Apotheosis 1:

Quarter Moon Madness
by Reid Carson

Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate,
All but the page prescrib'd, their present state.

Alexander Pope: Essay on Man

I take disasters in my stride - they don't upset me;
And boys that mean me harm are sorry that they met me.
But what will I do without you?

Lene Lovich: What will I do without you?

Timeline note: this story takes place between volume 17 and volume 18 of the Ranma manga, and between the Doom Tree story and the Black Moon story in Sailor Moon R.

"We're lost, aren't we?"

"No, we're not."

"Admit it - you have no idea where we are."

"Sure I do. We're in Juuban."

"So where is this bookstore? And don't tell me it's in Juuban."

"Uh, I'm not exactly sure. We should be close."

Akane sighed. "Ranma, you've been saying that for the last half hour. Now are you going to give up and ask someone? You're a girl at the moment, so it shouldn't bruise your delicate male ego."

"All right, all right," Ranma grumbled. "I'll ask the next person we see."

There was no one to ask just then. They were walking through a quiet residential neighborhood, trim houses with yards fenced off from the street by a concrete wall.

As they walked, Akane tried to recall just how she had been dragooned into accompanying Ranma. Ranma's father had suggested he visit a bookstore owned by an old friend. Her father had suggested she go along, hinting (if you could call it that) how beneficial it would be for their relationship. She'd declined. So far, so good. Her father had pleaded. She'd refused. Ranma had made several insulting comments expressing his marked preference for her absence. She'd punched him. Her father had cried. She had remained obdurate. Nothing out of the ordinary. So what had gone wrong?

It must have been Kasumi, she decided. Somehow, in the midst of the usual clamor, Kasumi had come in and swept them both up and out the door, saying something about being home in time for dinner. Before they really knew it, they were standing outside, looking at each other blankly. She'd still wanted to refuse, but somehow she always had a hard time saying no to Kasumi. Ranma felt the same way, apparently. She'd expected him to balk when, not a block from the house, a car driving through the puddles left from the previous night's rainfall had splashed him, triggering his curse, but he'd simply sighed and kept walking. Still, it hadn't been too bad. In truth, when they weren't being pushed this way or that by their families or his "harem", she generally got along fairly well with Ranma. "It's too bad," she thought, a bit wistfully, "we don't get more times like this."

She glanced at Ranma out of the corner of her eye. It was actually rather nice, walking with Ranma like this. She didn't even mind that Ranma was currently a girl - rather the opposite, in fact. This way, people they met didn't make the automatic assumption that they were a couple, and somehow that made it easier to feel like one. Not that they were a couple, of course. Not exactly. Still, at least Ranma was walking next to her, and not up on a fence, taking any excuse to separate himself from her. Maybe he enjoyed times like this too. "So why aren't you doing any of your 'balance training?'"

Ranma shrugged. "No point. The wall's so wide it's no challenge. Hell, even a klutz like you could probably do it."

On the other hand, Akane reflected as she knocked Ranma into said wall, maybe he was just a jerk.

They walked another block before seeing anyone. Ahead of them, a small figure swathed in voluminous robes of red and yellow turned a corner and headed toward them. Akane nudged Ranma. "There's someone. Ask him - or her."

"I said all right!"

As they neared the - person - Akane became more and more uncertain. Perhaps it was the fact that she couldn't actually see anything of the colorfully dressed man or woman: the robes trailed on the ground, obscuring the feet; long sleeves completely enveloped the hands; and a hood concealed any view of the face. It might almost have been a heap of living clothing walking towards them, she told herself with a nervous smile. The thought wasn't quite as amusing as it might have been; with Ranma around almost anything was possible. Then there was the way the mysterious figure moved - not walking, or even gliding, but almost hopping, rather like a large bird. She was about to tell Ranma she'd changed her mind, when her fiance addressed their fellow pedestrian.

"Excuse me, can you tell us where -"

"Goodness me, what are two such lovely young women doing, walking around unescorted in such a dangerous place?" a high-pitched, sibilant voice interrupted her.

Akane and Ranma stared at the speaker for a moment, then glanced at the peaceful surroundings. Ranma said slowly, "Uh, yeah. Look, there's nothing to worry about -"

"You're quite right, of course, I'm sure two such powerful martial artists aren't likely to encounter anything they can't handle around here." The robed figure pushed back its hood to reveal a face the color of old ivory, crossed by more lines than Ranma could readily count. For some reason she felt that the speaker was male, though she wasn't sure why, and very likely the oldest person she had ever met.

"Anyway, we're looking for -"

"And about time too, I must say," the old man interrupted again. "Fortunately, you're not too late. Go down the street and turn right at the next corner. And no dawdling, my dear Ranma. Time and tide wait for no man, not even you." Turning to Akane, he reached out and took her hands, the touch of his unseen fingers as delicate and clinging as spider webs. Looking into her eyes, he said compassionately, "'There is a curtain, thin as gossamer, clear as glass, strong as iron, that hangs for ever between the world of magic and the world that seems to us to be real.' Do you know which side you're on, my dear? Do you know which side you want to be on?" Without waiting for a response, he pulled his hood back up and scampered down the road at an amazing pace.

The two girls stared after him, then looked at each other. Finally, Akane said, "Well, that was ... strange."

"No kidding."

"Did you know that guy?"

"Didn't look familiar."

"He called you by name, Ranma."

"I noticed."

"Are you sure you don't know him? You do seem to have a hard time remembering names and faces."

Ranma shook her head. "I didn't recognize him, and I don't think I'd have forgotten him easily. Funny thing is, if I did know him once, it would have been as a guy, and he recognized me in girl form. Knew we were martial artists, too."

As they resumed walking, Akane pondered the odd encounter, and finally concluded, "You know, it's all your fault, Ranma."

"How ya figure?"

"Nothing weird ever happened to me before you came here."

Ranma glanced at her skeptically. "Beating up a couple dozen guys every morning at school was just run-of-the-mill, huh?"

"Compared to what's happened in the last few months?"

Upon consideration, Ranma had to admit that she had a point, but she had no intention of giving Akane the satisfaction of actually agreeing with her. As they approached the indicated turning, she looked at Akane out of the corner of her eye and murmured, "That guy gave us directions even though I never actually told him what we were looking for. Think we ought to turn here?"

Akane thought for a moment, then shrugged. "We might as well. If we don't, whatever it is will probably just come after us." As she spoke, she looked up and caught sight of a small, orange tabby-striped cat sitting on top of the wall across the street staring at them. She assumed Ranma hadn't seen it yet, since she hadn't gone into a spasm of fear. She would have thought no more of it, had not the cat started to vanish before her eyes.

Indeed, the operative word was "started." It was as if some celestial artist had begun slowly erasing the cat from the bottom up, as first the feet and tail, and then the cat's body disappeared. For a moment, only the cat's head remained, floating calmly in the air. The cat looked at her, and blinked, and shook its head, before resuming its strange departure. By the time Ranma noticed that Akane had stopped walking, and looked back to see her standing still, gaping, the last inch of the cat's ears was vanishing.

"Akane? Is something wrong?" Despite Ranma's best efforts, a note of concern had intruded into her casual-seeming question.

"What? I thought I saw...." Akane's voice trailed off. As she thought about it, it seemed to her that telling Ranma she had seen a cat would only cause more trouble than it was worth. Moreover, she had the distinct impression the cat hadn't wanted her to tell Ranma anything. It occurred to her she might be reading a little too much into the incident, but then, she really didn't know what to make of it all. Finally, she decided to make discretion the better part of valor. "Nothing, I guess. Just - forget it." Ignoring Ranma's curious looks, she resumed walking.

