
several times. Mercury knew that only her
ability to exist in zero-space had saved her. And Akane's
energy signature was getting weaker. She was
running out of power, fast. And she still had a long way
and eight more flyers to go.

*************************************************

Akane's breath came in sobbing gasps and her shoulders
heaved with exhaustion. A distant part of her mind reminded
her that a martial-artist always breathed from the belly and
noted that shoulder breathing was the beginning of the end.
"Sys. . .tems St. . .st. .atus."
##Accumulators at 18%. Energy Weapon off line,
insufficient power. Kinetic Weapon, magazines empty.
Protein envelope integrity compromised. Blood loss within
12% of maximum repair capacity. ##
Akane twisted and spun like a worm on hot coals
frantically trying to avoid being hit by the weapons
massing fire upon her. She was especially wary of the
warp-guns. Even at her best they could hurt her.
With her energy levels so low she was increasingly
vulnerable, even to the blaster fire. If they could co-
ordinate blaster fire from five or six vehicles . . .or if they
managed to keep a warp-gun on her for more
than a second, or if they could get good hits with two or
more at the same time. . .She screamed and tumbled to the
ground as a warp-gun caught her flush on her hip.
Only a life times martial training brought her rolling to
her feet . . .running before another beam could converge and
finish her off. She lurched off in a stumbling run, zig-zagging
through the rubble even as more armored figures closed
in from the ground and eight of the last enemy
fliers swooped down from above.
"MARS. . ."
"JUPITER. . ."
"FIRE BIRD"
"LOVE AND BEAUTY. . ."
"EVOLUTION. . ."
"SHOCK!!!"
From their hidden position the combined attack of three
angry senshi caught the remaining flyers
completely by surprise and bunched together. The energy
of the attack blasted seven pilots and machines
apart like a puff ball in a typhoon. The eighth fell like a
stone into the rubble field below.

"YES!" Mercury was ecstatic. "They got them all. Every
enemy flying machine is dead or out of action!" She turned to
Sailormoon. "Get ready. They're going to have to open the
portal, either to retreat or to reinforce. When they do. .. "
"I dust 'em! " Sailormoon responded tensely. "Never
mind that. How is . . ."
"I don't know. There's too much interference from the
blast to see very well. But I'm sure she's alright. Now get
ready to. . ."
The black armored figure caught Sailormoon and
Sailormercury completely by surprise. Sailormoon
frantically backpedaled, tripped and landed hard on her
rear. Sailormercury scrambled frantically to
bring her 'Aqua Rhapsody' to bear on the attacker. Even
as her hands closed around her harp she knew
with a sick certainty she was going to be too late.
"MOUKO TAKABISHA!!." The ki-blast slammed the
armored figure into the ground.
"Never mind this guy." Ranma yelled as he launched
himself at the prone figure "Get that portal before more of
these guys show up."
Mercury watched, dazed, as Ranma launched an attack so
rapid that, even with her visor, she could barely see the
individual blows. She shook off her stupor and turned to
Sailormoon who was just dragging herself off the ground.
"Sailormoon, the portal" Mercury glanced down at her
computer. "Quickly, the portal is opening and something is
coming through!"
Sailormoon looked off in the distance. The slight
shimmering in the air had changed to a pronounced
twisting ripple, like water running down a drain. A dark,
armored shape could been seen nosing it's way through the
dilating portal.
"SILVER MOON. . ."
Even occupied as he was part of Ranma's attention was
on Sailormoon and her attack. He noted her
graceful flowing movements, so unlike her normal
manner. With approval he watched her center herself with
precise flowing motions that irresistibly reminded him of
Aikido.
"CRYSTAL POWER . . ."
Sailormoon was blazing with power now. Ranma's black
armored opponent stumbled slightly as the
brilliant light washed over everything. Ranma took this
opportunity to see if his opponent could fly.
"KISSSSS!!!"
The bolt of energy slammed into the open portal. There
was a micro-seconds hesitation, then the space
around the portal erupted like dynamiting an aquarium.
Ranma had a moment to note that his opponent could
NOT fly, and didn't seem to bounce very well either. As the
Skroach hit the ground twenty stories below Ranma had just
enough time to hear a wet crunching sound , like stepping on
a large cockroach, before the shock wave hit.

