Matoshi made his way down the dark corridors of the Palace of Shadows. He was a tall and fairly unassuming man, but the look on his face would have sent anyone who didn’t know him hurrying away. It would have sent anyone who did know him fleeing at a dead run. Cold blue eyes looked out of a face scarred from numerous battles with people all long dead. Matoshi didn’t take prisoners. A simple topknot swung off of Matoshi’s otherwise bald head, and he wore elaborate samurai armor complete with katana at his side.
There were cold torches lining the walls, but Matoshi chose not to light them. The darkness fit his mood just fine. He couldn’t believe his warriors had been defeated three times by the Scouts and that boy. Three times! It was unacceptable. And to top it all off, the last defeat had brought them yet another enemy. This stupid city seemed to be crawling with powerful fighters.
The corridor ended abruptly in a large cavernous room. Here there were glowing balls floating in the air that fully illuminated everything. Three of the room’s four walls were made of smooth black stone interrupted regularly by other openings leading into the chamber. The fourth wall was made of a clear glass like substance, and through the crystal clear surface Matoshi could see fish and various other creatures swimming around outside the palace. In the center of the room a large emerald throne sat facing the clear wall. On the throne sat what appeared to be a man shrouded by shadows even though the room as brightly lit. Matoshi made his way to the throne, and bowed to its occupant. “Lord Dolgoth.”
“What have you to report Matoshi?”
“Inferno was defeated my lord.”
“How?”
“Apparently the boy was not at the dojo. Instead there was a female warrior bearing the same name as Ranma. She defeated Inferno with the help of the Sailor Scouts.”
“How strong was this girl?”
“Very strong my lord. The attack with which she defeated Inferno could be seen from a great distance and had incredible power.”
“Well, it seems we have underestimated the warriors of Earth. It will not fall into our hands as easily as planned. How long until we can bring over some more warriors of our own?”
“The portal is highly unstable right now. I estimate that it will take about one Earth week before we will be able to use it again.”
“When it is usable again, I want you to bring across as many warriors as possible. We will send them all against Earth’s defenders at the same time. They will be crushed.”
“May I lead the attack my lord?”
“No, Matoshi. I need you to continue your search for the stones we seek. Once we have them we can bring our entire army to Earth. Then nothing will be able to stop us from taking it.”
“Yes lord Dolgoth.”
Serena ran down the long stone corridor as fast as she could. To her left and right other corridors periodically appeared, but they didn’t look any different than the one she was in now. She didn’t know how long she had been running or what she was running from, but she was getting tired. She stopped at a place where another corridor crossed this one and she leaned over to catch her breath. That’s when she noticed she wasn’t wearing any clothes. Now that she had stopped running Serena found that the air was cold and goose bumps began to pebble her skin.
Wrapping her arms around herself, Serena studied her options. The corridor she was in seemed to go on endlessly, but so did the corridor branching left and right. She had no idea where she was or what she was doing there, just that she had to escape. But escape from what, she wondered. From behind her, Serena heard a blood-curdling howl and she remembered what she was escaping from. Without hesitating, Serena ran down one of the side corridors as fast as she could.
Serena ran on and on, but the corridor just ran on endlessly. Then all of a sudden the corridor dead-ended. Serena didn’t understand how a corridor that had gone on endlessly before now had a dead-end. Serena turned to run back down the corridor so she could find another one, but she stopped dead in her tracks. Less than fifty yards away stood a writhing mass of black and twisted shapes. Thousands of glowing red eyes stared down the corridor at her, and Serena plastered herself against the dead-end wall.
The mass of black shapes began moving toward Serena as she searched desperately for a means of escape. She could find no way out, though, and so she did the only thing she could think of. She screamed. Instead of the high-pitched scream she was used to, though, a keening cry like that of birds exited Serena’s mouth. Along with the strange cry there also came fire. Serena tried to scream again as fire enveloped her, but then she realized the fire didn’t burn her. The fire wrapped itself around Serena like a blanket; it covered her in head to toe like the clothing she had lost.
Ahead of her Serena saw that the demons had stopped moving and were now watching her warily. She knew they were the reason she was in this strange place and that they had to be destroyed. She raised one fiery hand, and, without knowing quite how, she cast the fire enveloping her at the demons. The fire that came from her hand shot out at the demons in the form of a large fiery bird. The bird of fire gave a keening cry like Serena had before, and swept down the corridor to destroy the demons. The demons fell before the bird with howls of pain as fire washed over them. In a few moments there was nothing left in the corridor but ash.