Hearing voices ahead, they turned the corner, and stopped dead. Six boys in their late teens surrounded one young girl, who couldn't have been more than fourteen or fifteen. Akane made as if to step forward, but Ranma held up a hand, hoping to find out what was going on. Akane's father had warned them before they set off that morning to be at least somewhat circumspect in their behavior. Nerima tended to adopt a fairly relaxed attitude toward the incidental damages associated with a large concentration of overpowered martial artists; not all districts of Tokyo were quite so enlightened.

"Well, well," the apparent leader of the group said. "Look at this, boys. It's been a while, but I'd recognize those two long ponytails anywhere. We were just getting acquainted last time when that Amazon friend of yours showed up. You owe us big time for that, sweetheart, and we're here to collect."

Ranma dropped her hand and grimaced in disgust. She hated bullies of any kind, and seeing a gang of them against one small girl.... "Come on, guys, where do you get this dialog? Watching too many bad movies?"

The leader's head whipped around at her words, but he relaxed when he saw the two girls standing at the corner. "Look, little girls, you'd better get lost. This is none of your business."

"No?" Akane said ominously, cracking her knuckles. "Unless you leave her alone, I think we're going to have to make it our business."

Ranma regarded her with amusement. "I thought I was the one always getting into fights."

"Well, since you came around I've only had the chance to beat up one jerk at a time instead of a mob. I'm getting out of practice."

"Tsk, tsk. How unladylike."

The leader gestured to one of the punks beside him. "Nobuhiko, get rid of them."

Nobuhiko, a tall, gangly boy with greasy hair and a repellent air vaguely reminiscent of Keanu Reaves on an off day, grinned and shambled toward the two girls. The grin vanished as Akane evaded his attempted grab, picked him up one-handed, and threw him across the street. He impacted a lamppost with an audible thud and slid to the ground, out cold.

As the rest of the gang stared in disbelief, Ranma shook her head and said, "Forget it, Akane. These punks ain't even worth bothering with." Then, raising her voice, she said, "Guys, listen up. This," touching the wall next to her with a fist, "is your head. This," extending her arm and effortlessly punching a hole straight through the concrete, "is your head with my fist through it. Any questions?"

Apparently there were none, as they all remembered other appointments and dispersed rapidly, save for the hapless Nobuhiko. Their intended victim approached them with a hesitant smile. "Thanks for helping me out. I'm Usagi Tsukino." As she got a look at the hole Ranma had made, her eyes widened and she began to back away nervously.

Akane snorted. "Nice going, Ranma. I thought we were going to try to avoid significant destruction of property on this trip."

Ranma scratched her head. "Heh heh. Forgot about that. Just a second." She leaped over the wall, and began picking up the pieces of shattered concrete and fitting them back into the hole. Before Usagi's astonished gaze, the hole shrank rapidly and disappeared in seconds. Ranma hopped back over, remarking nonchalantly, "See, good as new."

"Well, almost," Akane replied dryly.

"Ah, you're just jealous," Ranma declared, waving a hand. Turning to Usagi, she said affably, "Glad we could help. I'm Ranma Saotome and this violent tomboy is Akane Tendo."

Akane elbowed her in the ribs, and, after glaring at her, hissed, "Don't forget the directions, jerk."

"Oh yeah. Do you know how to get to the Southern Cross bookstore? It's supposed to be around here somewhere."

Usagi had stopped backing up to observe the by-play between her two rescuers. She looked troubled for a moment, and finally said, "It doesn't sound familiar. They don't sell manga, do they?"

Ranma shook her head. "Nah, it's supposed to sell stuff about the martial arts."

She pondered, then brightened. "I know, we can ask Mamo-chan! I was just on my way to meet him. Come on!"

Ranma and Akane walked along with Usagi, who kept up a constant stream of chatter. After a few blocks, they came out into a small retail district. Usagi's face lit up when she spied the tall boy standing outside a small restaurant. "Mamo-chan!" she shrieked, running forward to throw her arms around him.

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Excitable girl," she said with a smile, glancing at Akane, who could only laugh in agreement. "Kind of an age gap, though, ain't there?"

Akane nodded. "I just hope he's not some kind of pervert. I can't stand perverts."

"Yeah, I know what - hey!" Ranma glared at her fiancee, who looked back with a wide-eyed, innocent gaze.

As she hugged her boyfriend, Usagi whispered urgently, "Invite them to lunch or something. We need to keep an eye on them. I think they might be, like, youma or cardians!"

Mamoru Chiba looked at the two girls, who were talking quietly. They didn't look like non-human monsters from another world, but then you couldn't always tell. Indeed, the most powerful ones were often the best at simulating humanity. "Are you sure about that?"

"These guys were bugging me, and the shorthaired girl picked one of them up with one hand and threw him across the street. Then the pig-tailed one punched a hole in a concrete wall, and she made it look easy! She must be as strong as Makoto, in Senshi form! Then she put it back together in seconds, as fast as any of us could have done!"

"Are you all right?" After she had reassured him, Mamoru began to consider her statement more seriously. When he and the Sailor Senshi transformed, they gained strength, speed, and stamina far beyond normal human limits; otherwise, they'd never have survived the battles they'd been through. If these girls approached that level of power, they were certainly more than they seemed. If they were youma, though, why would they have saved Usagi, and made such a display of their abilities? Unless it was some sort of trap, and they were trying to get close enough to kill both Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen. Still, if Usagi's identity were known, it would have made more sense to take her out at once. In any event, this bore looking into.

"I'd like to thank you for helping Usagi," he said to the two girls, in his most charming manner, "and invite you to lunch with us, as a means of showing my gratitude."

Akane had opened her mouth to utter a polite refusal, but she was too late to forestall her companion.

"Free food? You got it! I'm starving!"

Akane rolled her eyes. "If you're not independently wealthy, you might want to reconsider that offer," she advised their would-be benefactor. "Ranma's got a rather astonishing appetite."

Mamoru smiled indulgently. If he could afford to take Usagi out, he wasn't too worried about these two, neither of whom were particularly large specimens.

Fifteen minutes later, he was worried. Oh, the one named Akane was no problem, but this Ranma! She ate like - like - Usagi. Currently they were racing each other through another - "Beef bowl!" the two girls shouted simultaneously, then grinned at each other. Mamoru sighed.

Akane, sitting across from him in the booth, smiled sympathetically. "Maybe you are independently wealthy," she teased him. "I never thought I'd see anyone keep up with Ranma! How does she do it?"

"Usagi? She's basically got a metabolism like a hummingbird. Just burns it all off," he shrugged. "Ranma?"

"Aside from being a pig -" here Ranma muttered something Mamoru couldn't make out, but subsided after a glare from Akane, "she trains incessantly, I've got to give her that."

"Trains?" Usagi chimed in. "Are you, like, an athlete or something?"

"Martial arts," Ranma said briefly, unwilling to take too long a break from the serious business of eating.

Mamoru studied the two girls across the table from him while Usagi pelted them with questions. Though it would have surprised many who knew him, or thought they did, Mamoru Chiba was a keen and perceptive student of human nature - when it suited him. For the most part, he simply didn't care. The people who mattered to him were, first and foremost, Usagi, followed (at a bit of a distance) by the rest of the Senshi. His few friends, like Motoki and Reika, came in third, and after that, in last place - the rest of the world. It was self-centered of him, he knew, but he didn't let the knowledge affect him. His priorities were clear.

Now, though, these girls could pose a danger to Usagi. He had observed them closely as they ate, noting the way they interacted with each other, with Usagi, and with him, and his observations left him generally reassured.

