The morning sun rose over the Juuban district. Its warm, gentle rays began to perform their routine task of awakening the citizens for another day. The sun almost seemed to pause for a moment as its rays reached one house in particular and found that, unlike in the years before, all of the inhabitants were already wide awake. The sun finally shook off its surprise and continued its trek into the sky.
In that unusual house, a small, redheaded girl was just emerging from the bathroom. She paused in surprise when she noticed a body on the ground outside the door. Fear began to build in her for a moment before she realized the circumstances that had led to the depositing of the still form in its present location.
“The bathroom is yours, big sister,” the redhead said in a tone that was far too bright for the inert body’s taste.
The prone form groaned in response as it finally gave signs of life. “Thanks, Siofra.”
“Did father make you start all over again, Makoto?” The red-haired girl said as she watched her older sister crawl into the bathroom.
Makoto let out another groan as she began peeling her sweat-soaked clothes off of her weary body. “I’m in hell,” she muttered as she pulled herself into a sitting position on the bathroom stool.
Siofra just laughed a little as she headed towards the kitchen for breakfast. “No, you’re in purgatory. Hell comes when it’s mother’s turn to train you. She won’t go easy on you like father is.”
A muffled thump sounded from the bathroom as the door closed and Siofra failed to suppress another giggle. Smiling, she made her way into the kitchen, where she found her father preparing breakfast. “Father?”
Ranma looked over at his younger daughter. “What is it, Gadget?”
“Uhm…” Siofra suddenly tensed up. She was an intelligent girl, but she couldn’t think of how to begin asking her father for the favor she had in mind.
Ranma smiled as he saw her pause. “Do you need something?” Siofra nodded silently. “Would you like me to find you a boyfriend?” Ranma teased.
“No!” Siofra shook her head violently as her father laughed lightly.
“I was just teasing, dear. You looked like you needed to loosen up. Now, what can I do for you?”
“Could you talk to Sailor Moon?”
Ranma let a small frown come to his face. He was confused by the request and it showed.
“I think she needs help and I think you can help her. If you see her again, could you talk to her?”
Ranma started to shake his head, but one look in her eyes changed his mind. He had never been able to deny either of his daughters anything. With a soft sigh he nodded his head. “All right. The next time I see her, I’ll see if she wants to talk.”
Siofra hugged her father tightly around the waist, catching him off guard. “Thank you father!”
“Any time, kid,” Ranma said with a smile as he returned the hug.
That night, after dinner, Siofra carefully snuck out of the house and worked her way stealthily to the park. When she got there, she looked around and made sure that the park was empty. It was early enough for joggers to be about, but they normally didn’t come to this section at this time. She placed a strange rune-covered rod into the ground. She pressed her fingers against two of the runes and the rod began to pulse rhythmically. She quickly shifted to her rat form and scampered into the shadows to wait. She didn’t have to wait long before three of the Senshi arrived. Siofra identified Mars, Mercury, and Moon. She watched as the blue-suited Senshi knelt next to the rod and tapped away at a computer. Siofra watched her carefully as the girl activated a visor and scanned both the rod and the surrounding area. The wererat felt panic begin building as Mercury started to look in her direction. Luckily, she was saved by the arrival of her father.
The Senshi started to drop into defensive stances as Sailor Mercury identified an energy signature approaching rapidly. They relaxed when they recognized Ranma’s female form as she leapt a good twenty meters from one side of the park fence to land in front of them.
“Hi, girls! What’s up?”
Mercury answered. “We detected an unusual energy pulse coming from this area and came here to investigate. As of this time, I have not been able to analyze the purpose of this artifact. It seems to be more of a signaling device or flare than any kind of weapon.”
Ranma eyed the rod up one side and down the other, nodding to herself a few times. She reached out and tapped a few runes and the rod’s glow faded to nothing. She pulled the artifact out of the ground. “You’re right. It’s a signaling device. My guess is, SOMEONE,” Ranma raised her voice as her gaze fell on a particular shadow in the bushes, “wanted to get your attention here.”
“Who?” Moon asked.
“And why?” Mars added.
“And how did you know how to turn it off?” Mercury queried.
“I think I know, I think I know, and I’ve seen it before,” Ranma answered each question in turn, which led to some confusion amongst the Senshi.