The bird of fire gave another cry and then came to stand before Serena. Serena reached out to the bird and stroked its head in thanks for saving her life. The fire from the bird didn’t burn her and Serena noticed she herself was still on fire. Suddenly the bird flapped its wings and a tornado of fire enveloped Serena. The tornado raged around her and through her, and everything turned to nothing.
Serena came awake suddenly, clutching at the blankets she slept under. Realizing she was safe in her bed, Serena gave a sigh of relief. It had been the same dream she had had every night for the last week. Sometimes it was a little different, but always the demons and the bird of fire were there. Rei hadn’t been able to interpret the dream, but she had told Serena it was a highly significant one. It was still dark outside and Serena didn’t want to think about dreams. She closed her eyes and immediately drifted off to sleep. This time there were only dreams of Darien.
Ranma stepped outside the Tendou dojo and took a deep breath, inhaling the delicious smells coming from the kitchen. He had just finished his morning workout and was very hungry. He made his way to the house to see what Kasumi was fixing for breakfast.
“Good morning Ranma,” said Kasumi as Ranma entered the kitchen. “Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes.”
“Thanks Kasumi.” Ranma went into the dinning room to wait for breakfast to be served. He sat down at the table and gazed outside at the perfect spring day. After a short time Akane came in and sat down next to him.
“How are you feeling Ranma?”
It had been about a week since Ranma’s encounter with the tentacle creature and he felt in top shape. “I feel absolutely great.”
“That’s good to hear.”
As Kasumi began bringing breakfast out, the dining room began filling with the other residence of the dojo. Everyone was there except Happosai, who had been conspicuously absent for the last few weeks. Not that anyone minded of course. Kasumi set breakfast on the table and everyone began to eat as fast as possible so as to make sure they got some food before Ranma and Genma got it all. After breakfast was over (it took about two minutes) everyone got up to leave, but they all stopped when Kasumi spoke up.
“Excuse me everyone. I was thinking that, since it was such a beautiful day, we should go to a park for lunch.”
“That’s a great idea Kasumi,” exclaimed Soun.
“Thank you father. I will make the lunches and then we can go to the Cherry Tree Park to eat.”
“The Cherry Tree Park? Isn’t that near the Juuban district?” asked Ranma.
“Yes,” answered Kasumi. “I realize it’s a not the closest park, but it’s the nicest one. Do you think it’s to far Ranma?”
“No, that park is as good as any.”
“What’s wrong Ranma?” asked Akane, “you look worried.”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this. I don’t like where the park is.”
“You worry to much. You can’t possibly be attacked every time you go near the Juuban district.”
“You’re right. I don’t have to go near Juuban to be attacked. I can be attacked just fine here. It’s questions, not attacks, I’m worried about.”
“Come on Ranma, the Sailor Scouts are your friends. You don’t have to worry about them. Besides, what are the chances we’ll even run into them?”
“Maybe you’re right. I think I’ll go practice some more before we leave, though. I’ve still got a bad feeling about this.”
Rei watched the masons as they finished patching up the hole in the side of the shrine. The damage had been fairly extensive and it had taken them almost a week to fix it. She still couldn’t believe the damage had been caused by a person who had simply run through the wall. The cats confirmed Chad’s story of a stranger in the house, though, even if they didn’t give any credit to his story of Apollo’s transformation. Rei figured Chad had fallen asleep and was trying to cover himself for allowing a complete stranger to wander in and wreck the shrine.
It bothered her that the stranger had known that Luna and Artemis could talk. If he knew that much, than he could know everything about the Scouts. It didn’t help that no one had seen him around since he had gone through the wall. Nor did it help that Serena and Darien recognized the cat’s description of the boy. He had been the one who had attacked Ranko the week before. Rei was startled out of her dark thoughts by a shout from the front of the shrine. She went around front and found Serena, Amy and Luna standing in the courtyard. “Hi guys.”
“Hi Rei, how’s it going?” greeted Serena.
“Fine I suppose. The hole in the shrine is almost patched up, but I don’t like the fact that it’s there in the first place.”
“You worry to much Rei. I’m sure it was just a common thief, and he’d be really stupid if he came back here again.”
“Common thieves don’t recognize talking cats or go crashing through walls without a scratch,” said Luna.
“Oh…yeah. I suppose your right. Anyway, that’s not what we’re here to talk about.”
“That’s right,” said Amy, “Lita’s invited us for lunch.”
“Really? Where?”
“At the Cherry Tree Park. Her and Mina are going to meet us there with Artemis.”
“Sounds like fun. I’ll go get ready and then we can leave.” Rei turned toward the shrine, but stopped suddenly as a thought struck her. “Hey,” she said, turning back around, “isn’t the Cherry Tree Park in the Nerima district?”