The shorthaired girl, Akane, talked with Usagi about shopping, idol singers, favorite television shows, and a number of other topics that Usagi introduced in scattershot fashion, all in a perfectly normal and natural manner. Her manner with him was normal too, showing an awareness and appreciation of him as an attractive male, though no specific interest. Her attitude towards her companion though....

Akane was always aware of Ranma. Sometimes she acted as if she were ignoring Ranma. Sometimes they quarreled about something trivial - Ranma was fond of disparaging Akane's remarks as being either "just like a girl," or, somewhat confusingly, "just like a tomboy." He had noticed that the quarrels that blew up disappeared as rapidly as they had started. Sometimes the girls addressed cryptic remarks to each other, filled with elliptical references that remained tantalizingly obscure. On the whole, Akane was very much at ease with Ranma. Always, though, she was aware of Ranma. They were constantly touching, sometimes when they brushed against each other as they shifted position, sometimes when she slugged Ranma in the arm, or smacked her on the head for some slight, real or fancied.

Summing up, she appeared to harbor some definite romantic feelings toward her companion, feelings she was evidently repressing. Since she seemed to be attracted to males more than females, this might well be explicable. In any event, there was nothing overtly suspicious about her.

Ranma had taken little part in the conversation so far, being more inclined to get through as much food as possible as quickly as possible. Indeed, to Mamoru's surprise, she seemed to be staying ahead of Usagi. From the gibes she threw in, she seemed to take little interest in what might be called traditionally female interests and pursuits. Ranma showed no interest at all in him, and precious little in Usagi. All of her attention - at least that part not exclusively occupied with food - was covertly focused on Akane. Curious, then, that she seemed to be repressing her attraction just as thoroughly as Akane. Perhaps Akane's own reluctance was the cause. He shook his head slightly. The exact nature of their relationship was not his concern. The key point was that these girls seemed unlikely candidates for inhuman, energy-sucking creatures from beyond.

When Akane made a reference to the dojo her father ran, Mamoru decided to ask a few general questions about the branch of martial arts taught, and their own involvement. He had heard some rather tall tales of the abilities of more advanced practitioners; perhaps that and a touch of exaggeration on Usagi's part would account for her stories of their feats.

"Anything goes style? I don't believe I've heard of it."

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

If time and tide and life conspire to defeat me,
I smile and carry on, I will never let them beat me.
But what will I do without you?

Lene Lovich: Ibid.

Meanwhile, the waitress hurried back into the kitchen. "Two more beef bowls!" she said happily. "I think this new recipe is going to be a hit!" She smiled at the short, slender man working at the stove.

"Great! I really think I'm getting the hang of this cooking business," he replied enthusiastically, smiling fondly in turn at the tall, willowy woman in front of him.

"I'm ever so delighted to hear that," a third voice cut in dryly. "So if this whole world domination gig doesn't pan out, at least you'll have something to fall back on."

The two turned guiltily to face the speaker, a stocky woman dressed in a conservatively cut navy blue skirt and jacket. "If you can possibly tear yourself away, Brookite, perhaps you could tell us what the results of your scan were?"

The waitress flushed. "I'm sorry, Marialite, I sort of - got distracted."

Marialite closed her eyes wearily. "My dear Brookite, you and Adamite seem to have forgotten something. Running this restaurant is just a front, remember? A cover for our energy-gathering activities, nothing more."

"I know, I know," Brookite muttered.

"Then perhaps this time, when you take their food out, you could remember to check their energy levels? If it's not too much trouble, of course."

The two men assisting the cook sniggered as the scarlet-cheeked girl took the bowls into the dining room. Adamite glared at them, but before he could say anything, Brookite hurried back in, her face now dead white.

"What is it?" he asked in concern.

"I scanned them," she said faintly. "Marialite, their energy levels are Senshi-class!"

"WHAT!" their leader shouted. Then, calming herself with an effort, "Are you certain? It would be something of a coincidence for three of the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen to pick our restaurant purely by happenstance."

"Check it yourself," Brookite retorted. "You can sense them in here easily enough if you make the effort."

Marialite's eyes unfocused briefly before she came back to herself abruptly. Turning to the others, she said, "She's generally correct. Three of them show energy levels similar to what was reported of the Senshi, although one of them feels a bit ... odd. The fourth is at a somewhat lower level, but still much higher than any humans we've drained so far."

"The Senshi?" said one of the men, a balding little man with glasses. "Oh Metallia, we're going to die. We're all going to die, unless we get out of here now! I knew we should have left this city, this whole country if we needed to!" He fumbled his glasses off and wiped his face with a towel.

"Shut up, Brucite," the remaining man, a hulking, bearded brute with a curiously blank expression, said tonelessly. "Kunzite ordered us to remain here until he summoned us, and that's what we'll do."

"And how long has it been since we heard from your precious Kunzite?" Brucite fired back. "Have we heard from anyone since we found out the portal at the game center was closed? Face it, Franklinite: we're on our own."

"This isn't the time -" Marialite began, but Adamite cut her off.

"No, I think this is exactly the time," he said, with unaccustomed force. "Since it doesn't look like the Senshi are going to attack us, at least just yet, we need to decide what we're going to do."

He looked over to Brookite, who nodded, before he continued, "We haven't had any contact with the Dark Kingdom since the day the sun went black. When it happened, we all thought it signaled the beginning of the invasion. We waited for the call to join the fight, the call that never came. After a few days, we looked around and found out the portal was closed.

"Then, nothing. Weeks went by, with no word from the Dark Kingdom, and no sign of the Senshi, as we continued our discreet energy gathering. Finally, the Senshi reappeared, battling those creatures called 'cardians,' whatever they were. Since none of the things have been seen since the top of that apartment building got blown off a couple of weeks ago, I think we can conclude that the Senshi won that fight.

"Look at the facts," he said, crossing his arms and staring calmly at Marialite. "We lost. At the very least, the Senshi managed to close the portal to the Dark Kingdom, and it will take them several millennia to open another one. Frankly, I think it's likely that the Senshi killed Metallia before sealing the portal - they seem to be pretty thorough."

"Don't be ridiculous," Marialite snapped. "How could those brats manage to destroy Metallia? They're not even as powerful as their counterparts from the Silver Millennium, and look what happened to them!"

"And look what happened to us afterwards," Brookite countered. "Our entire army, along with Metallia, was defeated and banished to the Dark Kingdom by Serenity alone, using the power of the ginzuishou. Is it so hard to believe that Sailor Moon could have destroyed Metallia with that same power?" She hesitated a moment, then continued, "I have a reason for thinking Metallia is truly dead. Shortly after we found the portal was sealed, I began having - dreams." Expecting a derisive response, she saw that all of her listeners bore identical, haunted expressions.

"So you have, too," she said softly. "Like me, you've started to recall more of your life before Metallia. You've been having dreams about the old days, about things you haven't remembered since we first found ourselves in the Dark Kingdom. It must have been Metallia who blocked those old memories, and I think their release means that that - abomination - is finally dead.

"Don't you see?" she went on, her voice rising. "This is our chance. We can give up the energy stealing, except for what we need to stay alive, and devote our efforts to making a place for ourselves. After thousands of years of fighting, first against the Moon Kingdom, then amongst ourselves, we can finally find some peace!"

"Peace?" The normally taciturn Franklinite was startled into speech. "How can there be any peace between ourselves and humans unless we control them?"

"I have to agree with him on that score," Brucite said reluctantly. "You saw the humans' reactions to us. To them, we're monsters from another world, here to suck the very life from them. Of course," he reflected, "when you think about it, that's pretty much the case. That's why I wanted us to move somewhere else, somewhere that had never heard of youma or the Sailor Senshi."