“So is this a trap?”
Ranma sighed. “Of a sorts. Sailor Moon, I was wondering if I could talk with you for a moment.”
Mars stepped between Ranma and Moon. “Hold it, lady. What do you want with Sailor Moon?”
Ranma smirked and couldn’t resist. She made her eyes glow with fire as her head burst into flame. “I want to swallow her soul!” The Senshi all jumped back and squealed in surprise, which covered the sound of a groaning rat rather well. Ranma’s head returned to normal as she broke out laughing hard. “Oh, you girls should have seen yourselves! That was funny!” Tears began streaming down her face as she laughed.
Mars’ temper flared righteously as she screamed, “It’s not funny!”
Ranma regained control and smirked back at her. “You have got to lighten up. Take the job seriously, of course, but learn to have a little fun too.”
Moon nodded in agreement and ribbed Mars, who shot an angry glare at the blonde for a moment before returning her glare at Ranma. The redhead turned back to Moon with a smile on her face. “Like I said, mind if we have a little private chat?”
Moon thought it over for a moment and then nodded. Ranma was scary sometimes, but she was Makoto’s dad and she couldn’t be a bad guy, could she? When Mars started to protest, Moon shook her head. “It’s okay. Just wait over there.” She pointed towards a tree a short distance away. When Mars started to refuse, Moon gave her best puppy-dog look and Mars crumbled, grumbling the whole way as she stomped over to the tree.
Once they were relatively alone, Sailor Moon looked up at the older woman. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”
Ranma thought things over for a little bit before speaking. “Something seems to be bothering you.”
Moon blinked in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Si-… I’ve noticed that you seem to be acting like something’s bothering you, besides the youma attacks. I was wondering if you wanted to talk about it?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Ranma sighed and motioned to a park bench. As they sat down, she gave her a steady look. “You’re name’s Moon, right? Look, I’ve watched you girls fight a few times and it seems like you’re often distracted by something. I’ve heard some mention about someone named Tuxedo Mask.”
Sailor Moon fidgeted nervously for a moment before she started explaining about how Tuxedo Mask was actually her true love from a past life and how he had nearly died to protect her in this life, and now he was working for the enemy. She told Ranma about her suspicions that the Dark Kingdom was controlling him.
Ranma nodded in understanding. At her gentle probing, Usagi admitted that Tuxedo Mask wasn’t the only thing that was bothering her. She finally poured her heart out that she wished she were just a normal girl with nothing to worry about except boys and school. She didn’t want to be a reincarnated princess, she didn’t want to be the one solely responsible for defending the Earth, and she didn’t like the way people around her got hurt just because they were around her. She was in tears by the time she was done telling him her story.
Ranma gulped a little nervously. She still wasn’t very good with crying girls and she was silently grateful that she was in female form right now. She patted Usagi’s shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting manner. “Let me ask you something. Do you think people never change?”
Moon blinked in confusion. “What do you mean? Of course people can change.”
“You can’t change the fact that you are the reincarnation of the moon princess. That’s a fact, it’s said and done, and nothing you do can change that.”
“But-“
“Shh. Let me finish. But just because you were a princess doesn’t mean you have to be one now. If someone was a homicidal maniac in a former life, do you think they should be one in this life?”
“No!”
“Then why should you be a princess?”
“But everyone expects me to be like her.”
“Why?”
“Huh?”
“Why would they expect you to be like her? You’re not Princess Whatever, you’re… er, actually I don’t know what your real name is.” Ranma chuckled. “But the point is, you’re a normal girl now.”
“How can you call having magical powers normal?”
Ranma laughed. “Think that one over reeeeeal careful like.”
Moon blushed a little. “Right. But I’m not like everyone else!”
“So?”
“But I don’t want to be different!”
“Yes, you do.”
“No, I don’t!”
“Oh, so you want to be an exact clone of,” Ranma paused as she tried to think of some good examples, “Umino.”
“WHAT?”
“He’s a rather nerdy boy from my daughter’s school. So, you want to be just like him? An exact duplicate? That’s kinda strange, but if it’s what you want…”
“NO WAY!”