“Yes,” answered Amy. “That’s part of the reason why we’re going there. We can do a little investigating after we’re done with lunch.”
“And I want to meet this Ranma person myself,” added Luna. “I can’t possibly believe he’s as strong as you say he is. Him or Ranko.”
“It’s true Luna!” exclaimed Serena. “I can’t believe that you don’t trust me.”
“If we see Ranma, we’ll introduce you to him,” said Rei. “Then you can see for yourself how strong he is.”
“That’s exactly what I have in mind.”
“Hey Ran-chan!”
Ranma looked up from his lunch to see Ukyou heading toward him. “Hey U-chan. What are you doing in the park?”
“Well, I thought that since it was such a nice day I would open up shop outside. I’ve got my okonomiyaki stand just a little ways away. I saw you guys over here and thought I’d come over and say hi.”
Akane was pointedly ignoring Ukyou by talking to Nabiki while she ate her lunch. She looked over Nabiki’s shoulder and saw five girls and a boy walking towards them. It wasn’t the people she really noticed though; it was the cats walking with them. She turned to warn Ranma, but before she could say anything Ranma threw himself onto her as a giant spiked ball crashed into the place he had been sitting. Akane saw that the ball was attached to a chain when it was pulled out of the hole it had made in the ground.
Ranma got to his feet quickly and looked around for his attacker. Standing about ten feet away was a very large man swinging the ball and chain over his head. The man looked human except for the fact that he was twelve feet tall and had arms twice the size of Ranma’s legs. He was bald except for a topknot and he was wearing black armor with a red skull on the chest plate.
“What do you want?!” demanded Ranma.
The man just smiled. Suddenly a whip wrapped itself around Ranma, pinning his arms to his sides. Ranma looked over and saw a tall thin woman with long black hair holding the whip. Ranma tried to get free, but he was held tight. The man with the topknot began swinging the ball and chain faster with the intent of pounding Ranma into the ground while he was trapped. Luckily, one of Ukyou’s spatula shuriken’s came flying through the air and severed the whip close to Ranma. He was able to get himself free and jump to the side just as the spiked ball zipped through the air where he had been standing.
However, when Ranma landed he was struck from behind by a lighting bolt and sent crashing to the ground. Ranma rolled out of the way as another lighting bolt struck the ground right next to his head, sending dirt and grass high into the air. He got to his feet and found that his new attacker was a human shape clad head to toe in what appeared to be tinfoil. The figure raised its hands and electricity arced between them.
“Ranma, what the hell is going on?” demanded Ukyou.
“I really couldn’t tell you. But whatever it is, it looks bad,” Ranma pointed to his left and right. Ukyou and Akane looked and saw three more people (the word “people” being used in the loosest sense of the term) approaching. One of them looked like a large lion on two legs. It’s face looked human, but its entire body was covered in hair and it had a large mane. It raised its hands and ten razor sharp retractable claws appeared out of the ends of its fingers.
Another one of the creatures seemed human in every aspect except its head, which happened to be the head of a wolf. It raised the large sword it was carrying and grinned, revealing rows of sharp teeth. The last creature looked like some kind of lizard man. Its head was shaped like a lizards and it was covered in green scales. It had a large tail and a long thin tongue slipped in and out of its mouth as it pounded one fist into its palm.
Ranma looked around and saw that somehow his pop and the Tendou’s had managed to get away. It was just him, Akane, and Ukyou surrounded by the strange attackers. “Akane, remind me to listen to myself the next time I get a bad feeling.”
“No problem. If we get out of this alive.” Akane and Ranma settled into fighting stances while Ukyou drew her oversized spatula. Then they placed themselves back to back and prepared to defend themselves.
Serena and her friends watched as the six strangers began to advance on Ranma and his friends. “We have to help them,” she said as she pulled out her brooch. With the utterance of some magical words and the waving of some wands five not so ordinary girls and one young man became the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask. As one they ran toward the strangers, intent on stopping them before they attacked Ranma. “Hold it right there,” shouted Sailor Moon when she was close enough to be seen and heard clearly. Everyone turned to look at her.
“Boy, am I glad to see you guys,” said Akane.
“Who are they?” asked Ukyou.
“Reinforcements,” answered Ranma.
“It’s not right to attack innocent people who are enjoying a picnic lunch in the park. I am Sailor Moon, champion of justice. The Sailor Scouts and I shall see that you are punished for this. In the name of the moon we shall destroy you.” Sailor Moon’s speech was accompanied by her usual hand gestures and when she was finished all the non-Sailor Scouts were just staring at her.