*************************************************

##Containment shield shut down safely. Accumulators
at 3.23%. Initiating self-repair routines.##
"You do that." Akane panted under her breath as she tried
to drag herself out from under a fallen I-beam without
success.
##Input not un. . .##
"Affirmative. Initiate repairs" She thought a
minute. "Establish secure link with Sailormercury."
##Unable to establish link. Jamming still in effect.
Systems remain degraded below. . .##
"Run scan." Akane cut the voice off. "Passive mode
only. Locate hostile targets."
##Unable to scan. Jamming. . .##
Wearily Akane cut off the voice. She was deaf, dumb and
blind. She heaved at the beam pinning her
down. Pain erupted through her body and she fell back in
agony. She lay on her back, trying to bring
the pain under control before she puked all over herself.
"Initiate medical self-test."
##Listing damage to organic components:
Protein envelope has been pierced in the following
locations.## Here a schematic of her body popped up in her
mental window.
##42% of protein envelope has been burned beyond
repair capability. Anti-shock protocols initiated. Fabricating tissue
replacement.## Icons flashed and changed as the whisper detailed
her injuries.
She was going to have to wait for somebody to rescue her.
She hated that. She hated to wait and she especially hated to
be rescued. The thought of Ranma finding her like this
galvanized her into action. She concentrated briefly and a short
thick rod appeared in her hand. The rod lengthened and thinned toward
the end. Akane jammed the rod under the beam
where it rested on a block of masonry. If she could lift the
beam, just a little, she could pull her legs free. Of course if she
slipped the beam would crush her lower body into bean paste.
Akane slowly drew air into her lungs, her lower belly
expanding as she inhaled.. She imagined an ocean of ki beneath the
ground and each time she inhaled she drew a golden thread from
that ocean into her belly. Every time she exhaled she pushed out
all weakness and pain. Slowly the outside world faded and the
only thing that existed was the bar in her hand and the growing
golden ball of ki. Finally the golden orb filled
her to bursting. Her hands closed around the bar
and she imagined the golden power surging through her
arms, lifting the steel beam and freeing her legs.
She heaved, and the steel beam moved! The masonry
block tilted and tumbled away out of sight. Now
the steel was supported only by her arms. Her back and
shoulder muscles surged as her legs moved
slightly, then stopped. Her right leg was tangled in
something deep in the wreckage that she couldn't see.
Akane stared into the deepening gloom, at she shadow of
the steel guillotine that hung over her lower
body. Her arms were trembling uncontrollably now, her
body was drenched in sweat as if she'd fallen in
a river. Akane knew she was going to die. Her
strength would give out, the beam would crush her,
like a tube of toothpaste. Her implants were too exhausted
to repair such major damage. The beam sagged a little. In a
burst of rage Akane heaved again. She was NOT going to let
this stupid, stupid building kill her. That was the last of her
strength and she felt her arms collapse like wet cardboard. In
dream-like slow motion she watched the steel beam fall,
waited for the sudden flare of pain that would signal her last
seconds of life.
"Dammit, tomboy. I thought I told you to . . ."
Akane had time enough to see Ranma's scolding face
loom above her before blackness covered her like a blanket.
As the concerned senshi crowded around Ranma and the
unconscious Akane they did not notice two figures crouched
in the ruins only a few score meters way.

Chapter 11

"WHERE ON EARTH AM I NOW!!"
It wasn't original. And Hibiki Ryouga didn't really expect
an answer. Still, it was a great tension reliever. Not as good
as beating the stuffing out of Ranma of course. He thought of
RAnma, the trouble maker; RANma, the coward; RANMA,
the womanizer . . ."
He could almost feel his rivals throat in his hands as he
squeezed the life out of him.
"Excuse me." a soft shy voice said.
He would grab Ranma and twist his lying. . ..
"Excuse me."
"WHAT!!"
"May I have my book-bag back please?"
Hibiki Ryouga looked down and saw a torn, twisted mass
of leather a and paper in his hands. His eyes followed a
tattered leather strap that led from the shredded bag to a small,
pale hand. From there it was a surprisingly brief trip from hand to
arm to head. A raven dark cap of hair topped the head which
did not even reach the bottom of his shoulders. His eyes
dropped to a painfully delicate, beautiful face dominated by a
pair of huge violet eyes.
A GIRL! A really, really TINY girl. A really, really tiny
BEAUTIFUL . . ." Ryouga's glacially slow but precise
thought processes ground to a halt as previously noted
details were analyzed and new conclusions
drawn. A YOUNG girl. A REALLY, REALLY . . ."
"Excuse me." the shy voice came again, like rain
whispering on crystal bells.
"Excuse me, but you're squeezing my hand."
Ryouga looked down at her hand, or rather where her
hand should have been. He could feel her soft
warm hand trembling inside his fist like a frightened bird.
He could see her fragile wrist protruding from
his huge hand. He could see how her skin whitened under
the pressure . . .
"AAAAAAAAA!!!" Ryouga snatched his hand away
as if he'd grabbed the hot end of a poker.
He dropped on his belly at the girls feet.