"But what good would that do if we kept up our old ways?" Adamite said earnestly. "Brookite's right. We have to try to make peace with the humans, and with the Senshi."

"Peace? Between youma and humans?" Marialite retorted scornfully. "I think you must still be dreaming! We're natural enemies."

"I won't claim it would be easy," Brookite said soberly, "but I know it's possible to reach an understanding. I know it is."

"You know," began Marialite, derisively, then broke off to stare in disbelief at Brookite, as she finally made sense of what she was feeling over the empathic link they all shared. "How could you know that," she said slowly, "unless you've already told someone?" She saw the confirmation of her intuition in the nervous glances Brookite and Adamite exchanged. She closed her eyes as she struggled to regain her composure.

"You told someone? Are you mad? That must be why the Senshi are here!" she exclaimed. "Well, they'll find we're no pushovers. We've collected enough energy over the last few months to equal their power, and I don't care how well they've done so far, they can't match the millennia of practice we've had in working and fighting as a team!"

"Calm down, calm down," Adamite said urgently. "Look, we can guarantee that no one's told the Senshi anything."

"You expect me to believe you've told someone we're youma, on a mission to steal energy and pave the way for a takeover of the Earth, and you can guarantee there's no leak?" she asked incredulously. "There's no way -" she stopped short. Although the link between them all was no longer as strong as it had once been, the feelings currently washing over her were clear enough to tell the story, now that her rebellious comrades were too upset to suppress them. Looking hard at her two fidgeting subordinates, she went on, "Unless you know exactly what's happened, because you have access to their memories. Let me guess - you've let your host minds awaken."

Brucite and Franklinite stood staring at their compatriots, mouths agape, as Brookite and Adamite both nodded in an embarrassed fashion.

"Oh, that's so much better. Instead of telling our secret to a random human, who might well not believe you, you've let one have free access to all your memories." Marialite closed her eyes again while she massaged her aching temples. "I'm not hearing this. This is all some bizarre dream. I'm not really standing in the kitchen of a run-down restaurant, with the Senshi waiting in our dining room, while two of my teammates tell me they're chatting with the humans whose bodies they've taken over." She opened her eyes and said, in an artificially cheerful voice, "Here's an idea, Brookite. Why don't you take several more bowls out to our esteemed customers, just so they don't decide the service is a little too slow for their liking, and blast us all into dust?"

While Brookite hastened to comply, the others stood silently by. The ghastly grin playing across Marialite's face was enough to daunt even Franklinite, who was normally not the most quick-witted youma around, even in groups consisting solely of himself.

When Brookite came back in, Marialite smiled at her with false benevolence and said, "Let me get this straight. You two were feeling a little lonely one day, so you decided to let the humans you'd possessed wake up, to have a bit of a chat. In the process, of course, you've let them know who we are, what our mission is, and anything else about us they might care to find out. Is that about it?"

"Are you mad?" Brucite sputtered. "When you possess a person's body, you never let his mind wake up. You're taking a chance on getting thrown out, and if you don't have another body to go to, and no time to reconstitute your own, you're dead! Even if you're not concerned about your own lives, think of the rest of us! With the knowledge your hosts would have acquired from you, we'd be helpless against the Senshi!"

"Besides, it's completely against orders," rumbled Franklinite.

"Yeah, well I didn't hear any helpful suggestions from any of you when we got into trouble with the tax people a while back," the cook retorted. "Except for Franklinite's idea that we should enslave all the government people who came in to talk to us, which, considering that we were supposed to be keeping a low profile, might not exactly qualify as 'helpful.'"

Marialite blushed slightly. "Well, how was I supposed to know we needed to pay taxes?" she asked defensively. "I mean, taxes aren't something we had to worry about in the Dark Kingdom. There, if you were strong enough, you took what you wanted, and if you weren't, you tried to keep your head down, and attached to your shoulders."

"That's Adamite's point," Brookite interjected gently. "We were trying to pull off a long-term possession, not just a simple, short-term replacement, such as most of the other youma were assigned. To do that without attracting attention, we needed reliable sources of information on the human world. Yukari was able to help me with that."

"And it's not just taxes," Adamite said, waving his hands animatedly. "Take the cooking, for example. Let's face it, cuisine in the Dark Kingdom is pretty limited. 'Do you want shadowgrass or deathfern root with your roast slinkerbeast? Or maybe, for a real change of pace, you'd like your slinkerbeast boiled?' If we'd actually depended on food to stay alive, instead of the energy we stole from each other, and the leakage from this universe, we wouldn't have lasted twenty years, let alone twenty thousand.

"I freely concede my first efforts at cooking were a real disaster," he continued earnestly. "If I hadn't awakened Tetsuo, and got him to teach me how to cook, we'd have been out of business a while ago, which certainly would have put a crimp in our operations."

By this time, Marialite had regained control of herself. She regarded them for a moment, then said, "And how do your hosts regard this intrusion?"

"Well, they're not exactly happy about it," Brookite admitted. "They'd like their own lives back, but I think we understand each other pretty well, and if we could just give up on this 'conquer the world' notion, I think we'd get along all right."

"But how can we give up on it?" Marialite asked quietly. "Humans are our food source. How do you think cattle and chickens and pigs would feel about sharing the world with humans if they had a choice?"

Brookite retorted angrily, "You keep going on about humans like they're some alien species, or lower life form! We were human once, before Metallia. Remember?"

Marialite stood silent for a time. Finally, she replied softly, "Yes, I remember. We were all human then, back in the old days in Lemuria. Until Metallia came." She seemed to look off into the distance as she went on, "I remember Beryl summoning us to the throne room, the day it all began."

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

And if my seven senses one by one should leave me,
In the silent darkness I would be all right, believe me.
But what will I do without you?

Lene Lovich: Ibid.

Marialite strode along the corridor, her comrades ranged behind her on either side. On her left, Brookite and Adamite walked together, of course. Strange that the wielders of Fire and Water should get along so well, but so it had been since they were first brought together. Brookite had the warmth of her element, while Adamite - if he resembled any aspect of his element, it was the still, peaceful depths of the ocean. On her right, Brucite and Franklinite, Air and Wood. And how appropriate, she sometimes thought in her less charitable moments. Brucite was as flighty as a spring breeze, and Franklinite was certainly pure wood from the shoulders up. She wondered idly what they would say about her. Would Metal be equally suitable for her: cold, hard, and glittering? Still, the loss of any one of their members would have left them woefully incomplete. Since their joining, they had never been separated for more than a day at a time.

With a slight grimace, she wondered why Beryl had summoned them. Perhaps it was time for another tirade on the treachery of the Moon Kingdom. After all, there were those rumors that Prince Endymion of Shamballah had been wooing the Moon Kingdom's princess. If Beryl had gotten wind of that, she'd be good for a two-hour rant, at least. Beryl wasn't a bad ruler, on the whole, but she was becoming dangerously obsessed with both Endymion and her ongoing vendetta against Queen Serenity of the Moon Kingdom.

As they approached the great golden doors of the Throne Room, she saw the four generals of the Lemurian armies coming from the other direction. Kunzite remained at least outwardly placid, but the other three evinced varying degrees of displeasure. She felt her own facial muscles tighten in response as she forced a smile. There had always been a certain degree of constraint between the four generals and the five Elementals. Partly it was due to Beryl's decision to leave the Elementals, her most powerful team of fighters, outside the permanent command structure. She stated that it was to allow them to be used to greatest effect wherever she needed their abilities; Marialite privately thought that the divisiveness it fostered between the two groups was at least as important. Certainly it reflected the balancing act she engaged in as she played the generals themselves off against each other. Trust Beryl to minimize the chance that her underlings could ever get together to conspire against her.