“I hope they fight better than they talk,” muttered Ukyou.
“Trust me, they do.”
“Well now,” said the big guy with the ball and chain, “this will save us the task of looking for you later. We can crush you all here and now.”
“Just try it,” challenged Sailor Jupiter.
“With pleasure.”
“Look out!” Akane’s warning came to late as suddenly a huge shape swept out of the air and smashed into the back of Sailor Moon sending her face first into the ground. The creature swept back up into the air before anyone could get a good look at it.
“Are you okay Sailor Moon?” asked a concerned Tuxedo Mask as he kneeled down next to her.
“I…I’ll be okay. I just need a minute to let my head clear.
“You’ll pay for that dirty trick,” said Tuxedo Mask as he rose with a flourish of his cape.
“Enough of this talk,” shouted the big man. “Everyone attack! Destroy them!” The strangers charged the Scouts and the Nerima crew, and the defenders leapt to engage the enemy. The battle had begun, and in no time it was all over the park.
Venus found herself facing off against the woman with the whip. Somehow the woman had managed to make it long again. “I’m going to make you scream for days before I kill you little girl.”
“You’re going to be the one screaming. Venus Love Me Chain Encircle!” Venus’s heart link chain shot straight for the woman. The woman raised her coiled whip and used it to casually knock the chain aside.
“You’re going to have to do better than that if you want to defeat the great Angelfire.” The woman shot her whip at Venus who jumped backward to avoid it. She would have to, if the whip hadn’t launched a fireball at her when it reached its full length. Venus desperately threw herself to the side, but the fireball still grazed her shoulder. “How pathetic,” laughed Angelfire.
“Two can play that game,” growled Venus as she clutched her burned shoulder. “Venus Love Me Whip!” The heart link chain shot out again but this time Venus grabbed her end of it. “Venus Crescent Whip Smash!” she shouted as she hurled her new whip at Angelfire. Angelfire was out of range of the whip itself, but when it reached the end of its length a crescent shaped blast fired from the end and struck the woman in the chest.
Angelfire grunted as she stumbled backwards from the force of the blast. “You will pay dearly for that girlie.” Angelfire’s whip came out again but Venus countered with her own attack. The combatants struck back and forth at each other, their whips igniting the air with sharp cracks and fiery projectiles. Finely Angelfire attacked Venus’s chain directly and managed to yank it out of her hands. “You’ve had it now!” she shouted as her whip wrapped itself around Sailor Venus, pinning her arms.
Angelfire smiled and the whip began to glow with fire at her end. Suddenly the fire surged down the whip toward Venus. She tried desperately to get away, but she was held tight. Just before the fire reached her though, what looked like two yellow shurikens came flying out of nowhere and cut the whip in two.
“What the…!” exclaimed Angelfire looking around for the source of the projectiles. She found him standing about ten feet away. “Who are you?”
“Ryoga Hibiki. Personally I wouldn’t care if you beat the hell out of Ranma, but by attacking Akane and these other girls you have made me your enemy as well.” Ryoga drew his umbrella, “Prepare to defend yourself.” Ryoga charged.
With a snort, Angelfire uncoiled her whip (which had grown long again) and sent it flying toward the charging Ryoga. Ryoga caught the whip with his umbrella, and with a powerful yank he sent Angelfire over his head and face first into the ground. She pulled herself to her feet and had just enough time to gasp in surprise before Ryoga’s umbrella smashed into her head sending her back to the ground in an unconscious heap.
“Are you all right?” asked Ryoga turning to Sailor Venus.
“I…I’m fine,” she managed to get out. Venus was in total shock over what she had just witnessed. This boy had taken out a fairly powerful adversary with hardly any effort at all. He was incredibly strong, probably as strong as Ranma.
“Good. I have to go see about Akane now,” he said as he dashed off. Venus could only stand there staring after him.
Sailor Mercury searched the sky for her opponent. The air born creature had already surprised her several times with the speed and randomness of its attacks. The gashes across her shoulders and arms attested to that. Suddenly she caught movement in the corner of her eye. She threw herself backwards and narrowly avoided the creature as it swept through the place she had been standing. “Shine Aqua Illusion,” she shouted as she fired a blast of icy water at the back of the creature as it headed into the sky again. It was to fast though, and Mercury’s attack fell short of the target.
The creature appeared to be some kind of bat, human cross. It had the head of a bat and large leathery wings protruding from its back. The rest of the body, with the exception of the claws on the hands and feet, was very human. The creature was to fast and maneuverable for Mercury to make a decent attack against it. Unless she could get it on the ground, she didn’t stand a chance. She remembered Ranko’s attack from the previous week and a thought came to her.