"I'msorrypleaseforgivemeI'mnotapervert-It'sallRanam'sfault!"
"Oh, you've hurt yourself."
Ryouga flinched in embarrassment as he felt the girl
kneel beside him. He felt a delicate fluttering on his
scarred knuckles. He opened his eyes to see a small pale
hand resting on his large calloused one. A soothing warmth
spread through his hand and up his arm. Soon his entire body
tingled with energy and a strange peace. Startled, he looked
down to see the cuts and bruises that always covered his
hands fading like the stars at sunrise.
"My name is Tomoe Hotaru. What's yours?"
Ryouga looked into eyes that had darkened to purple.
Deep mysterious pools . . .
"Hibiki. Hibiki Ryouga."

*************************************************

"Would you just get back into bed!"
"OH, my son! So manly."
"I give my permission. . ."
"But father, they're too young. . ."
"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!!!!"
Usagi and most of her friends watched in amazement.
Forgotten and almost unnoticed the object of the
verbal sparring limped slowly down the stairs and crossed
to the one person standing alone. .
". . .panda. It's just not possible. I could almost
believe a sex change. That's just a chromosome difference.
Except for the mass discrepancy. But a panda is a different
species. The brains are wired differ. . ." Mercury's muttering
trailed off again as she typed furiously, occasionally raising
her visored eyes to scan Saotomesan who had forgotten he
was once again human and was gesticulating wildly with his
signs.
"You probably don't want to know about the cat the
duck and the Minotaur then."
Ami jumped at Akane's teasing whisper.
"Oh, I didn't see you."
"You wouldn't have noticed Taro Pantyhose
coming down the stairs."
"WHO!"
"Uh, he fell in the spring of Yeti riding a Yak while
carrying a crane and an eeeeeeelllll!" Akane
yelped as Ranma scooped her off her feet.
"Don't forget the octopus." Ranma added, then looked
sternly at Akane.
"BAKA. You've got to rest if you wanna get better."
"I'm fine. My. . .ooooww!" Akane rubbed her side
where Ranma had poked her. "Why did you do that?"
"Sure you're fine. Just had a building fall on you is
all."
"My implants are fix. . ." Akane trailed off as she
noticed Ami's glazed look.
Usagi walked up behind Ami and gently bopped her on
the head.
"OK, Ami-chan. Time to eat." she pulled the computer
out of her hands. "And stop thinking. I can smell brain cells
frying from across the room."
"B. . .b. . .but he said OCTOPUS!" Ami was almost in
tears. "Why did he say octopus, Usagi?" Ami looked
desperate. "There's a panda too. Did you see the
panda?"
"Yes I saw the panda."Usagi said soothingly, "Bad,
bad panda for upsetting you. We can have Rei do a Burning
Mandella. You'd like that wouldn't you?"
"That's it. And then I can dissect it. I can find out how
it works." Ami turned pleading eyes to Usagi. "I can find out!
I CAN! If I cut it into pieces, into tiny, tiny pieces I can figure
it all out."
"That's right." Usagi reassured Ami. "Tiny, tiny
pieces. But first let's get something to eat."
"ok." Ami said in a little girl voice as she meekly let
Usagi lead her away.

"POP'S!! Get outta there!" Ranma glared at his father
who was wrapped tightly around a bush in the garden outside.
"That's right Mr. Saotome. Usagi won't really let Ami
dissect you."
"Yeah, just cut off a few piece. . .owww!"
"Quit teasing, Ranma."
"Oh, I don't know. I'd like to get video of the dissection."
They turned to look at Nabiki. "It'd sell better than that 'Alien
Autopsy' I bet."
"!!!!!!!!!!"
"OK, Nabiki, YOU'RE going to have to get him off
the roof this time." Akane groused.
"Hey guys!" Makoto burst into the garden. "I think
you're gonna want to see this."

