White clouds streamed below him as he glided upon air currents high above the earth. He wondered where he was. He left the air currents he was riding and swept down toward the clouds. Soft whiteness engulfed him and small beads of moisture chilled his skin as he dove through the clouds. Suddenly the clouds parted before him and he was looking at a huge forest. Off to his left he saw a large, snow capped, mountain rising out of the forest and stretching to touch the sky. To his right, fields dotted the landscape like patches covering a worn out cloak. And ahead of him, far in the distance, dark smoke rose into the air.
He wondered what was causing the smoke and headed towards it to investigate. He swept low over the forest, just above the treetops. The forest in front of him suddenly gave way to a large clearing and he was gazing down upon a small village. The village was made up of what amounted to little more than huts and people walked among them in drab brown clothes. Some of the people were guiding ox drawn carts while others were hauling water from a well to use for cooking and drinking. For some reason he thought this was all strange. The huts should be much larger and made of metal and stone, and the people should be driving something else, not carts. He couldn’t quite remember what they should be driving, and just before he was about to put a name to it the clearing became forest again. He put the village from his mind and concentrated on the smoke again.
The smoke grew closer and he saw that it was coming from large bonfires. The air began to smell putrid and he wondered what was burning in the fires. The forest suddenly gave way again and he was staring out across a battlefield. Bodies littered the ground, some human, some not. The non-human bodies were black and twisted things that vaguely resembled real people. Demons he thought, he wasn’t quite sure where the thought had come from though. The human bodies far outnumbered the demon ones and he knew now what was burning in the bonfires.
At the edge of this carnage, with their backs to him, stood a long line of human warriors. They were Samurai, decked out in their armor and with katanas at their side. The proud warriors looked very weary as they gazed out at something he couldn’t see. He swept over the top of them and stared in shock. For a mile in every direction the ground was completely obscured by the countless bodies of dead demons. He could only pick out about a half dozen human bodies among the demons, and they were all at the center of clear spaces surrounded by the dead. A few humans had somehow managed to kill thousands of demons, but they themselves had died in the process. No, he thought looking back at the line of Samurai, they haven’t all died.
At the front of the line stood a few warriors who were not Samurai and had obviously been in this battle. A young man who leaned heavily on a large staff and had wounds up and down his body. A young woman wielding a large mace and another with a sword. There were a few others, unarmed, and all of them looking tired and sad as they gazed out across the battlefield. And there, at the center of the demon dead, two other warriors sat back to back on the blood soaked ground. He swept closer and saw that they were a young man and woman, both torn up and looking very tired. He didn’t know how, but he knew that it was these two who had killed the majority of these demons.
Curious to see the face of the warrior’s who had done the impossible, he swept down out of the sky and landed in front of the young man. The young man’s head rested wearily upon his chest and his right arm hung limp and useless at his side. His clothes were torn and he was covered in the black blood of demons as well as his own red blood. He moved closer to the young man and bent down to look into his face. Recognition upon seeing that face hit him like a hammer blow.
Ranma’s eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright, and immediately regretted it as his muscles vigorously protested his rash action. Groaning he eased himself back down again as memories of today’s battle rushed into his head. Thoughts of the dream he had had overshadowed those memories, though. That was my face, thought Ranma, my face on that boy who had killed all those demons. Just a dream, though. It had only been a dream. Ranma looked around and recognized his surroundings as Dr. Tofu’s office. Looking down at himself, Ranma found he was wrapped in bandages.
Ranma slowly rose to a sitting position, being careful not to aggravate his injuries. He saw his shirt lying across the back of a chair and grimaced as he remembered the hole that had been put there. I hope the Scouts took care of that monster. They must have otherwise I probably wouldn’t be here now. Ranma eased himself off of the table slowly but found that he had little trouble standing. He still felt weak and sore, but as he moved to where his shirt lay he began to fell a little stronger. Ranma glanced out a window as he put on his shirt and saw that the sun was beginning to go down. It seemed he had been out for over an hour.