Mercury switched on her visor and began scanning for the creature. She found it about sixty feet away and closing fast. She began gathering the power of the planet Mercury and when the creature was ten feet away she attacked. “Mercury Ice Tornado!” she shouted as the air began to swirl around her. The air swirled faster and faster as the tornado began to expand. It turned icy cold and large chunks of ice began spinning around inside of the tornado. The creature saw the tornado and tried to swerve away, but the high-speed winds pulled it in. The creature spun around and around inside of the tornado as the air froze it and large chunks of ice smashed into it.
When the tornado dissipated, a frozen monstercicle crashed to the ground and shattered into a hundred pieces. Cool though Sailor Mercury as she turned away and went off to see how the others were doing.
Ukyou clutched her spatula tightly as she squared off against the wolf headed monster. “You call that a weapon,” snarled the beast as it eyed Ukyou’s spatula.
“You’ll call it a weapon too when I use it to take your head off.”
“Ha. I am Fang, one of the best swordsman in the Shadow Empire.”
“Well, lets see exactly how good the best is,” said Ukyou as she hefted her spatula and charged. Ukyou brought her spatula down on top of the creature and it blocked with its sword. She swung again and the creature blocked and counter attacked. Ukyou blocked and returned the attack. That’s the way the battle went; block and counter, parry and strike. The creature was as good as it said, though, and soon Ukyou was almost totally defensive. I can’t beat this guy in toe to toe combat, she thought. I have to get away and develop some kind of plan.
Ukyou jumped away and sent some of her spatula shurikens flying at Fang to distract him. The monster’s sword blurred and he deflected all of the projectiles. “I must admit that you wield that cooking instrument very well. You’re not good enough to beat me though.”
“Well see.” Ukyou charged again, throwing some spatulas ahead of her. The monster blocked all of them and attacked her as she got in range of his sword. Ukyou sidestepped Fang’s attack and reached into her shirt. “Flour bomb!” she shouted as she threw a pouch of flour right into the monsters eyes. Fang brought one hand up to try and scrub the flour out of his eyes as he swung his sword blindly, trying to keep Ukyou away. It was to no avail though. Ukyou brought her spatula around and the razor sharp end passed easily through the creature’s neck. The wolf head fell to the ground with a sickening thud.
Ukyou looked at the severed head for a moment and then dropped her spatula and fell to her knees retching. She had threatened to kill people before but she had never actually done it. The fact that this thing hadn’t been completely human and had been trying to kill her didn’t help much. With a lot of effort Ukyou picked up her spatula and pushed herself to her feet. As she turned her back on the dead creature she reminded herself that it had been trying to kill her and she had just been defending herself. Without a backward glance she left to go see how the others were faring.
Jupiter blocked the lizard mans round kick and tried to throw a punch at it’s midsection. The monsters tail came whipping around and caught her on the side of the head, though, and she was sent crashing to the ground several feet away. Her head was spinning from the force of the blow, but she managed to push herself to her feet. She assumed her fighting stance and began cautiously circling the creature.
The monster was an extremely good fighter. It was faster than Jupiter and it had the advantage of an extra limb to attack with. She was covered in bruises from the damn things tail, and while she was wearing down, the creature didn’t seem in the least bit affected by the few blows she had managed to land. All and all things were not looking good for Sailor Jupiter.
Jupiter’s evaluation of the situation was cut short as the creature suddenly charged. It attacked with everything it had, and Jupiter was hard pressed to just defend, let alone counter attack. One of the creatures punches slipped threw her defenses and caught her in the face. The monster kicked her in the stomach and then its tail came up and slammed into her head again. Jupiter was sent reeling. When her head cleared she realized she was on her back staring up at the lizard man. The creature raised its foot to stomp her windpipe and Jupiter knew she was done for.
Suddenly, what looked like a beach ball attached to the end of a stick crashed into the creature’s face and sent it stumbling backwards. A girl with long purple hair and another beach ball on a stick came to stand next to Jupiter. “You stay there. Shampoo handle ugly lizard thing.” Jupiter could just watch with her mouth hanging open as Shampoo attacked the lizard man.
Jupiter could tell that Shampoo was a better fighter than she was, but the lizard man was better still. After a short while Shampoo crashed into the ground next to where Jupiter was kneeling. “Aya! Lizard thing strong.” Jupiter nodded in agreement. They had to come up with a plan. Jupiter eyed Shampoo’s weapon of choice and noticed that the ball was made out of metal. An idea began to form in the back of her head.
“What’s the handle of your weapon made out of?”
“Is rubber. That way no slip when wet with blood. Why ask?”