“Oh, then maybe you’d rather be an exact copy of Ms. Haruna then. She’s a teacher who has no social life and has to spend every day trying to get kids who don’t want to learn to do it anyway? Well, once again, if that’s what floats your boat…”
“NO! That’s not… why are you saying all of that?”
“Well, you said you wanted to be just like everyone else, so I was trying to figure out who you wanted to be.”
Sailor Moon started to speak, but suddenly closed her mouth. She thought it over for a little. “Okay, I don’t want to be exactly like everyone else, but I do want to be more normal. I don’t like having peoples’ lives depending on me.”
Ranma smiled some. “What’s normal?”
“No magical powers, no ancient enemies trying to invade the world, no talking cats.”
Ranma tensed up at the mention of cats. “So quit using your magic.”
“But if I don’t, people could get hurt or killed!”
“So?”
“WHAT?”
“Look, people get hurt and killed all the time. It’s not your fault. So quit using your magical powers.”
“How could you say that!? If someone got hurt because I didn’t help them when I could, I’d never be able to forgive myself.”
“Then I think you just made up your mind.”
Moon blinked. “Huh?”
“We’ve already agreed that we can’t change the past, right?” Moon nodded and Ranma continued. “That means that you have magical powers. It’s as plain and simple as that, and there’s no use whining about what can’t be changed. But we can change the present. You can choose to not use your powers, but you’ve already said that if someone got hurt and you could have stopped it, you’d hate yourself, right? So it sounds like you’ve made the choice already. You’ve decided that you will fight on, not because you have to, but because you want to.”
Moon sat quietly as she mulled over Ranma’s words. “But people get hurt by me being around.”
“And how many would have died if you hadn’t been here at all? Other than the Senshi, are there any here who have resisted the Dark Kingdom?”
“No. But if I just gave Beryl what she wanted, maybe they wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”
Ranma shook her head. “No. They would have still gotten hurt. I’ve seen the Dark Kingdom. They have little or no concern about lives other than their own. People might not get hurt physically, but I think it’s safe to say that the Dark Kingdom still would have hurt those people emotionally and spiritually.”
“Oh.”
“Think of all the people you’ve saved, then.”
Moon seemed to brighten up some. “You’re right! Thank you.”
Ranma smiled. “So, what have you decided?”
Sailor Moon jumped to her feet and posed proudly. “I don’t know about becoming the princess again, but I will continue to fight for the safety of the world!”
Ranma smiled as she stood and posed next to her. “For love and peace and a triple scoop of double fudge ice cream!”
Moon smiled happily and bowed quickly to Ranma as the two other Senshi planted their faces firmly in the ground. “Thank you! I think it’ll be all right now!”
“Good. If you ever need to chat, don’t forget that you’re not alone in this. You have your friends, and they will be there for you.”
Moon waved as she ran over to join her friends, who quickly began interrogating her.
Ranma sat back down and smiled at the trio. Without turning around, she whispered towards the shadows. “You can come out now, Siofra.” The redheaded wererat crept out of her hiding place, shifting to her human form as soon as she had room.
“How did you know she needed that chat?” She asked
“I’ve been following her for a while.”
Ranma ahhhed. “I see. So that’s where you’ve been disappearing those nights. Oh, here’s your rod back.” Ranma handed her the device, which she slipped into her backpack.
“She seemed so sad and I wanted to help her. You’re not mad at me, are you?”
Ranma laughed and hugged her daughter fondly. “How could I be mad at you for wanting to help someone? Just be careful when you’re sneaking around, okay?”
Siofra nodded and smiled. “I will daddy.”
A few days passed and Makoto managed to rejoin her friends in their meetings. None of them, not even Makoto, noticed that they had a regular visitor in the shape of a rat. Siofra sighed to herself as she wished she could join them openly. She was always terribly shy around people because of the number of secrets she had to keep, but something about Makoto’s friends made her want to open up. Siofra felt a tiny twinge of anger and a little bit of disappointment when, though she had yet to see her transform, she deduced that Makoto was Sailor Jupiter. She sighed again as she contented herself with watching the girls.
Usagi was holding up a flyer and chattering excitedly. “Come on, let’s all go. The pamphlet says that they’re holding a Moon Princess Contest.”
Minako was leaning against the temple wall. “Moon Princess Contest?”