Ranma made his way to the front of Dr. Tofu’s place and found the Sailor Scouts and the guy in the tuxedo all staring wide-eyed at Dr. Tofu. “Excuse me,” he said. Everyone turned to look at him, and he noticed that the Scout’s eyes seemed to get even bigger. “Umm… is something wrong.”
“Hello Ranma,” said Dr. Tofu. “I was just telling these friends of yours about some of your fights.”
“Oh. Well that would explain the looks. Can I talk to you in private for a moment Dr. Tofu?”
“Sure Ranma.”
Ranma led Dr. Tofu back to the room he had woken up in. “You didn’t tell them about some of the more interesting aspects of my life did you?”
“You mean your curse? No, I figured that was your secret to tell.”
Ranma breathed a sigh of relief, “Thanks Dr. Tofu. To many people know about that already.” When he and Dr. Tofu returned to the front, the Scouts broke off a conversation they had been having and returned to staring at Ranma. Dr. Tofu introduced Ranma to each of the Scouts and to the guy in the tuxedo. “It’s been nice meeting you all,” said Ranma as he backed toward the front door, “but it’s getting kind of late and I need to get back home.” Ranma didn’t want to be rude, but for some reason he felt a little on edge around the Scouts.
“Wait,” said Sailor Mercury, “can you tell us why that monster was attacking you?”
“I’m not really sure. It said something about interfering where I wasn’t supposed to, but all I was doing was walking down the street.” Mercury nodded her head at Ranma’s reply and then stared off into space as if lost in thought.
“Is it true you can manipulate your chi?” asked Sailor Mars.
“Umm…. Yeah,” replied Ranma hesitantly. His answer seemed to open a floodgate as suddenly all the girls were bombarding him with questions. Ranma was beginning to feel very trapped.
“Enough!” said Tuxedo Mask suddenly. “Ranma’s been through a lot today, including saving you from some serious hurt Sailor Moon. He doesn’t need you guys badgering him with questions right now. He needs to rest.”
“Your right,” said Sailor Moon, “I’m sorry Ranma.”
“No problem, but like I said before, I really have to go.” Ranma turned to leave, but suddenly a thought struck him. He didn’t much like the thought, but that didn’t stop it from worming its way into his conscious. He turned back to the Scouts, “As much as I hate to admit it, you guys saved my life today. If you ever need my help you can reach me at the Tendou Dojo. If for some reason I’m not home, there are other people who can help you. Anyway, thanks for your help.” Ranma finished the last sentence in a rush and then bolted out the doorway.
Ranma didn’t feel up to fighting at the moment so he avoided his usual routs home just in case someone was waiting to ambush him. As he ran down back streets and alleyways, he thought about his earlier battle, the Scouts, and his strange dream. Or, at least, he tried to think about them. His mind kept wandering to thoughts of Akane, and before he knew it she was all he could think about.
He thought about how sad he had felt when he had thought he would never see her again. How the image of her smiling face had appeared before him when he was trapped. He thought about how, whenever he was around her, his brain seemed to disconnect itself from his mouth so that what he said came out all wrong and he ended up in yet another fight. He thought about the fight he had had with her earlier that day, but he couldn’t remember what it had been about. It had probably been something really stupid. He thought about how badly he had treated Akane over the time he had known her and he flinched internally. Like it or not she was his fiancée. Then he realized that maybe he didn’t mind having Akane as a fiancee after all.
When Ranma reached the dojo he stood outside and watched the sun set, and for once in his life he felt almost at peace. After standing outside for a few minutes he took off his shoes and went inside. “I’m home,” he shouted.
“Oh, there you are Ranma,” said Kasumi. “We missed you at dinner, but I kept some food warm for you.”
“Thanks Kasumi.”
“Where have you been Ranma,” said Akane as Ranma entered the living room. “You missed dinner and-,” Akane’s eyes fell on the bandages visible through the hole in Ranma’s shirt and she cut off with a gasp. “Ranma! What happened?”