Even if it were not for Beryl's policy, though, there would still have been a gap between them. Though none of the Elementals were individually as powerful as any of the generals, their teamwork was greatly superior, and in any group training events, any combination of Elementals always defeated any similar combination of the generals, even Kunzite and Zoicite, the two who worked best together. The generals were all proud men, and found this difficult to accept.

As they reached the doors, Marialite came to a stop, her teammates as always right in step with her, and waited politely for the generals to enter first. She managed to keep her face a perfect mask as her nominal superiors went ahead, but smirked inwardly at the expressions on their faces. Except for Kunzite, of course. Presumably he was as little pleased as the rest that the Elementals had been summoned along with them, showing once again their independent status, but as always he maintained control. She admired him the most of all the generals - he might not like her team, but if he ever gained command over them, he at least would not try to break them up simply to assuage his wounded feelings.

The two groups filed in and lined up before their ruler. Queen Beryl sat before them in her throne carved of the stone that shared her name. She looked at them all and smiled. As she did so, all nine took an involuntary step back. Beryl could inspire fear when she wanted to, but there was more to it this time. Something had changed. There was an edge to her, a look in her eyes, which chilled them all.

"Greetings, my loyal subjects," she purred, obviously aware of and relishing their feelings. "I have good news for you all. The day of our deliverance from the cursed Moon Kingdom is at hand. My arcane researches have brought us the assistance we need. Allow me to present to you - Metallia." She gestured theatrically to one side.

At first Marialite thought Beryl had lost her mind. There was nothing there. It was completely - wait. There was, indeed, nothing there, but it was a curiously disturbing nothing. She couldn't quite focus on it, and yet she couldn't stop looking.

Suddenly, a grating voice issued forth from the nothingness. "Followers of Beryl, I am Metallia. Having released me from my long imprisonment, your queen has sought my aid against those who would deny Lemuria its rightful place. I have gladly committed myself to this noble goal."

Beryl laughed, a wild cachinnation that echoed around the stone walls of the great room. "With Metallia to assist us, we shall finally be able to end the internecine squabbles between nations and unite the Earth under our leadership!"

The generals and Elementals exchanged uneasy glances. Finally Kunzite spoke. "This is good to hear, Your Majesty. Yet how are we to accomplish this union when the Moon Kingdom, with its armies and its Senshi, stands in our way? As you yourself have observed, it has always been in their best interest to keep us divided and fighting amongst ourselves."

The others flinched slightly, and waited for the imminent explosion. Kunzite had couched his objection as diplomatically as possible, but they all knew Beryl of old. She did not take kindly to naysayers.

All the greater was their surprise, then, when Beryl simply smiled at him. "Your concerns are understandable, Kunzite, but unfounded. Our armies shall sweep across the Earth like a tidal wave. Each of our soldiers shall be the equal of a dozen of our enemies. The Earth shall fall before the Moon Kingdom has time to rouse itself and prepare for war. If the Senshi dare to stand against us, you, my generals and my Elementals, shall easily destroy them."

Marialite's brow furrowed. She was at a loss to understand Beryl's confidence. None of them was a match, individually, for any one of the Senshi. They could prevail, had they the advantage of sufficiently superior numbers, but nine generals and Elementals against nine Senshi was a recipe for disaster, not for a victorious Lemuria.

"What? Do you doubt your queen?" Beryl asked mockingly. "Believe me in this: with the aid of Metallia, all that I have said and more is possible. That is why I have summoned you. As the commanders of my armies, and my greatest warriors, you shall be given the first opportunity to undergo the transformation, to become the vanguard of my invincible, all-conquering army of youma!"

Marialite bit her lip. Apparently Beryl was serious. She could feel her comrades' nervousness through the link they shared. Beryl was their sworn ruler, and the prospect of being powerful enough to challenge the Senshi was an intriguing one, but none of them were easy in their hearts with the idea of letting this Metallia change them into - whatever. She could only wonder what the ultimate price would be.

"Step forward, my subjects," Beryl commanded.

Apprehensively, they complied.

"Metallia, transform them!"

Like the rest, Marialite stood, apprehensively awaiting whatever happened. For a long, tense moment, nothing did. Just as she started to relax, horrendous pains ripped through her body. She fell to the floor writhing, her voice joining her comrades' in a hellish chorus of screams. She felt as if chunks of bleeding flesh were being torn from her body, while white-hot daggers plunged into her eyes.

Just as suddenly as it had struck, the pain disappeared. Shaking and sobbing, she lay on the cold flagstones for long moments, the cessation of agony seeming in its own way almost as hard to bear as the pain itself. She was intensely aware of every nerve ending, every square inch of her body quivering with the aftershock of what she'd been through. As she regained control, she realized that something felt different.

The link she shared with her fellow Elementals was still there, though seeming somewhat muted, but now she realized that she could sense the generals too. Each of them appeared in her mind as a glowing presence, and she could tell that the brightness of the glow in some manner reflected their power. She could sense Beryl and Metallia as well, though in their cases the glow was so bright as to be almost "blinding", if that term made sense for a purely mental impression. If she concentrated, she could sense other people scattered throughout the castle. At the same time, her power over metal had grown as well. Previously, her control would have been limited to her immediate vicinity - the throne room, in this case. Now she could sense metallic objects at a greater distance, including the weapons of the guards stationed down the hall. Through the link, she could feel the wonder and growing excitement of her teammates as they realized their heightened abilities.

Beryl regarded them with a dagger-sharp smile. "Now you see. Yet even so, you still do not realize the full scope of the changes that Metallia has wrought. You can now sense the life energies of beings around you, human and otherwise. You will find that you can absorb those energies also, strengthening yourselves while weakening your opponents."

Marialite could feel the truth of her sovereign's words. The glow she sensed from those around her seemed to call to her, and she knew that if she opened herself to that call she could satisfy the hunger that had awakened within her. A part of her wanted to recoil in horror from the sensations coursing through her, but it was overridden by the part that lusted for those dark pleasures she could as yet only dimly envision.

"With these abilities," Metallia rasped, "conquest of the Earth is all but a foregone conclusion. All I ask in return is a fraction of the energy you harvest, to allow me to replenish my strength after so many long years trapped in the desolate world you rescued me from."

"Such was our agreement," Beryl said with a nod, "and I will hold to it."

"Then assemble your armies, my Queen," Metallia directed. "The conversion of your forces will ring the death knell of the Moon Kingdom."

The conversion of Beryl's armies to youma was swift and complete. In less than a week, it was done. Toward the end, Beryl and Metallia had even begun to experiment, taking their inspiration from the Elementals to create powerful linked teams of warriors like the Seven Great Youma to be hurled into the breach against their mightiest enemies.

The days and weeks that then ensued were ever after a blur to Marialite. Battle followed battle, and no one could stand against them. Like the others, she became intoxicated with the power she drained from those she fought. Hunger, thirst, pain, weariness became little more than memories, temporary discomforts quickly overwhelmed by the surge of stolen energy. After each victory, she became more and more impatient for the next fight, the next chance to bathe in the life force of those mortals foolish enough to oppose them. She became a connoisseur, especially prizing the last reserves of energy that could be drained from the dying, and those in the greatest agony. Had it not been for Beryl's explicit commands, not one soldier of their enemies would have survived. No good thing lasts forever, though. As it became evident that no force on Earth could even slow them down, countries began surrendering as soon as Beryl's fliers were spotted on the horizon. Sooner than she could have imagined, the generals and the Elementals were back in the throne room, reporting to their monarch.

Kunzite stepped forward and bowed. "Complete success, Your Majesty. Your forces now control the entire Earth."