Usagi nodded happily. “Right, right! Doesn’t this sound like it was made just for me?”
Rei, dressed in her maiden robes, reached over and snatched the pamphlet out of Usagi’s hands. “Hey, the reward ceremony will be held on the Moonlight Course under the Moon.” Rei daydreamed about winning the contest and the adulation of the crowds. “It certainly is romantic, isn’t it?”
Usagi’s smiling face being thrust into hers interrupted Rei’s daydream. “Isn’t it? Isn’t it?” Usagi chirped.
Makoto smiled a little as she sat on the railing around the temple. “It sounds okay, but Luna and Artemis would just say no, I’ll bet.”
Minako smirked knowingly. “No problem. We’ll just tell Luna and him that we’re going to be training on the snow mountain.”
Usagi blinked in surprise. “Minako-chan, I never expected that from you.”
Minako blinked back. “Really?”
Ami smiled as she nodded. “They’ll buy the story if Minako-chan tells them.”
Usagi cheered as she saw her hopes come true. “Then everyone is going, right?”
Rei hated to do it, but reality was setting in. “But can we get hotel reservations now?”
Siofra suddenly felt a somewhat painful swat on her rear. Looking behind her was Yuuichiro, one of the other shrine assistants. He pulled back the broom to give her another gentle swat on the rear and Siofra squeaked in surprise. She saw the girls all look in their direction and Makoto’s eyes went wide as she recognized her sister. Yuuichiro bent down and lightly shoved at Siofra with his hand. “Go on, get out of here. You’ll scare the girls,” Yuuichiro commented to the rat.
Siofra froze for a moment, wondering if he somehow knew her true nature, but then she realized that he was just a gentle soul who didn’t like the idea of hurting any living creature. After giving Makoto one last look, she scampered off.
Yuuichiro turned to the girls and smiled. “I hope you don’t mind me hearing, but I can help with those reservations. My family lives in that area.”
Usagi grabbed his hands happily and gazed up into his face with a hopeful expression. “Really?” She smiled brightly. “Thank you very much!”
Yuuichiro smiled back before glancing at Rei. “Then Miss Rei, I’ll take some time off, too.”
Rei tried to hide her reaction to that and failed miserably. “What? You’re coming too?”
Yuuichiro felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach. His head drooped as he took some gingerly swipes with the broom at the dirt on the ground. “Can’t I?”
Makoto came to his rescue and put a hand on Rei’s shoulder. “Let him, Rei-chan. As they say, ‘even a chance meeting is the result of a car.’”
Minako held up a finger as she spoke sagely. “You mean ‘a chance meeting is the result of karma.’”
Ami glanced up from the book she was reading and looked at the two girls. “Either way, I don’t think that’s the right phrase for this situation.” Makoto and Minako gave her half-hearted glares that were completely ignored as Ami continued reading her book.
Usagi looked over at Makoto. “Do you think Siofra would want to come?”
Makoto thought back to seeing her sister skulking around the shrine. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure she would.” Makoto was worried though. Her sister was obviously following her around now, which would make Senshi duty even harder.
Usagi cheered happily and slapped Makoto on the back. “Yayyy!” Usagi paused when she saw the pained look that crossed Makoto’s face. “What’s wrong?”
Makoto smiled weakly. “Dad’s been a bit rough on me.”
The other four girls and Yuuichiro froze with looks of fear on their faces. When Usagi spoke next, it was in a trembling voice. “He’s been hitting you?” All of Luna’s warnings came rushing back to the girls in that moment, and for the first time they began to take her accusations seriously.
Makoto nodded. “Not much… he mostly just dodges a lot, and he’s murder when it comes to calisthenics… why are you all looking at me that way?” Makoto thought it over for a moment and her eyes went wide. “It’s training!!! I asked dad to help me get better in our family’s martial arts!” She waved her hands defensively in front of her. Her friends all let out relieved sighs at that.
Usagi shook her head slowly. ‘They can’t be as bad as Luna thinks. Ranma’s been so helpful to us, and to me, and why would he help me get over my problems and teach Makoto how to fight better if he was our enemy?’