". . .ite House has confirmed a nuclear detonation." the
young NHK news anchor was visibly shaken. "There are
unconfirmed reports from the Peoples Republic of China of three
and possibly four detonations of devices in the 2000 kiloton range.
A joint communication from . . ."
"I'm tapping into what's left of the satellite system." Ami worked
furiously at her computer. "It looks like the enemy has been making
incursions in other countries." She entered a few more commands
then turned the screen so the others could see.
"These points designate unconfirmed sightings of
'strange lights', 'monsters' and other unusual
phenomenon. A lot of these sightings were undoubtedly
the usual 'UFO' type sightings but many were
probably genuine. And there is no way to tell how many
actual alien visitations went unnoticed. In fact
it appears that there may have been several other
visitations in Japan at the same time we were fighting
that first group. If we hadn't stumbled on them by
accident they probably would have been in and out
without anyone knowing." Ami paused to collect her
thoughts. "I believe that these were scouting
parties, a large number of small lightly armed groups.
They were not here to fight, just to gather
information, make maps, that sort of thing. I think the
second incursions were a reconnaissance-in-force, to refine
their data from the first visits." Ami punched a function
key and the icons on the world map shifted yet
again. "This last visitation was very visible. I have
CONFIRMED reports of alien invasions in Europe,
North and South America, Russia, the Baltic, China,
India and we all know about the one in Japan. It
looks like the Americans killed the enemies portal by
firing a nuclear tipped cruse missile into the center
of it. I suspect that explains the other nuclear detonations
we've heard about."
"What does it mean?" Usagi asked worriedly.
"Invasion. These things have been scouting, now
they're trying to establish a beach-head."

*************************************************

At that moment five hundred thousand metric tonnes of
vitrified rock and battle-steel passed through the
outer fringes of the asteroid belt at 64kps. Navigation
thrusters made a minor course correction and then
engines went to full power. The huge mass was now
headed for a precise point in space that would
intersect the earths orbit exactly above the small island
nation of Japan.

*************************************************

"Would you like to go to a party?"
"P . . .p . . .p. . .arty!" Ryouga was stunned. No girl
had ever asked him to a party before. Well there was that one
time, but he didn't think his mother counted. And it was his
own birthday after all.
"I . . .I. . .I.."
"Please hold this, I'll be right back." Hotaru suddenly
thrust the tattered remains of her book bag into Ryouga's
hands and ran off toward the sound of people screaming. Ryouga
stood frozen in place then pounded after Hotaru. He could
see her round a building in the distance and he sprinted to catch
up.
". . .OWER MAKE UP!!"
The voice reverberated with power and a brilliant light
spilled out into the street. Ryouga came around
the corner in time to see Hotaru swirled up in a vortex of
energy. As he watched, her street clothes burst
apart. Dimly through the pulsing light he could see
ribbons of energy run up her legs and become knee-
high boots. Involuntarily his eyes were drawn up her long
legs to . . .
"AAAAAAAA!"
Blushing Ryouga spun away, shutting his eyes and
pinching his nose shut. By the time he had recovered himself
he turned around to see that Sailorsaturn was fully engaged with
the Skroach warrior.

"SILENCE WALL!"
Sailorsaturn staggered as the warp-gun's point-blank fire
forced her back a pace. The enemy could not
pierce her shield but neither could SHE attack. Even if
there were no other enemy soldiers around she
would eventually tire. She had to put some distance
between her attacker and herself, disengage long
enough to counter-attack. Even as she thought this the
black armored figure forced her back step by
step. He heel caught in some debris and she went down
catching herself on one hand.. Out of the corner
of her eye she could see another figure approaching. Her
only chance was to drop to the ground as she
collapsed the 'Silence Wall', hope she would be below the
warp-gun's effect, hope she was fast. . ."
"SHI SHI HOUKOUDAN!!!!"
Muddy green fire vomited down the alley, slamming the
armored figure against an overturned truck.
Saturn had the opening she needed.
"SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE"
"Are you all right Tomoesan?" Ryouga crunched
through still twitching bits as he ran up to the ichor-splattered
girl.
"I. . .I'm fine Hibikisan. Thank you for. . .for. . ." she
waved vaguely at the ground.
"You're welcome, Tomoesan. Uh, what. . .?" Ryouga
pointed at her fuku and glaive.
Sailorsaturn took a deep breath.
"I'm Sailorsaturn."
"S. . .Sailor. . ." Ryouga stuttered and stepped back.
"I understand." Sailorsaturn said sadly. She was all too
familiar with rejection. Only Small Lady and Usagi had ever
really cared about the "destroyer of worlds". With dragging
steps she turned to go.
"Uh, does this mean the party is on a boat?"
Startled she looked up to see Ryouga walking beside her.
"Because, uh, I have this little problem with water
and . . ."