Beryl smiled a cold, cruel smile. "Excellent. And Prince Endymion?"

Kunzite's expression never changed. "I regret to inform Your Majesty that when Shamballah's palace fell, the prince had already fled. Questioning his servants leads us to believe he has gone to the Moon Kingdom."

"So they dare to keep him from me?" Beryl said grimly. "They will regret their impudence when I bring their precious kingdom crashing down around them. Great Metallia," she called out. "You have advised us well so far. We have taken the Earth. Shall we now proceed to the Moon, and teach its people their proper place?"

"I think that would be the wisest course," the phantom responded. "The Moon Kingdom houses the only real obstacle to our domination of the Solar System." The voice fell silent for a moment, then continued. "The Hidden Worlds are as yet unaware of my return. The Snake Mother still sleeps. The Sun Stone has been lost these thirty thousand years. Only the ginzuishou poses a threat to me - to us. Though its power is lessened without Inanna to wield it, I am no longer what I once was, either. Let the Moon therefore be our next target."

"Very well," Beryl said with a nod. Turning to her subordinates, she commanded, "Prepare the transports. Mass the troops. We will launch our attack against the Moon Kingdom at once. And this time, let none survive."

"Your Majesty," Nephrite said reluctantly. "I feel I must point out one problem. Between ourselves, the Elementals, and the Seven Great Youma, we are certainly more than a match now for most of the Moon Kingdom's Senshi. There are two, however, whose powers cannot be discounted. Sailor Saturn has power enough to destroy a planet, even the Earth, while Pluto's control over Time makes her a threat to reverse any gains we may make."

Beryl frowned at him, but before she could express her displeasure in words, Metallia interrupted, sounding almost smug. "The Outer Senshi will pose no difficulties. While our conquest of Earth was still in its early stages, I split off a portion of myself, with instructions to simulate a threat from out-System. As expected, Serenity dispatched the Outer Senshi, save for Sailor Titan, who is no threat to us, to investigate the matter. The Moon Kingdom will lie in ruins before they can possibly return to help. Once we possess the ginzuishou, Saturn will be powerless to stop us. As for Pluto, she is not the only one who has access to the Time Gate. Although I cannot use it freely, any attempt by her to travel into the past to forestall our plans will draw me back in time with her. She will know this, and not make the attempt."

At first, Beryl had been angered at Metallia having taken such actions without consulting her, but Metallia's final words restored her good humor. "Then our plans are set," she decreed. "Put all in readiness for our departure."

"Do you remember our destruction of the Moon Kingdom?" Brookite asked quietly, jolting Marialite from her reminiscences. "I do, now. I remember attacking them completely without warning. I remember lashing out with our powers against anyone we saw, men, women - even children. There was a house you destroyed, Brucite, just smashed it flat. A woman came staggering out, with a dying baby in her arms. She was crying hysterically, because one of the baby's arms had been torn completely off, and the blood just kept pouring out, no matter what she tried to do to stop it. It couldn't have lasted that long - I mean, a baby doesn't have that much blood, but it seemed to go on forever. I looked at them, and I laughed. I raised my hand, and burned that baby to a cinder with one burst of Fire. I gave the mother time enough to realize what had happened, time enough to feel that her own arms had been flash-fried, before I burned her as well. I burned her so quickly the ashes hung in the air for a moment, forming her image, before the winds blew them away. And I laughed."

Adamite put a hand on her shoulder as she paused, trying to fight back tears. "We killed every single person in the Moon Kingdom, except for Queen Serenity, and reveled in it, and feasted on their dying energies like psychic vultures. And why? What had they done to deserve that? Don't give me any of Beryl's usual garbage about them trying to destroy our economy, or isolating us diplomatically to weaken us. Serenity showed us that if she had wanted to take us over, she could have done it, all by herself, with just the power of the ginzuishou. We killed all those people because Beryl hated Serenity, and wanted Prince Endymion. That was all it was. Her jealousy, and our blind obedience, brought all this about. For that, we gave up our humanity. For that, we became monsters."

"Forget it," Marialite said harshly. "We made a choice, a long time ago. We chose to stay with Beryl after she pledged herself to Metallia. We didn't know exactly where that choice would take us, but it's too late now. We're not human any more, and we never will be. We're youma now. We're predators, and humanity is our prey."

Her voice softened. "Do you remember those horrible centuries in the Dark Kingdom? Our army disintegrated as we all fought to survive, as we came to understand that, except for the few wary beasts inhabiting that desolate place, and the slow trickle coming through from this universe, the only source of the energy we needed was - each other. We would have died like so many of our comrades if we had not stayed together. That is what we must do now.

"As I see it, if we are to survive, our only option is all-out war. Either we kill the Senshi and take over this world, or they will kill us, and frankly, I couldn't blame them. I could wish things were different, but that changes nothing. I'm the leader - I could order this, but I will abide by our ancient agreement. Let the vote decide. I say that we drain the humans out there, if we can, and continue gathering energy as quickly as possible, toward the day when we can strike back against our foes. If those out there turn out to be the Senshi, and the battle begins now, at least we outnumber them, and have a chance to catch them by surprise. Brookite wishes us to proceed cautiously, in an attempt to remain inconspicuous for as long as possible, with an eye to eventually trying to find a place in human society. Who is with me?"

Franklinite held out his fist, and placed it atop her outstretched hand. After a long, tense moment, Brucite did the same. She looked at the two dissenters. "The vote is for action. Will you join us?"

Brookite and Adamite looked at each other. They wanted to refuse, but the old loyalties were too strong. They held out their fists to signal their acquiescence.

"It is agreed." Despite her victory, there was no triumph is Marialite's voice. This had been their first serious dispute since the terrible early days in the Dark Kingdom. They had been hard pressed then to keep Brookite from killing herself in revulsion for their actions in the fighting. In the end, the amnesia Metallia had imposed on all of the youma had brought them a measure of peace. She wasn't sure what the return of those buried memories signified; perhaps Metallia was dead, though it was hard to imagine how that could happen without the destruction of the entire Dark Kingdom, a scenario she couldn't really envision. In any event, the team's old unity was gone, and she could only hope that one day they could regain their former closeness.

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

If that dark angel raises bony hands to clutch me,
I will not fear his sting, if he decides to touch me.
But what will I do without you?

Lene Lovich: Ibid.

Meanwhile, Ranma was beginning to get a little concerned. There was something odd about this Mamoru Chiba guy. The offer of lunch was a nice gesture, but then, while they were eating, he'd started flirting, or something like it - first with Akane, and then with Ranma. All this while sitting next to his oblivious girlfriend! He'd knocked that off, but since then he'd been asking some probing questions about them - nothing out and out rude, but a little too pointed for polite conversation. He was after something, that was clear. Ranma just didn't know what, and it made her uneasy.

As if that wasn't enough of a problem, now the waitress had disappeared. It had been several minutes since Ranma had had anything to eat. Fortunately, just as she was getting seriously concerned, the waitress returned with more food, looking pale and worried. Setting down the bowls, she hurried off. Ranma looked after her with a slight frown. The woman had seemed friendly enough when they first sat down, but somewhere along the way something had upset her. Ranma was just about to chalk it up to boyfriend troubles, or something of the sort, when Akane elbowed her in the ribs and gave her a murderous glare. Apparently she'd been watching the waitress a little too closely to suit Akane. Ranma thought about protesting her innocence, but gave it up as a lost cause. For someone who claimed she didn't want to be engaged, Akane certainly got jealous a lot. "Girls," Ranma thought, with a mental sigh. "Who can figure 'em?"

Halfway through the next bowl, she suddenly stopped dead.