Siofra sighed contentedly as she trailed after Makoto down one of the intermediate slopes. She was grateful for a number of things right then. She was out having fun with her sister and friends. She relished the fact that the skiing outfit that she was wearing covered her completely and let her assume her hybrid form without risking exposure. She didn’t mind being human, but her hybrid form always let her feel more comfortable and free. She was also glad that wererats had the ability to choose if their tails emerged in their hybrid form. Her studies had yet to reveal anything about why that was, or why wererats were the only were race that could keep their clothing no matter what their form. But for right now, it just felt good to be out and having fun.
Makoto pulled to a stop at the bottom of the hill and waited for Siofra, who had reverted back to her human form, to catch up. “Well, it’s dark. That Moon Princess contest should be starting soon.” Minako and Ami pulled to a stop next to the sisters. “Should we try and go watch or what?”
Minako shrugged. “It might be fun to go cheer Usagi and Rei on, but it would be difficult to find out where to watch from.”
Ami spoke up. “Well, we could-“ She was interrupted by a loud, wailing sound that echoed over the slopes. All four of the girls could instantly identify Usagi’s cry. “Oh my, I hope she’s all right.”
“She doesn’t sound happy,” Makoto commented as her brow furrowed. Her words took on an almost prophetic feeling as the sounds of an avalanche came to them. A beeping noise from Ami’s pocket startled all four of the girls. Minako, Ami, and Makoto all took turns glancing back and forth nervously between each other and Siofra.
For her part, Siofra easily figured out what was going on. Ami’s computer had picked up an attack from the Dark Kingdom and the girls were trying to figure out how to get away from her so they could go help. Normally, Siofra would have just made an excuse and left so that they could continue on, but she desperately wanted to help out Usagi herself. The clumsy blonde had really wormed her way into the redhead’s heart.
While the others continued trying to figure out what to do, Siofra knelt down and slipped off her backpack. Reaching in, she pulled out a strange looking device. She flipped a panel open and it made some odd noises. The device didn’t actually work, however. Siofra hadn’t finished building it yet, and it wasn’t for detecting energy at all. It was actually going to be a magical music box that she was designing to emulate Makoto’s cd player, but the girls didn’t need to know that. They just needed an excuse for the four of them to go after Usagi and Rei instead of supposedly waiting for the Senshi to show up. “There is a dark energy pattern forming a short ways away. I think a youma might be attacking the contestants.” She flipped the device closed and slipped it back into the pocket. “We have to go help Usagi and Rei!”
“But how? We don’t know where they are exactly!” Minako exclaimed. After a moment of thinking, she added, “And how would we save them? We’re not the Sailor Senshi or anything.”
Siofra shook her head and patted the pocket where she put the device. “I know where they are, and I’ve got a few tricks we can use to help them get away. We won’t be able to stop the youma without the Senshi, but we can rescue Rei and Usagi.” Actually, Siofra had memorized the map of all the slopes and knew exactly where the Moonlight Course was located.
Makoto nodded a bit nervously. “If you’re sure…”
Siofra slipped the backpack on again. “I am.”
“Then let’s go!”
Rei grunted as she tried to climb up the ice and snow slope that lead out of the freezing pit she and Usagi had found themselves trapped in after a youma had caused the Moonlight Course to collapse around them. She let out a small shriek as part of the slope gave away and she fell back down to the bottom.
“Rei-chan, are you okay?” Usagi asked quietly.
Rei spun around to glare at the blonde. “How could I be okay? Now, let’s climb this and get out of here.” Again she tried to work her way up, but with the same results.
“Maybe we should find some other way,” Usagi suggested, once again with a quiet voice.
Rei spun to face her and fired off an angry retort. Usagi’s face fell as Rei berated her for acting like a little girl and being weak.
As Rei started to climb again, Usagi spoke to no one in particular. “I guess someone already won the Moon Princess Contest.”
“Of course,” Rei sneered as she made her way further up. “Thanks to SOMEONE, I lost the prize.” Rei was convinced that she was the one who would have won the Moon Princess Contest.
Usagi sat down slowly and pulled her knees up to her chest. “I’m sorry.” Rei ignored her and kept climbing. Usagi held up the pendant that Tuxedo Mask had given her during the time that he was on their side. She listened once again to the beautifully sad melody that it played when it opened. “Tuxedo Mask…” she whispered softly. A grunt off to the side startled Usagi and she looked up to see Rei standing beside her. “Rei-chan?!”