*************************************************

"Get dressed."
Startled Michiru looked up from the book she was
reading to see Meiou Setsuna standing at the foot of
the couch.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Get dressed. We're going to a party."
Michiru swung her legs down to the floor, jolting Haruka
who had been asleep with her head in Michiru's lap. She
shook her lover by the shoulder. Haruka grumbled under her
breath
and snuggled deeper into Michiru's lap.
"Anybody we know?" Michiru asked while thinking of
ways to wake Haruka before the end of the century.
"An old . . .acquaintance." Setsuna replied, dumping a
tumbler of ice water on the sleeping senshi.

*************************************************

"Usagi, how can you eat at a time like this?" Rei
hissed.
"BuifgooondIgotakpemystrenfup."
"She says 'It's good. And she's got to keep her stren. . ."
"I KNOW what she's saying Ami."
"I was translating for Akanechan." Ami replied
calmly.
"Thank you Amichan. But I'm beginning to catch on.
It's not too much different from Ranma. Don't do that,
Makoto-chan." Akane warned the senshi of thunder.
"Wha. . .?" Makoto froze, her hand half way to a
bean-jam bun. "I'm sorry." she blushed contritely. "did you
want. . ."
"No." Akane laughed. "I just didn't want you to get
hurt." she jerked her head in the direction of Ranma.
Makoto looked at Ranma. He was focused on the bun
with the quivering intensity of a shark smelling
blood in the water.. A prickling in her spine brought her
head slowly up and to the left where she saw
Usagi, eying the bun as if it were the last lifeboat leaving
the Titanic. As gingerly, as if there were a rabid
badger with a bad attitude asleep in her pants, Makoto
edged her chair away from the table. The tension
in the air was so thick you could bounce a fifty yen coin
off it and get change.
"They may be a while. Why don't we go sit in the
garden and talk?" Akane got up from the
table. "That was delicious Kasumi. Thank you."
"Yes, it was wonderful Tendousan." Minako added
politely. "Would you like some help cleaning up?"
"Thank you, but no. Why don't you all go and figure
out how to save the world. I'll bring some tea in a minute."
Rei stared after the eldest Tendou daughter as she
disappeared into her kitchen.
"Is your sister always like this?"
"Oh no. Normally she's not this agitated" Akane
apologized. "But a lot has happened lately."