“Because I have an idea. I want you to charge the creature and hit it with that ball thing of yours.”
“Shampoo already try that. Lizard thing no get hurt.”
“Not before, but this time I’m going to charge your weapon. We’re going to toast this lizard.”
Shampoo nodded and got to her feet along with Jupiter. Shampoo charged the creature and Jupiter prepared her attack. When Shampoo got close to the creature, Jupiter unleashed her power. “Jupiter Thunder Crash!” she shouted as a lighting bolt shot forward and struck Shampoo’s bonbori. The lizard man, startled by the display of power, momentarily dropped its guard. Shampoo, on the other hand, had been expecting something, and as the creature’s arms came down she slammed her electrified bonbori right into its face.
The lizard man screamed as the electricity coursed through its body. After a moment the browned and smoking body of the creature fell lifelessly to the ground. Shampoo turned to Sailor Jupiter. “Girl strong. Shampoo like that.”
“You’re pretty strong yourself. Now come on, lets go see how the others are doing.” Shampoo nodded and the two girls headed away from the dead lizard man together.
Sailor Mars threw herself aside as lightning surged threw the air where she had been standing. Rolling to her feet she returned fire, literally. “Mars Celestial Fire Surround!” she shouted as rings of fire shot forward toward their target. The man wrapped in tinfoil clapped his hands together and electricity surged around him. The rings of fire struck the electricity and exploded. The man appeared completely unhurt by the attack. This is a bad thing, thought Sailor Mars.
The tinfoil man raised its hands and electricity shot forward again. This time instead of dodging just to the side, Mars headed forward as well. As she raced toward the man, dodging lightning bolts all the way, she prepared one of her wards. She was almost on him when he fired another bolt at almost point blank range. Mars had nowhere to go but down, so she went down. She flattened herself against the earth as the bolt passed over her head. Immediately after the bolt had passed, Mars jumped to her feet and slapped her ward onto the forehead of the tinfoil man.
The man stumbled back with a cry of pain as the ward began to glow. “Gotcha now,” exclaimed Mars. However, before Mars could prepare another attack, electricity surged around the ward destroying it. Before Mars could react the tinfoil man sent a bolt of electricity right into her chest. With a wordless scream Sailor Mars fell to the ground twitching as the electricity raced through her body.
Through eyes blurred with tears, Sailor Mars saw the tinfoil man come to stand over the top of her. He held his hands up and electricity arced between them. Mars couldn’t move enough to even try to get away. Her whole body felt numb as she watched the man raise one electrified hand above his head in preparation for her death. Suddenly a dozen weapon tipped chains came out of nowhere and wrapped around the tinfoil man, pinning his arms and legs together.
Mars managed to turn her head enough to see that the chains were protruding from the robes of a boy with long black hair and huge glasses. With a mighty tug, the boy used the chains to whip the tinfoil man around and send him crashing into a tree. The tree’s trunk cracked from the force of the blow and the man fell to an unconscious heap at its base.
“Are you okay miss?” asked the boy as he approached Sailor Mars.
“N…not really, but I’ll be all right. Who are you?”
“I am Mousse, master of hidden weapons. I was sent here to help you fight.”
“Who sent you?”
“A…friend of Ranma’s. Come on,” said Mousse as he picked up the injured Sailor Mars, “lets go see if anyone else needs help.’
Tuxedo Mask watched the lion creature warily as he positioned himself in front of Sailor Moon. “I’m going to rip you and your girlfriend into pieces little man,” growled the monster.
“We’ll see about that.” Tuxedo Mask sent a rose flying directly at the creature’s head. The monster caught the rose in mid-air, though, and crushed it in its large hand. Tuxedo Mask gasped.
“Roses? Is this the best you can do? Or do you have some petunia’s you’d like to throw at me?” The monster roared with laughter. “Let me teach you how to fight little man.” The creature leaped up into the air and came down on top of Tuxedo Mask. Tuxedo Mask caught the creature and used its momentum to hurl it over his head. The monster flipped in mid-air and came down on its feet facing Tuxedo Mask. With a wordless roar the monster flung itself at Tuxedo Mask again.
The creature’s razor sharp claws raked Tuxedo Mask across the chest as he tried to avoid the attack by jumping backwards. The creature pressed its attack and Tuxedo Mask fell back desperately trying to ward off the beasts slashing claws. The blood welling up on his arms, chest, and face showed that he was slowly losing the battle. The monster backhanded Tuxedo Mask across the face and then grabbed his neck and lifted him into the air. “Now you are going to die little man.”
“Hold it right there!”