The raven-haired girl looked at the locket. “That belongs to Tuxedo Mask, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.” Usagi replied as Rei knelt next to her. “Whenever I’m feeling lonely, I listen to it to feel better.” They sat in silence for moment before Usagi suddenly remembered that Rei and Mamoru had been dating for a while before he and Usagi got together. “I’m sorry, Rei-chan! I didn’t mean to show it off! Did I hurt your feelings?”
Rei smiled at the Usagi. “Why would you? I’ve given up on him. Really, Mamoru… no, Tuxedo Mask, it was always one sided on my part. After all, he risks his life to save you. You win!” She smiled brightly for a moment before her face got serious. “However, if you don’t have a happy ending with Mamoru, I, Rei-chan, will punish you!”
Usagi nodded with a small smile. Suddenly she shot to her feet. “That’s it!”
“What?” Rei asked in confusion.
“Why don’t you use your fire soul? Then we can escape at once.”
“That’s right!” Rei shot to her feet and turned to Usagi with a scowl. “Why didn’t you think of that earlier?! You’re really dumb, Usagi!”
Usagi glared back at the shrine maiden. “The same to you, Rei-chan!”
Rei glared back for a moment before pulling out her transformation wand. “Mars Power-“
“Rei-chan!”
Usagi and Rei spun around to see Yuuichiro tunneling out of the snow. “It must be a miracle of love!” He proclaimed as he grabbed Rei’s hand. “This way is the way out!” He pointed back into the tunnel.
“You can’t do that,” a voice said from above.
The three looked up to see the ski instructor standing above them. As she hopped down, she transformed into a youma that resembled a psychotic snowman. “I am Burizaa. I am here to eliminate Sailor Moon.” She pointed towards Rei. “I will kill you, Sailor Moon!”
Rei blinked and pointed at herself. “Me?”
“The beauty, the physical fitness, and the dignity. Surely you must be the Moon Princess.”
Rei blushed as pride washed over her. “Oh, you think so? Well, you’re a very honest youma, aren’t you?”
Yuuichiro blinked and pointed at Rei. “You’re Sailor Moon?”
Usagi stomped her foot and pointed at herself. “It’s me!”
Burizaa growled and yelled at the three, “Shut up! My judgement is always right! Burizaa!” With that cry, she sent a torrential blast of freezing wind at Rei.
“I’ll save you, Rei!” Yuuichiro cried out as he intercepted the attack. A moment later he was encased in ice.
“Yuuichiro!” Usagi cried out in horror.
“Usagi, now is our chance to transform,” Rei said in a determined voice.
Usagi turned to look at her friend. “Rei-chan, you’re colder than snow.
“Just do it!”
Siofra was grateful for the limited lighting on the slopes. It allowed her to assume her hybrid form without appearing to change much. She sniffed the air and listened carefully for a moment before pointing towards a slope that was a fair distance away. “They’re that way!”
“How can you tell?” Minako asked.
“Trust me!”
“What’s wrong with your voice?” Ami asked, noting an odd change in Siofra’s speech. The redhead pretended she hadn’t heard as they continued skiing.
The youma dodge Mars’ Fire Soul. Holding up her hand, she formed an ice spear and charged towards the pair. “It ends now!” As she drove the spear forward, she was suddenly jerked off her feet. Looking behind her, she saw Tuxedo Mask’s hand gripping her spear. He easily yanked it out of her grasp as he took his hat off and bowed to the Senshi.
“Good evening, Pretty Soldiers. I will deal with them, Burizaa. Begone.” He threw her spear back at her. As Burizaa vanished, Tuxedo Mask drew a black rose from his suit. “Sailor Moon, take this!” He tossed the rose towards the two startled girls. The flower embedded itself stem-first in the ice beside their heads. “The next one won’t miss,” he promised as he drew another rose.
“What’ll we do?” Usagi asked worriedly.
“Tuxedo Mask! Have you forgotten that you used to fight alongside us?” Rei asked in a strong voice. “Your beloved, Sailor Moon, is here!”