***********************************************

"I don't see the problem." Makoto argued as they seated
themselves in the garden. "We just keep on doing what we've
been doing."
"It's not that simple." Minako replied. "We just barely
stopped this last bunch. And the JSDF is still cleaning up
stragglers that were trapped when we blew up their portal.
What do we do if, or rather when, they open two or three or
MORE portals?"
"It's worse than that Minakochan." Ami looked up
from her computer. "The government has officially
requested a United States Carrier Task Force armed with
nuclear weapons."
"What! That's crazy. The people. . ."
"It's not crazy Reichan." Ami looked grim. "The
government doesn't dare let these aliens get a
foothold in Japan. It's not just to save Japan either. If the
aliens were to establish a beach-head on the
home islands. . .we would be a danger to the rest of the
world. If the Americans don't send atomic weapons. . .well,
I'm sure the Chinese or Russians would be only too happy to send
us a few. In fact hey might not wait for us to ask."
"Are you all right, Usagichan?"
"My head hurts, Akachan. I keep wishing for a normal
life, no more monsters, no more fighting, no more end-of-
the-world stuff." Usagi closed her eyes and a tear trickled
from under the closed lids. "My head hurts."
Akane lay her princesses head in her lap and began
caressing her temples with gentle fingers.
"It's all right princess. I'm with you now. And your
senshi are here." Akane bent and brushed
the half dozing Usagi's cheek with her lips. "It's going to
be all right. . .this time."
Ranma watched in amazement as Akane took Usagi in
her arms with a gentle tenderness that . . . Ranma
shook his head angrily. He was NOT jealous!
"Oh, hello Ryoga."
Heads turned at the sound of Kasumi's voice.
"And you've brought a friend. How nice. Everybody is
out in the garden. You missed dinner so I'll just go make
some snacks."
"I didn't know you knew the Tendou's Hotaruchan."
"I don't Ryougachan. My friend Usagi told me to meet
her here."
Ranma listened to the voices that drifted out into the
garden in amazement. It sounded like Ryouga . . .chan? And
with a GIRL? Then two figures appeared in the garden
and Ranma's jaw dropped. It WAS Ryouga . . .and a girl. A
very . . .small. . .girl. A very. . .YOUNG girl. And they were
holding hands in a VERY friendly manner. The concept of
Ryouga. . .all on his own. . .meeting a girl AND being able to
walk three steps without getting lost. Ryouga with a girl and
not blacking out from blood loss . . .Ryouga not becoming
overly excited and maiming the girl . . . or all
of the above . . . Ranma was frozen in shock Not so Usagi.
"Hotaruchan!" Usagi sprang up, the top of her head
catching Akane just under her chin and knocking her flat
on her back.
"Ha, some super-warrior you are." Ranma said
sarcastically, helping Akane up. "A real martial
artist would never be caught. . ."
In horror Ranma watched Usagi throw herself into
Tomoe Hotaru's arms, sending the smaller girl
staggering backward. Automatically Ryouga's arm shot
out to steady the two girls, just as Kasumi
stepped through the door; a tray loaded with snacks and a
large pitcher of tea . . .ICED tea . . . in her
hands. Ranma thrust Akane from his arms and leapt . . .
"Bweeeeee!"
"A Piiiiig!" Ami wailed. "He's a pig now! I saw it."
"Now, now Ami." Makoto scooped the small genius
into her lap and rocked her back and forth.
"Now, now. It's not that bad."
"It's WORSE!! How can he be a pig? He can't be a pig.
He just can't!"
"Well," Rei looked on as Ranma poured hot tea on the
pig. "now he's a boy. A naked boy."
"A naked boy with a really . . .nice personality."
Minako added grinning..
Centripetal force slung Ami tumbling as Makoto whipped
around to the front.
"Heh.,heh,heh." Ranma sounded like a starter motor
with a bad bushing. "You know, Akane. There's a really funny
story behind all this. Isn't there a funny story Ryouga?"
"I. . .I'll just get dressed and. . ."
"Leave them."
It didn't sound like Akane at all. Ranma could see her lips
moving . . .but the voice . . .It gave him the same shivery
feeling he'd gotten on his second trip into the pit-of-starving-cats
for cat-fist training..(He hadn't know what to expect on the first
trip, and didn't really remember anything after the third.)
Ryouga froze as a very sharp blade inserted itself just
under his chin. He slowly straightened up under the gentle
urging of the blade. His eyes almost crossed rying to focus on the
steel as it disappeared under his chin. He recognized it. Kasumi
had baked fresh bread. And of course you needed a sharp knife to
slice fresh bread cleanly. A VERY sharp knife. How
thoughtful of Kasumi.
"What are you doing?" the spine of the knife rapped
the knuckles of his cupped hands. "Move them." The point of
the knife moved to lightly trace a line from his belly button to his
Adam's apple. "Or loose them." The knife retraced it's path
downwards.
Ryouga took one look at Akane's eyes and let his arms dangle
at his sides.
"Good boy." Everyone shivered at the venom in her
voice. "What a good P-chan you are. Now turn around."
"What are you doing!" Ranma put a hand on Akane's
shoulder and froze as the knife whipped around like a striking
snake to rest just under his heart.
"Why I'm peeking Ranma. Just like HE did to me. Just
like he watched me undress for bed. Did you two get a good
laugh out of that?"
"It wasn't like that Akane-ch. . ." Ryouga's head
rocked as Akane backhanded him.
"Don't you call me that. Only my friends can call me
that. You're not my friend. I don't know who you are. I don't
know. . ." A shudder wracked her body. "I thought you
were my friend." she whispered. "I thought I could trust . . .
that I could talk." Akane paled and swayed on her feet. " . . .Talk
to you. My god. I talked . . .to P-chan. I told him things. Trusted
him. He was my friend. I told him. . . told him." She started to
shake violently. "Why. . .what did I ever do to you. . .
Why would you hate me that much? I should have
known. . .the bandanna. . . but I trusted. . .I trusted. . .
"Akane clutched her belly and fell to her knees
sobbing. "I trusted you. . . I trusted . . ."
Ranma dropped to his knees beside her.
"Akane. . .Akane! Please. You're going to make
yourself sick. Please don't cry!!"
"Akan. . .Tendousama." Ryouga joined Ranma on the
ground. "Please. It's my fault. I should have told you. But I
was ashamed of my curse. And you were so kind to me. I was
afraid. Afraid that if you found out I would be alone again. Please
Tendousama. Please don't cry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"Akane-chan. You have some more guests."
It was perhaps not an ideal time for Meiou Setsuna to
walk through the door. Ranma and Ryouga were blasted
across the garden as Akane surged to her feet. Even with a life
dedicated to martial training Ranma was hard put to end
up on his feet. Out of the corner of his eye Ranma could see
Ryouga down on all fours. Most of his attention was focused
on Akane. He'd never been this close to "Weapon 4" when
she activated. He watched in disbelief as Akane seemed to
burst into flame, her features melting and reforming. He
could see her body twisting and rippling like a
reflection in a tide pool . He could see every detail of the
cannon in her right hand, every aspect. . .