“Huh?” said the monster as it turned to see who had challenged it. What it saw was Sailor Moon holding her tiara in one hand.
“Moon Tiara Magic!” shouted Moon as she sent her tiara spinning toward the monster. The tiara slammed into the monster’s chest and it dropped Tuxedo Mask as it fell to the ground. As the monster was picking itself off of the ground, Sailor Moon brought out her scepter. “Moon Scepter Elimination!” A crescent shaped blast fired out of the end of the wand and the monster, still dazed from the tiara attack, took it full in the chest and disintegrated. Sailor Moon rushed to where a bruised and bloody Tuxedo Mask was lying on the ground. “Are you okay?”
“I will be after I see a doctor. Those claws of his were sharp.”
“We’ll take you to Dr. Tofu as soon as we’re done here. He’ll be able to patch you up and make you handsome again.”
“You mean I’m not handsome right now.”
“Not with all that blood running down your face you’re not. Come on,” said Moon as she helped Tuxedo Mask to his feet, “lets go see how the others are doing.”
“You stay out of this Akane,” ordered Ranma as he settled into a fighting stance facing the big guy with the ball and chain.
“No way Ranma. I’m going to help you fight this guy.”
“I can handle this alone. I don’t need your help.”
“Ha ha ha,” laughed the big man. “Come at me together or alone, it makes no difference to me. I will still crush you both.”
“Not in a million years pal,” growled Ranma. “You don’t stand a chance against me.”
“Big talk for such a little man. Come on and show me that it is more than just talk.”
“With pleasure.” With a wordless shout Ranma charged the big man. The man sent his ball and chain flying toward the charging Ranma, but he easily slipped past it. Ranma jumped into the air and delivered several punches to the man’s face as he went over the top of it. Landing behind the man, Ranma spun and planted his foot in the small of the man’s back. The man didn’t even budge.
“You’re pretty fast little man, but you’re blows feel like flea bites. You’re going to have to do better if you want to live little flea.”
Ranma, enraged by the big mans taunting, put everything he had into his next attack. The big man was faster than he looked though, and before Ranma could do more than throw a few punches, he was trapped by the big mans hand around his throat. Actually the hand was so big that it encompassed a good deal of Ranma’s head along with his throat.
“Well now, looks like you’re not the only one with speed little flea. You underestimated me because of my size. A foolish mistake, and one that you will now die for.” The big man’s hand began to squeeze. The hand suddenly sprang open as Akane delivered a fearsome kick to the big man’s elbow. The man bellowed in pain, “You are going to pay for that girl!” Akane leaped back as the man kicked at her. She wasn’t quite fast enough though and the kick caught her in the midsection and sent her flying through the air.
“Akane!” the scream came from two throats simultaneously. As one, two battle auras roared to life, one a flaming orange, the other an icy blue. “Mooko Takabisha!” “Shi Chi Hokodan!” Ranma and Ryoga’s chi blasts shot forward and struck the big man simultaneously, totally obliterating him. Both martial artists were making a beeline for Akane before the big mans ashes had even began settling to the ground.
“Akane! Are you okay?!” asked Ranma as he kneeled down beside Akane.
“Y…yes. I just got the wind knocked out of me. That’s all. I’ll be fine.”
“Next time you stay out of the fighting and let me handle it.”
“If I’d let you handle it you’d be dead right now.”
“Ha, I had that guy right where I wanted him. It was just a matter of time before I wore him down.”
Akane was about to remind Ranma that he had been in no position to ware anyone down, when Ryoga came charging up. “Are you okay Akane?” he asked in a concerned tone of voice.
“I’ll probably be bruised in the morning, but I’ll be fine. Thanks for worrying about me.” Ryoga blushed. Ranma helped Akane to her feet and she looked around in surprise. A large crowd consisting of Ranma’s enemies, her rivals, and the Sailor Scouts was beginning to gather around them.
“Shampoo! Mousse!” exclaimed Ranma catching sight of the two Chinese martial artists. “What are you guys doing here? For that matter, where did you come from Ryoga?”
“I’m not really sure,” answered Ryoga looking around. “I thought I was in Kyoto.”
“Great-grandmother send Shampoo and Mousse to help Ranma and friends fight,” said Shampoo, answering Ranma’s first question.
“How did the old ghoul know we were fighting here?”
“Shampoo not know. Great-grandmother just say Shampoo must come to park or you be killed. Shampoo no want ainen be killed, so Shampoo come.”
“I myself wouldn’t care if you died Saotome,” said Mousse, “but the old ghoul practically threatened to kill me if I didn’t come and help. Come to think of it, she did threaten to kill me.”