As the two girls watched with eyes brimming with tears, Tuxedo Mask’s rose shifted from black to red and back again.
“Please remember, Tuxedo Mask!” Rei begged.
There was a sharp, cracking noise from above and the three looked up in surprise. Burizaa burst from the ice and dove towards Sailor Moon with an ice spear, laughing maniacally. Her hideous laugh was cut short as a rose shattered the tip of her spear and embedded itself in the wall. The shift in weight and her own surprise caused Burizaa to lose her balance and crash to the ice behind the girls.
Moon and Mars looked from Tuxedo Mask to the rose and back again. To their amazement and joy, the rose had turned red and stayed that way. They were so caught up with looking at Tuxedo Mask that they didn’t notice the youma starting to rise behind them. As the creature raised its hand, another spear of ice formed in its grip. “DIE!”
Moon turned at the scream and froze in fear as the sharp weapon cut through the air towards her. An odd, ratcheting noise came from behind her and suddenly the youma went flying back to slam into the ice wall, its arms, legs, and mouth bound with strange metal bands. Mars and Moon looked to the source of the sound and saw Siofra standing on the edge of the pit with a weird-looking gun. The red-haired girl raised the weapon up and smiled shyly.
“It’s a mage catcher. She won’t be able to use her magic while she’s bound.” Moon and Mars just blinked at the girl as Makoto, Minako, and Ami all stared in surprise.
Minako leaned over to Ami and whispered, “How did she pull that huge thing out of that small backpack?” Ami just shook her head, but there was a strange glint in her eye.
Shaking off her surprise, Sailor Moon used her Moon Healing Escalation to return the youma back to her human form. She turned to do the same thing to Tuxedo Mask, but he was standing out of range at the edge of the pit.
“Even if I defeat you now, I can take no pride in it. Farewell, Sailor Moon.” He turned around and vanished just as Siofra fired the mage catcher at him. The three bands passed through empty air, much to the girls’ collective disappointment. Moon stared sadly at where he had stood.
Mars lifted up Yuuichiro’s form and gently chided the unconscious young man for his bravery before giving him a soft peck on the cheek. An odd squeaking noise sounded from Siofra as she stared at where the fallen instructor lay. “My mage catchers! They’re gone!” She pointed at the woman and the girls looked. They couldn’t see anything wrong until they realized that it was what they couldn’t see any more that had the redhead worked up. The bands had vanished.
Sailor Moon looked up at her with a nervous smile. “Sorry! I didn’t know I could do that.”
Siofra just groaned for a moment before setting down her backpack and digging around inside of it. As she did, Mars spoke up. “How did you find us?”
Makoto responded, “Siofra led us here.”
Sailor Moon beamed happily. “Really? Thank you!”
Minako piped up. “Well, as they say, ‘Safety assures a good horse!’”
Ami spoke from behind her. “I don’t think that’s the right quote for this situation. It should be, ‘As long as they come back safely.’” Ami once again ignored Minako’s half-hearted glare.
Siofra finished rummaging around and pulled a short, runic pole out of her bag. Pointing it towards the bottom of the pit, she spoke, “Stand back, please.” She pressed a rune and the pole telescoped rapidly, striking the ground and punching into the ice a bit. She pressed another rune and pegs came out of both sides of the pole, forming a monopole ladder. The girls helped pull Yuuichiro’s frozen form and the ski instructor’s unconscious body out of the pit. Once everyone was safely out, Siofra retracted the ladder. She stuffed the gun and the pole back into her backpack and pulled a pair of blankets out, placing them over the two unconscious people. When she looked up at the gathered girls, she noticed that they were shuffling around nervously and glancing at her. She sighed softly to herself and came to a decision.
“Usagi, it’s all right. I already know about the five of you.”
Sailor Moon gulped and looked a bit panicky. “Usagi? Who’s Usagi? I’m Sailor Moon.”