"What's the matter, Ranma?" Akane asked, apparently still annoyed. "Don't tell me you're actually getting full!"

"That ain't it," Ranma responded absently, trying to reach out with her awareness. "There's something wrong...."

"If you're not full after the exhibition you've put on for us, there's definitely something wrong!"

Disdaining further comment, Ranma closed her eyes and focused. There was a threat somewhere near, very near. It seemed to be coming closer - and was approaching from - that direction. She opened her eyes and saw a stocky, mannish looking woman staring at them intently, holding a small crystal. Without even being aware of it, Ranma grabbed her teacup and threw it, knocking the crystal from the woman's hand. She only realized what she had done when she saw the others at the table staring at her.

"Ah, Ranma, did you have some particular reason to attack that woman, or was your tea just too hot for you?" Akane inquired cautiously, half-afraid that Ranma would tell her the woman was yet another fiancee, or perhaps the leader of a demonic cult that had been tracking him for years. Probably not, she knew, but only because, where Ranma was concerned, the truth was usually stranger than anything you could come up with on your own.

Before a flustered Ranma could respond, Marialite overcame her shock. "So," she said coolly, "you're not planning to make it easy for us. No matter. You Sailor Senshi have had it your own way for too long." Mamoru and Usagi started at this, but no one else noticed. Marialite reached out with her mind and took hold of all the loose metal objects she could find. "In the name of Beryl, die!"

As a hail of cutlery, serving trays, and other objects flew at them, Ranma leaped up and began to intercept and deflect them, her hands blurring. She spared a brief glance back, where Akane had picked up the table and was using it as a shield to protect their two helpless companions. "Akane! Get them out of here, and I'll follow!" With these words, she hurtled forward, knocking Marialite to the ground.

The rain of metal slackened, and Akane grabbed Usagi and Mamoru and dashed toward the door as four more people emerged from the kitchen, only to be thrown back by Ranma's furious assault. Heading for the exit full-tilt, Akane was shocked to rebound from an invisible wall perhaps an inch short of her goal. Snatching a chair, she began attacking the obstacle with all her strength, to no avail. She looked back at Ranma, now engaged in battle with five opponents, opponents who were no ordinary people, judging from the flying objects and bursts of fire making that whole end of the restaurant a hazard. Moving so quickly she was little more than a blur, Ranma was holding her own at the moment, as the close quarters prevented the Elementals from summoning their full powers for fear of hurting each other, but her strongest blows seemed to do no more than inconvenience her attackers. If one good hit got through Ranma's defenses, Akane knew, it could slow her enough to end the battle in a matter of seconds. Making her decision quickly, she turned to the others. "Stay back here out of the way - I've got to help Ranma!"

Before she could act, Mamoru stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you, but from what that woman said, this is actually our problem. Usagi," he said calmly, "transform and call the others to get here as quickly as they can. I'll deal with the door."

Akane's protests died unspoken, as she watched in astonishment as her two seemingly normal companions transformed, amidst a shower of light, into Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen. Sailor Moon pulled a small device from thin air and began speaking into it urgently, while her nattily dressed boyfriend produced a rose and hurled it like a dart at the unseen barrier. The flower exploded in a blinding coruscation of energy, and while she was trying to blink away the glowing afterimages, the two costumed warriors for love and justice seized her and darted outside.

Though most of her concentration was focused on the brawl she was engaged in, Ranma had never lost track of Akane. Her momentary shock at seeing the transformation nearly cost the martial artist her life. A blow from the hulking brute the others called Franklinite smashed her into the wall, and she barely managed to leap away in time to avoid the concentrated blasts that blew a hole through her former position. These guys didn't know much about fighting, thank the gods, at least compared to her, but they were as strong as she was, and nearly as fast, with some sort of strange powers to boot.

Akane was clear, though, so it was time to take her leave. She leaped straight up, spinning in mid-air so that she hit the ceiling feet first, then proceeded to bounce off the ceiling, walls, and floor like a demented rubber ball until she came flying out of the door unscathed.

Ranma ran to the three figures standing in the middle of the street. Ordinarily, this would not have been a wise place to wait in downtown Tokyo, but the appearance of the Sailor Senshi was enough to warn savvy Juuban residents to clear the area. Somehow the normal street traffic had evaporated for a three-block stretch. A number of curious onlookers waited to see what their fuku-clad defenders were up to now, but by unspoken consensus they stayed well back from what would soon become a battlefield.

"Are you all right, Ranma?" Akane asked anxiously, forestalling Ranma's intent to ask the same question of her.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm okay." Ranma eyed their erstwhile tablemates. "So you're Sailor Moon, and that guy who hangs around her."

"Tuxedo Kamen." He wasn't in it for public acclaim, but there were times Mamoru seriously considered the need for a PR staff. At least enough of one so people knew who he was.

"Tuxedo Kamen, huh?" She glanced over his outfit with a decidedly jaundiced expression - not exactly the best costume for combat she'd ever seen. At least Sailor Moon's fuku wasn't likely to get in her way while she was fighting. "How long did it take you to come up with that name? And what do you do if it's at the cleaners? Fight monsters as the mysterious Sweatsuit Kamen?"

As Usagi choked attempting to suppress a snort of laughter, Mamoru sighed. Forget the PR staff - perhaps it was better if he had as little to do with the general public as possible. "Could we ask you to keep our identities secret? It could cause us a great deal of trouble if others learned of this."

Ranma nodded sagely. "Yeah, if I had to spend a lot of time dressed up in goofy costumes I'd probably want to keep it a secret too. Ow!"

Akane's glare was intensified by the stinging in her hand; she should know better, she supposed, than to hit Ranma in the head without using some large, solid object to absorb the damage. "Let me apologize for Ranma. H- she has no manners, but she usually means well. Most of the time. Anyway, of course we'll keep your secret. After all, we all have secrets we'd just as soon others didn't learn," here Ranma had the grace to look slightly, though only slightly, abashed. "As for costumes, believe me, Ranma's worn worse, so don't pay any attention to her."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked an outraged Ranma.

"I could mention your okonomiyaki-selling contest with Tsubasa, or those pictures you took for Happosai when you lost your strength, or ...."

Usagi and Mamoru exchanged mystified glances as the incomprehensible argument raged.

Inside the restaurant, Brucite was in the middle of a full-fledged panic attack. "It's the Sailor Senshi! I knew it! We're all going to die!"

"Calm down, Brucite," Adamite said gently, guiding him to a chair. "You're hyperventilating again. Put your head between your knees and repeat your mantra, all right?"

"Okay," the little man responded weakly. Soon he was chanting softly, "I'm here with my friends. They won't let me down. I won't let them down." Soon enough, he had calmed down sufficiently to take part in the hurried conversation going on among the others.

"So two of them were indeed Senshi," Marialite noted. "Should we conclude the other two are not?"

"I think so," Brookite said judiciously, all business now that the fighting had begun. "There would be no reason not to, and from what little we know of them they don't have full access to their powers until they transform."

"But that means the other two were normal humans with Senshi-class energy levels," Franklinite said, puzzled. "The girl fighting us was able to hold us all off, for a little while. This could mean trouble, even if we manage to defeat the Senshi."

"Not necessarily." Marialite frowned in thought. "True, she possessed as much energy as one of the Senshi, although, as I said, with an odd feel to it. You'll note that she was unable to make effective use of it, however; no matter how strong and fast she may have been, there's no way we can be simply punched and kicked into submission. Moreover, these are the only two humans with such high levels we've detected in the months we've been operating here; I think we can conclude they're fairly rare."

"So we go out there and fight them," Brucite said fatalistically.