“I ran into a little trouble earlier today,” he answered. He than began to relate the story of his fight with the monster and the help he had gotten from the Sailor Scouts. As he was finishing his tale, Genma (as a panda) and Soun entered the room.
“My god son! What happened to you?” asked Soun, and Ranma was forced to tell his story once again. Both times he conveniently left out the part about his offer of help to the Scouts if they needed him.
“So you have no idea why the monster attacked you?” asked Akane.
“None at all, but it wouldn’t be the first time someone attacked me for no apparent reason.” Everyone turned to look at Genma.
Genma held up one of his many signs, Why is everyone looking at me for? I don’t know anything about this.
Soun turned back to Ranma; “The important thing is that you’re okay Ranma. You defeated the monster and you even managed to make some new friends in the process.”
“I guess.” Ranma turned and stared out into space.
“What’s wrong Ranma?” asked Akane in a concerned tone of voice.
“Huh? Oh, nothing really. It’s just that for the first time in quite awhile I’ve met some people who don’t want to kill me or marry me. I’m just wondering if it’s too good to be true.”
“You mean you think they’re going to try to kill or marry you?”
“No, but every time I meet somebody new, my life gets turned on its head. I’m just wondering what’s going to happen this time.”
“You worry to much Ranma. From what we’ve seen and heard, the Sailor Scouts seem to be good people. They won’t do anything to hurt you. Today’s incident is proof of that.”
“Yeah, I guess your right. It’s just that I’ve had this apprehensive feeling since I meet them today. It’s like something big is going to happen to me and they’re at the center of it.”
“Everything will be okay, you’ll see.”
Ranma turned to Akane and smiled, “Thanks Akane.” He got up then and went into the kitchen to see about dinner. Akane just stared at him open mouthed as he left.
“Something must really be bothering him. He never says thank you for anything.”
As the Scouts watched Ranma leave Dr. Tofu came up behind them. “You must have made an impression on him. Ranma never says thank you for anything.”
Venus turned to Dr. Tofu, “What do you mean?”
“Ranma’s a very independent person. He hates to admit he needs help, and he especially hates to give thanks for any help given.”
The Scouts exchanged glances and then stared off in the direction Ranma had gone. “Well, I guess that explains the quick exit,” said Jupiter.
“Ranma was right though,” said Mars. “It is getting late and we need to get home to.”
All the Scouts and Tuxedo Mask turned to Dr. Tofu and bowed. “Thank you for the help, we really appreciate it,” said Mercury.
“Your welcome,” replied Dr. Tofu as he returned their bows. “Feel free to stop by if you ever need help again.”
The Scouts thanked Dr. Tofu again and then left to return to Juuban. A short distance from the clinic they found a dark alleyway and returned to their normal selves. As they headed for home they talked about Ranma and all the strange things they had learned about him. Amy wasn’t paying to much attention to what the other girls were saying, though. She was lost in her own thoughts about Ranma.
“Hey Amy!”
Serena’s voice snapped Amy out of her thoughts. “Huh, what?”
“And people say I’m the spacey one. What’s on your mind Amy?”
“I was just trying to figure out why that monster was after Ranma.”
“And did you?” asked Darien. v“I think so. You remember when we ran into that first monster a few days ago? How it was just destroying random stuff when we found it?”
“How could we forget,” said Rei. “I’ve still got bruises from where that monster hit me. What about it?”
“Well, usually the monsters we fight are trying to drain peoples energy. Like the one that Ranma was fighting. That first monster was just causing random destruction, and when we appeared it instantly attacked us. It wasn’t attacking anyone else unless they got close to it.”
“What are you saying Amy?”
“I’m saying that I think that monsters only goal was to destroy us.”
“What!?” all the Scouts exclaimed in unison.