Siofra nodded slowly and chewed on her thumbnail. “I know you’re Sailor Moon. And I know that you’re Usagi Tsukino.” She pointed to each of the Senshi in turn. “And you’re Mars, but you’re also Rei Hino. You’re Minako Aino, but you’re also Venus. And you’re Ami Mizuno and you’re Mercury.” She turned to Makoto and her lip twitched some. “And why couldn’t you tell me you were Jupiter? Even after I told you about my secret…”
The other girls had started to deny the accusation, but when Makoto looked into her sister’s eyes and saw the look of betrayal there, she couldn’t stand lying any more. “I’m sorry, Siofra… but it wasn’t just my secret to keep. Revealing my identity risked revealing everyone else’s too, and I didn’t have the right to do that. I’m sorry.” She felt her own tears forming as Siofra stood there staring at her. Relief flooded through her as the little girl threw her arms around her neck and hugged tightly.
Mar’s temper started to flare for a moment. “Makoto! How could you?” Moon cut her off by placing her hand in front of the angry Senshi of Fire and shook her head.
“She figured it out on her own.” Sailor Moon sighed and wondered how this would change things when something occurred to her. ‘That pole looked awfully familiar,’ she thought to herself as she detransformed and Mars followed suit. She blinked as realization dawned on her. “You’re the one who set that magical signal thingie, aren’t you?”
Siofra nodded slowly and chewed on her thumbnail.
“Why?”
“I followed you around for a while and saw how sad you were. You were always trying to cheer other people up, and it didn’t seem fair that no one could cheer you up, but I thought that father might be able to, so… I asked him if he ever met you again, if he could talk to you about it.”
“And then you arranged for us to meet…” Usagi smiled and let out a little laugh. “Well, thank you very much!”
Ami held up her hand to get the others’ attentions. “I always scanned the area before a meeting and I never picked up anyone else. How did you follow us?”
Siofra and Makoto both gulped as they realized that she was going to have to tell them something, but neither was sure just how much was safe. They were not willing to outright lie, but the truth could be dangerous to everyone.
Necessity may be the mother of invention, but anyone who spent a great deal of time around Ranma found out that desperation worked just as well. Siofra reached into her bag and pulled out what looked like aviator goggles. She handed them to Ami, who fought very hard to hide the drool that was forming at a corner of her mouth. She had wanted to get her hands on that bag ever since she saw Siofra pull out her various items and now she was much closer to fulfilling her wish. She examined the goggles, noting the tiny runes that were inscribed on various parts of them. An idle thought noted how much the runes almost looked like traces for a circuit board as she held the goggles over her eyes.
“Oh my!” That was all Ami could think to say as she took in what she saw. The goggles functioned in a capacity almost identical to the visor she used when she transformed into Sailor Mercury. Readouts indicating heat levels, distance, mass, and various other tidbits of information filled her view. A small counter in the bottom-right corner indicated the magnification. “I… see…” She forced herself to hand the goggles back, despite the almost overwhelming urge to run for the nearest lab and reverse engineer the artifact. She sighed wistfully as her gaze shifted back and forth between the bag and the goggles a few times before she finally got her urges under control. The other girls all crowded around to look at the device, so Siofra let them play with it for a little while.
Siofra and Makoto both let out silent sighs of relief as they realized that the redhead had successfully diverted the Senshi’s attention without lying. Makoto decided that the further they got from the subject the better. “So, what happened?”
Rei smirked. “Oh, Usagi’s clumsiness got us in trouble as usual.”
Usagi frowned as she grabbed Rei’s shoulders from behind. “Rei-chan, why are you being so mean? Didn’t we just reaffirm our friendship?”
Rei snorted and turned her nose up. “Our friendship? Well, it all goes in the trash can now.” She waved her hand at Usagi in a dismissive way.
Usagi’s lip began to tremble as she broke out crying, “Rei-chan’s being mean again!” Her friends all smiled as they gave her comforting hugs.
AN:
I was informed by one of my prereaders that he was thrown off by Ranma’s speech to Sailor Moon. He was expecting the old ‘responsibility of power’ speech, ala Spiderman. Uncle Ben’s speech is a good one, I agree, but I have to point out something with regards to Sailor Moon. Everyone was force-feeding her that particular line, from Luna all the way to Rei. It was the responsibility of power that was making Usagi miserable. She hated that she had no choice in the matter. While I think Ranma believes in the responsibility of power, I think he also believes that it should be a choice, and not forced upon someone (he’d had more than enough of people forcing things onto him). Hence why he comes up with a different speech than I think most people will expect. And now, I abandon my soap box. 8)