CANNON? . . . Uh oh!

HATE. Her blood boiled with it. Rage. Her muscles
clenched 'till her bones ached.
"Full power to graser." she ordered.
##Graser at full power## the Whisper acknowledged.
"Target selected." she dropped the targeting pip in the
center of Setsuna's chest.
##Invalid target. Identification files list designated
target as senshi. Invalid target. Iden. . ##
"OVERRIDE!" she snarled.
##Invalid tar. . ##
"OVERI. . .:" Weapon 4 screamed and jack-knifed
forward as fail-safe protocols activated.
##WARNING. Senshi are not valid targets.
WARNING. Sen. . .##
Weapon 4 ignored the Whisper. She focused through the
pain. She'd had good teachers.
"Run diagnostics. Initiate primary sensor suite test
protocol."
She felt a brief hesitation as the system diagnostics
started. There was a faint buzzing as the primary
sensor's went off line and the secondary's kicked in. She'd
been waiting for that infinitesimal window.
"Load digital re-mapping sub-set. Initial point set to
zero, zero, zero."
Digital re-mapping was intended to provide improved
long-range scans. To enhance contrast, remove
sensors ghosts and defeat enemy stealth systems. By
setting the initial point to zero, zero, zero the
software increased the resolution to the point that the
details obscured the identity. Suddenly the senshi
disappeared from the sensors to be replaced by an
unrecognizable blur. With a howl of triumph Weapon
4 raised her weapon back into battery and . . .
"USAGI! NO!" Rei screamed and lunged for Usagi as
she darted to put herself between Akane and the three Outer
senshi.
"Akachan, Akachan. Please listen to me."There was no
sense of recognition in the twisting flowing features. Suddenly
a dreamscape seemed to flash before Usagi's eyes. Of a young
girl, with grey eyes the color of . . .
"Misty? Misty! It's me, Stormy. Please Misty. Don't do
this. It's alright. I won't let anyone hurt you. Please . . ."
With a tearing shuddering cry the figure in front of Usagi
slammed back down into normal space. Usagi
reached out and caught Misty in her arms as she fell.
Ranma was a fraction of a second behind,
steadying Usagi as she staggered under Akane's weight.
The three of them sank to the floor, Ranma and
Usagi holding the weeping girl protectively between
them.
"What are you doing here." Makoto snapped, stepping
forward aggressively to confront Setsuna and the two figures
behind her.
"I asked them to come." Usagi said from her place on
the floor.
"HEY!" Ranma's eye's focused squarely on Setsuna.
"That's the woman from the other day, the one that tried to do
something to Akane!" He started to his feet, but was tangled
up with Usagi and Akane.
"What did you do to Ak. . . to Tendou-sama!" Ryouga
placed himself in front of the three outer
senshi. Heavy ki boiled from him like pus from a old
wound. Even if she hated him, if he'd lost even her
friendship. . . he would defend Akane to the death.
"Please!" Usagi's gentle voice stilled Ryouga's heavy
ki, even if it couldn't dissipate it
completely. "Please. I invited them here to try to solve our
problems, not start a fight."
Slowly, grudgingly Ryouga backed away.
"I wanna know what SHE was up to!" Ranma looked
pointedly at Setsuna.
"There is a new enemy." Setsuna began. "You have all
seen it. An alien race who wishes to take the Earth, the Solar
System and all it's riches. After they have eliminated the
human race." She paused and looked down at Akane, Usagi and
Ranma.