“Think about it. The minute it laid eyes on us it attacked. We didn’t even have time to give our speeches. Since we hadn’t actually challenged it, why would it bother to attack us? Five girls can’t possibly be seen as a threat to a ten-foot tall heavily muscled minataur. That monster knew exactly who we were and it wanted to kill us. The destruction it was causing was what it used to draw us out.”
“Okay, lets say this is all true,” said Darien. “What does it have to do with why that other monster attacked Ranma.”
“The monster told Ranma that he had interfered where he shouldn’t have. The first monster had been doing a pretty good job of beating us until Ranma showed up. He dispatched the monster without even trying to hard.”
“So you’re saying the second monster was sent to destroy Ranma because he destroyed the first one?”
“Yes. The first one was sent to destroy us because we were perceived as a threat to whoever sent it. The second one was sent because Ranma was perceived as a bigger threat. Which means….”
“Which means that Ranma is in danger of being attacked again!” exclaimed Lita.
“Right, and the perfect time to attack him would be right now, while he’s wounded.”
All the Scouts looked at each other and then set off in a dead run toward where Dr. Tofu had told them the Tendou dojo was.
Ranma turned the water faucet on to get a drink of water, and the faucet sprayed water all over the kitchen. Ranma quickly shut the tap off, but he had already been thoroughly soaked.
“Oh, I’m sorry Ranma,” said Kasumi, “I forgot to tell you the faucet was broken.”
“That’s okay. I’ll just go take a hot bath.” Ranma-chan was heading for the bathroom when she heard an explosion from outside. She began heading toward the backyard to investigate and suddenly the wall next to her exploded inward with a loud bang.
“Where is Ranma Saotome?” demanded an unknown voice.
Ranma-chan dug herself out from beneath what was left of the wall and looked around for the source of the voice. As she did so she noticed that the backyard was brightly lit even though it was night. The source of the light, and apparently the voice as well, was a man bathed in flame hovering about ten feet off of the ground. Ranma-chan looked closer and realized he wasn’t bathed in flame, he was flame. “What do you want?” she shouted.
The flame man turned to look at her, “Who are you?”
“I’m Ranma Saotome.”
“How can that be? Ranma is male.”
“It’s a little hard to explain, but trust me. I am who I say I am.”
“Male or female, it makes no difference to me, I will destroy you.” The flame man raised his hand above his head and a ball of fire appeared on top of it. The monster brought its hand down and sent the fireball hurtling toward Ranma-chan. Ranma-chan threw herself to the side and the fireball ripped a large hole in the ground where she had been standing.
“Oh man,” she moaned as her body protested her actions, “I can’t handle this right now.”
The monster raised its hand again and Ranma-chan prepared to dodge. She knew she was in no condition to fight and that she had to get away somehow. The only problem was she didn’t feel up to running too far either. Ranma-chan was getting ready to spring away, when suddenly a gold chain wrapped around the monster’s wrist.
“What the-,” exclaimed the monster turning around to see who had seized his arm.
Ranma-chan looked to, and smiled. Standing on the wall around the dojo were four of the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask. She wondered where Sailor Mercury was. As if Ranma’s thoughts had summoned her, Sailor Mercury suddenly appeared next to Ranma-chan.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“Yeah, that monster hasn’t managed to touch me yet. I’m just glad you guys showed up. I really don’t feel up to fighting at the moment.”
“Ranma! Are you okay?” said Akane as she came out of the hole in the dojo wall.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Are those the Sailor Scouts?”
“Uh huh. I think I’ll let them handle this one.” Ranma-chan was watching to see how the Scouts dealed with this monster and she didn’t notice the strange looks she was getting from Mercury.
“We won’t allow you to terrorize innocent people anymore,” shouted Sailor Moon as she performed strange hand gestures. “In the name of the Moon we will destroy you.”
“Just try it sailor wimps. You will never beat Inferno.” The monster grinned and suddenly Venus yelped in pain and dropped her chain as it turned red hot. “If you can’t stand the heat get out of the fire,” shouted the monster and suddenly a wall of flame surrounded the Scouts and Tuxedo Mask. “Guess you didn’t listen to well.”