“Now how did the old ghoul know we were here? And why did she send help? It’s not like her to help me out with no reason. I think I’m going to have to have a talk with her.” Ranma shook his head and turned to the Sailor Scouts and Ukyou. Some of the Scouts and Tuxedo Mask looked pretty beat up, and Ukyou was very pale. “Are you guys all okay?”
The Scouts all nodded and Ukyou gave him a tight-lipped smile and thumbs up. “I’ll be fine as soon as I get some stitches in me,” answered Tuxedo Mask.
“Looks like it’s your turn to see Dr. Tofu,” laughed Ranma. “Anyway,” he said a little hesitantly, “thanks for the help. I really appreciate it.” Ranma didn’t like admitting he needed help and he looked around for a change of subject. He found it in Ryoga, who was looking like he’d rather be anywhere but where he was. “What’s wrong Ryoga?”
“Huh?” said Ryoga looking around nervously. “What makes you think something’s wrong? There’s nothing wrong.” Ryoga’s gaze settled on the scouts for a second and then jerked away. Ranma looked at the Scouts and noticed that Sailor Mars seemed to be glaring at Ryoga.
“Out with it Ryoga. What the hell did you do this time?”
“Nothing! I did nothing. I mean, I didn’t mean to go through that wall. It was an accident. I just got lost, that’s all.” Ryoga turned to Sailor Mars with a nervous smile. “I’m really sorry I put a hole in the wall of your shrine, Rei. I’ll help fix it if you want.”
All the Scouts gasped. “H…how do you know who I am?” demanded Sailor Mars.
“Well…I…uh…” Ryoga was saved from answering when Ranma suddenly screamed. Everyone prepared to defend themselves as they looked around for what had frightened Ranma. No one could find a threat though, and they all turned back to Ranma. Ranma looked like he’d seen the bowels of Hell.
“What’s wrong Ranma?” asked Sailor Moon.
Ranma pointed down at Moon’s feet. “C-C-C-Ca-Ca-Cat!” He finally managed to get out.
Sailor Moon looked down and saw a familiar black cat at her feet. “That’s just Luna,” she said as she picked the cat up, “she won’t hurt you.” All the Nerimians shouted for Moon to stop, but it was to late, she was already pushing Luna toward Ranma.
Ranma took one look at the cat, turned, and ran. In his haste to get away he ran right over Ryoga. “Damn it Ranma!” shouted Ryoga as he jumped to his feet. “You can’t use me like a door mat and get away with it! Come back here and fight me!” he shouted as he chased after Ranma.
“Come back Ranma. You go on date with Shampoo now, yes.” Shampoo took off after Ranma.
“Shampoo!” shouted Mousse. “Damn it Saotome, I’m going to kill you for stealing my Shampoo!” Mousse headed off after Shampoo.
The Scouts stared open mouthed after Ranma and the others. “What just happened?” asked Moon in a weak voice.
“Nothing that doesn’t usually happen when Ranma sees a cat. He’s deathly afraid of them,” explained Akane.
“He’s afraid of cats!” exclaimed Jupiter.
“Yes, but not without reason.” Akane told them of Ranma’s cat-fist training and the detrimental effects it had had on his psyche.
“That’s terrible! What kind of father would do that to his child?!” demanded Jupiter.
“Oh, it’s not without benefits. When Ranma is around a cat for to long he goes crazy. When that happens he’s invincible. As bad as that sounds, it has helped him out in the past. The only way to bring his sanity back is for me to hold him or for someone to splash him with water. I wouldn’t recommend the water, though. Ranma kind of has an aversion to it.”
When Akane finished, the scouts were staring wide-eyed at her. “That’s very…interesting,” said Sailor Moon.
Suddenly Soun came running up and threw his arms around Akane. “Oh Akane, I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Genma came up behind Soun and held up one of his signs, Why did Ranma leave in such a hurry? Akane pointed at Luna and Genma turned the sign around, Oh.
“Anyway,” said Akane pushing herself away from her father’s embrace, “I had better go find Ranma before the others do. And you guys had better get Tuxedo Mask to a doctor; he looks pretty torn up. Thanks for the help, I’ll see you guys later,” she turned to go but stopped suddenly as a thought came to her. “Incidentally, Ranko has the same problem with cats, so if you see her don’t let her see your cat.” Akane took off before the Scouts could ask questions and they were left staring at her departing back.
“This place is really strange,” commented Sailor Moon. All the Scouts nodded in agreement.
“You don’t know the half of it,” said Ukyou as she shouldered her spatula and went off to check on her okonomiyaki stand. No one noticed the fact that Angelfire and the man wrapped in tinfoil had disappeared.