"I am. . .sorry. I acted precipitously. I needed to
talk to. . .Akane. We will need her power if we are to win
this battle. I needed to talk to her" Setsuna laughed
mirthlessly "but I had little reason to believe she had any interest in
talking to me. So, in my arrogance, I tried to force her to listen. I
have been too much alone, too used to acting without
consulting others." She pretended not to see all of the
inner senshi nodding their heads. "My need. . .OUR need is
great. The enemy is very powerful and I was afraid." This
statement got everyone's attention. "I lost my home once before,
and people that I loved." There was no doubting the genuine anguish in
Setsuna's voice. "I was afraid to take a chance, afraid of losing
Akanesan's help, and thereby the lives of billions of people, my
home and people I have come to . . .care for.
"Setsunasan." Usagi looked up at the older woman,
her eyes filled with tears. "How could you doubt that we
would help you. We are senshi, we should always fight together."
"You have a generous heart princess. Other's are not
so generous. And. . .I have no right to ask for generosity or
forgiveness in this case."
"I will talk to Akane-chan when she is feeling better. I
am sure she will help you if she can."
"Thank you princess. But please tell her she will be
helping her own family, everyone on Earth as well,
not just me or the senshi."

*************************************************
"Are you sure it's OK to leave you Akachan?" Usagi
stared worriedly at the pale listless girl laying in the bed.
"I'm fine Usagi." Akane replied hoarsely. "Just feeling
a little tired, and a lot foolish."
"Akane, talk to them."
Akane's lips tightened mulishly and she tried to turn away
from Usagi.
"Don't close yourself off from your friends over. . ."
"FRIENDS! What kind of friends . . ."
"The kind who make mistakes, who do foolish
things."Usagi laughed "Believe me I'm an expert
when it comes from doing foolish things. But friends are
the most important thing in the world. Just as
important as someone who loves you. And if you're very,
very lucky you can find someone who loves you AND is your
friend."
"It's just so confusing. I don't know what to think. And
there's you and the senshi. I know you and I don't know you.
You're the most important person in my life and a total
stranger." Akane let her head droop tiredly. "Sometimes I feel
like I'm back in the Imperium, sometimes I feel closer to
people and places that have been dead for a hundred thousand
years and then it all disappears like a puff of smoke."
Usagi put a sympathetic hand on Akane's shoulder.
"I know. How do you think I felt when a CAT told me
that I was a sailor-suited soldier for love and justice. I'd just
gotten used to that when I found out I was a PRINCESS.
And things just got crazier from there." Usagi sighed. "But it was
worth it for all the wonderful friends I made, or
re-discovered."
She grinned at Akane. "Anyway remember what I said
about talking to people. Besides, think about how guilty you
can make him feel by forgiving him."
Akane watched Usagi leave, then lay back on the
bed staring at the ceiling. She was not really surprised
when she heard a tapping at the window. She thought about
ignoring him, but remembered what Usagi had said about
talking and forgiving. She rolled wearily out of bed and padded
across the room to open the window..
"Hey Akanesan. I'm sorry about. . .about everything."
"I'm sorry too Ranma. But I need to know. . ."

Akane SAN?

Ranma NEVER called her Akanesan. The incongruity
just had time to register as Ranma's features dissolved into a
tall figure with short white-blond hair. There was a stinging
sensation from behind and she collapsed to the floor like a
puppet whose strings were cut.
A door that did not existed opened into a place with no
name. Akane and a tall figure with long dark hair that gleamed
with strange highlights disappeared through the door.

END Furies Chapters 10-11 139 KB