“Damn. Guess I’m going to have to take care of this after all.” Ranma-chan leaped toward the monsters back and threw a punch aimed at the base of its spine. The punch connected, but Ranma-chan cried in pain as her hand was burned. She hit the ground and immediately thrust her burned hand into the pond.
“Trying to sneak up on me eh? Didn’t work very well did it?” The monster began laughing.
“Shine Aqua Illusion,” shouted Sailor Mercury as a torrent of freezing water shot toward the monster. Inferno raised his hand and a shield of lava rock appeared and deflected the blast.
“So, there’s still one of you left.”
If she couldn’t hit the monster, and it could block Mercury’s attack, than Ranma-chan figured she only had one shot. The creature was generating an intense amount of heat. All Ranma-chan had to do was lure it down and into her spiral. “Hey ugly,” she shouted. “Why don’t you come down here and fight me toe to toe? That is, if your not chicken of course.”
“I would have thought you had learned the error of attacking me with your bare flesh.” The monster slowly lowered itself to the ground several feet in front of Ranma-chan. “Very well. If you want to fight than we will fight. And you will die.” The monster charged Ranma-chan and she fell back before its attacks.
Ranma-chan tried to keep herself cool as she led the monster into the spiral, but the monster’s heat and her lack of energy made it too difficult. The monster got a punch through Ranma-chan’s defenses and she was sent crashing to the ground in front of Akane and Mercury. With the assistance of the two other girls she got to her feet. She looked around and saw the monster several feet away laughing loudly. She also saw that the firewall surrounding the other Scouts had died down. They all looked half-dead, but they were still alive.
“What happened Ranma? It looked like you had that thing in your spiral.”
“I’m to tired. I can’t concentrate on defending myself and keeping cool at the same time.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Mercury. Ranma-chan was about to tell her she didn’t have time explain when a thought struck her. “Your attacks are all ice based, right?”
“Yes, but-”
“Can you freeze me with one of your attacks?”
“I guess I could, but why would you want me to do something like that?”
“I’ll explain later. For now just freeze me when I give the word. After you do, I want you and Akane to get the others and get out of here. If this works like I think it will there isn’t going to be much left around here.” Before either of the girls could argue, Ranma-chan charged the monster.
“What’s this? Back for more,” taunted Inferno.
Ranma-chan threw a punch and then fell back. The monster, thinking Ranma-chan was retreating for some reason, advanced with his own attacks. “Do it now Mercury!” shouted Ranma-chan.
“Mercury Ice Bubble Blast,” Mercury shouted. Ranma-chan was surrounded by a lot of bubbles and she suddenly felt very cold. The monster, thinking the attack had been aimed at him, laughed and pressed his attack.
Ranma-chan had to fight with all her strength to keep from freezing over. The cold was more intense than anything she had felt before, and she was rapidly losing strength. All her concentration was taken up with defending herself from the monster’s attacks, but she could feel the energy of the spiral beginning to take form. The shear power of it made her shudder. With such intense sources of heat and cold involved, this blast was going to be bigger than even the one she had used against Happosai.
Ranma-chan reached the center of the spiral and the monster grinned thinking it was all over. Ranma-chan smiled back as she threw a corkscrew uppercut toward the monster. “Hiryuu Shooten Ha!”
When Akane and Mercury had gotten the Scouts to what Akane thought was a safe distance she turned to watch the battle. And realized they were definitely not far enough away. The spiral that was forming around Ranma-chan was bigger than she had thought it could possibly be. She watched as Ranma-chan neared the center of the spiral and knew that it was too late to move farther away.
“What’s she doing?” asked Sailor Mercury.
Instead of answering Akane thought desperately for a way to escape the imminent blast. She could only think of one idea. “Everyone get down and hold on to something!”
“What?” mumbled the injured Scouts.
Akane heard Ranma-chan’s shout and knew what was coming next. “Now!” she shouted as she threw herself on the ground and latched onto what she hoped was a well-anchored bike rack. She looked around and saw the Scouts complying with her demand. Their looks of confusion quickly changed to looks of amazement as the Hiryuu Shooten Ha ripped its way into the night sky.
The tornado was larger than any she had seen before. It towered above her and threatened to pull her into it. Akane had already ridden in one before and she had no intention of doing it again. One of the Scouts screamed as she lost hold of what she had been hanging on to, but Akane caught her ankle before she was sucked into the tornado. Somewhere in the center she thought she saw a bright flame, but it suddenly winked out and was gone. After about a minute the tornado dissipated and Akane stood up.
“What was that?” asked a breathless Sailor Mercury.
“That was what would probably be considered Ranma’s most powerful attack,” replied Akane as she rushed to check on Ranma-chan. She found her lying unconscious at the bottom of a crater that encompassed most of what had been her backyard. The entire back of the house had been destroyed and the yard was completely bare of anything, including the pond.
“Is…is she okay?” asked one of the Scouts.
Akane bent down to check on Ranma-chan. Her skin was icy cold, but other than that she seemed fine. “She’ll be okay. That technique took a lot out of her, and now she’s exhausted. She’ll be fine with a little rest.”
“Such a powerful attack,” said Sailor Mercury looking around. “How did she manage to do it?”
Akane picked up Ranma-chan and began carrying her into the house. “Clash of temperatures,” she said over her shoulder. The Scouts followed Akane as she carried Ranma-chan into the house, but they stopped suddenly as Genma the panda came charging around the house.
Genma took one look at the devastation and held up one of his signs, Ranma get into another fight?
“Yep,” replied Akane. Soun came charging around the house, took one look at the destruction, and began balling his head off. Nabiki came around the side of the house, took one look at the destruction, and pulled out her calculator.
“Oh, my,” was all Kasumi said when she saw the devastation.
Akane laid Ranma-chan down on her bed and, after making sure she was comfortable, turned to face the Scouts. “Thank you for helping Ranma. I don’t think she could have beaten that monster by herself.”
“We’re always glad to help,” said the man in the tuxedo. The man introduced himself as Tuxedo Mask and than introduced the Sailor Scouts.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Akane Tendou.”
“It’s nice to meet you to,” said Sailor Moon, “but tell me something. Why does this Ranma dress, fight, look like, and have the same name as the male Ranma?”
“Ummm…” said Akane as she thought desperately for an excuse for Ranma’s female side. She knew Ranma wouldn’t want her to reveal his secret. “She’s umm… Ranma’s twin sister. The two of them have been training in the martial arts together since they were able to walk. They’re very close.”
“Why do they have the same name though?”
“Well, the female Ranma’s real name is Ranko, but because they look so much alike, everyone calls her Ranma.”
“Oh. Well, where’s the male Ranma.”
“He’s umm… away on important business for the dojo.”
“I see,” said Sailor Moon skeptically.
“Look, I know you’re sort of Ranma’s friends, but there are certain aspects of Ranma’s life that he wouldn’t want me to reveal. You guys keep your true identities secret, and Ranma has secrets of his own. Someday he may take you into his confidence, but for now it would be best if you didn’t pry.”
“We understand,” said Tuxedo Mask. “We appreciate what Ranma has done for us and we will respect his privacy. The next time you see him, though, tell him that his life may be in danger. We believe someone wants him out of the way. Ranko may be in danger as well.”
“Why?”
“We think that someone is out to destroy us, and because Ranma interfered in their plans they want to kill him to,” answered Mercury.
“I’ll tell him. It won’t be the first time someone has wanted to kill Ranma. It probably won’t be the last time either.”
The Scouts told Akane they had to go and she stood outside and waved to them as they left. Then she went back inside and sat down next to Ranma-chan. “Looks like you were right Ranma. Your life just gets stranger with each passing day.”