"Remember, we are the Elementals," Marialite told them all, fixing each one with a serious look. "We have never lost, and I don't propose to start now."

Outside, Mamoru broke in on the heated discussion between the two girls before it had quite turned into a brawl. "I'd like to thank you for your assistance, but I think you'd better get out of here before the battle begins. I'd hate for you to get hurt, and if these really are youma, they won't hesitate to attack anyone who gets in their way."

Ranma frowned. It definitely went against the grain to run out on a fight. On the other hand, she did want to get Akane out of there - no question that she'd be outmatched.

Before the battle between Ranma's ego and her over-protectiveness could be decided, the door of the restaurant burst open and her recent opponents poured out.

Sailor Moon stepped forward, declaiming, "Interrupting people's enjoyment - ACK!" Her speech was cut short as a manhole cover nearly cut her in two, forcing her to dive to safety. Another one would have caught her in the head had Akane not leaped forward and grabbed it, then hurled it with even greater force back at the youma. Marialite deflected it, and the battle was on.

Wood and metal missiles flew at the four teens from all directions, water and fire blasted all around them, and gale-force winds tried to knock them over. Ranma and Akane either deflected or returned the solid objects while trying to avoid the other attacks. Tuxedo Kamen hurled roses, to little or no avail, while Sailor Moon, the target of the brunt of the assault, merely tried to stay alive.

The battle would likely have gone badly for the defenders of the Earth had not matters taken a different turn; with a cry of "Supreme Thunder," a bolt of lightning struck the street between the combatants. The rest of the Sailor Senshi had arrived.

Blasts of magic flew back and forth as the Senshi strove to drive the youma back and buy their leader enough time to use the Cutie Moon Rod. Marialite realized that, having lost the advantage of numbers, their only chance lay in utilizing their superior teamwork. Dropping back, she shouted, "Elementals! Link up!"

Without ceasing their attacks, the other youma retreated to stand in a circle with their backs to each other. The air around them began to glow as the five figures slowly rose into the air, stopping about thirty feet up. Chunks of metal and wood ripped from the buildings and vehicles around them rose up as well and began orbiting the floating Elementals.

Now the battle raged anew, and now the tide turned. The Elementals' link allowed them to act and react almost as one being. The Senshis' powers were easily deflected or absorbed, while the attacks of the youma became more and more dangerous.

Never one to stay out of a fight, Ranma ripped a lamppost from the ground and hurled it like a javelin. What one Elemental saw, they all saw, however, and Marialite easily took control of the metal spear and flung it back at Sailor Moon, who would have been impaled had Akane not pulled her out of the way. Frustrated by her lack of success, Ranma leaped high into the air, flying directly at the youma. No normal human could have approached that feat, but if the Elementals were surprised, they overcame it quickly, and a tongue of flame licked out at her.

It should have been impossible for her to avoid it, but somehow, by dint of furious bodily contortions, Ranma managed to escape incineration and land safely back on the street below, before leaping out of the way of the parked car Marialite attempted to drop on her head.

After another unsuccessful attack, Mamoru took momentary refuge in an alley beside Ranma and cursed the fate that always made him a supporting actor in the drama of his own life. Once again the girl he loved and her friends, who were also his friends, were fighting for their lives and for the safety of the world, and all he could do was throw those idiotic flowers. His fragmentary memories of the Silver Millennium told him he should be able to do more, much more, but whenever he reached for the power it eluded his grasp. At least he still had the flowers, unlike those occasions when he found himself unable to do anything but offer the Senshi some supposedly inspiring words.

"What's the deal? Why ain't Sailor Moon attacking?" Ranma asked him.

Tuxedo Kamen grimaced. "Every time she tries to do the gestures and say the words, the youma attack her before she can finish."

Ranma stared at him. "So why don't she just forget the rigmarole and blast 'em?"

"She can't. It's like the safety on a gun - and believe me, if you knew what that rod could do, you wouldn't want it going off just because she pointed it in your direction accidentally."

"Then we got a problem," Ranma said bluntly.

"I know. Their powers seem to be based on control of the five elements, and unfortunately they can cancel out the Senshis' powers. Fire and Water can absorb or deflect Mars' and Mercury's attacks. Wood can insulate against Jupiter's electrical bolts, and Metal can reflect Venus' light based powers. That leaves Air to take care of any solid objects, including my roses, as well as stopping Sailor Moon from using the Moon Rod. Even worse, they seem to be able to co-ordinate their actions better than we can."

Ranma leaped out of the way of another fire blast and ended up crouching in the doorway of the cafe next to Akane. "This stinks. Throwing stuff at them ain't working, and if I jump up to them again I could get roasted."

Akane said urgently, "There's still one attack you've got that can reach them. Why haven't you tried that?"

"They got control over the elements, right? Including air? Hitting them with a hurricane's gonna be worse than useless if they can take it away from me."

Akane frowned thoughtfully. "We've got to try something - it looks like the Senshi are losing. Hmmm. The only thing I can think of is to try to overload them somehow. Maybe have everybody hit them at once, full strength?"

"Worth a shot. In fact," said Ranma, with a glint in her eyes, "I can use the Senshi to help charge up my attack!" She ran over to Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury, and hissed, "Listen, I got a plan, if you can help me out. Mars, instead of just blasting 'em, can you send your fire spiraling in on them?"

Sailor Mars looked at her in confusion. People didn't normally come up to her during a battle with some monster or other and not only offer to help, but try to take charge. "I guess so, but what..."

"Okay, here's what we do. Mars, when I give the word, use your fire like I said. Mercury, you concentrate your cold right in front of me and try to drop the temperature as much as you can. The rest of you," Ranma said, raising her voice, "when I start my attack, throw everything you got at 'em."

"What are you trying to accomplish?" Mercury asked, perplexed. "What attack are you talking about?"

"Don't worry, you'll know when you see it," Ranma asserted confidently.

"Who died and made you princess?" Mars asked angrily, as she dodged an air blast that was propelling gravel from the street at her with nearly the speed of a bullet. "Fighting creatures like this is our job!"

"And right now you're getting your butts kicked," Ranma retorted. "Look, I know what I'm doing. You might as well give it a try; you're losing as it is. Go ahead, cut loose."

Mars felt that there was an inherent fallacy in that reasoning, but she couldn't quite identify it in the middle of another barrage from the Elementals. Finally she decided she might as well vent her frustration by blasting the cause of the whole problem. "Fire Soul Bird!" The fire circled the hovering youma several times as it closed in on them. The youma simply absorbed the heat until they were glowing red.

"Shabon Spray Freezing!" Mercury brought forth a field of intense cold, which she managed to focus in front of the young martial artist.

Ranma concentrated as hard as she ever had. "Hiryu shoten ha!" She had been reluctant to invoke the full power of this attack, ever since she had nearly killed Ryoga with it. Now, thrusting her fist forward, she unleashed the cool ki she had summoned. Boosted by Mercury's cold, the ki arrowed in through the waves of heat pouring off the five figures in the air. The contrast between the temperature extremes created the most powerful twister she had ever seen. She fought to maintain control of the spinning winds, forcing them into the most compact funnel she could manage.

"Crescent Beam Shower!"

"Supreme Thunder Dragon!"

Venus and Jupiter unleashed their powers, as Tuxedo Kamen whipped open his cape and produced a tremendous barrage of roses. The energy-charged blossoms and the bolts of force converged on the spinning column of air, where the ki-charged walls of the twister contained and reflected and amplified their power, to focus it all on the barely visible figures at the heart of the maelstrom.

Inside the miniature tornado, the Elementals struggled to hold their shields against the tremendous forces battering them dozens of times every second. Brucite fought to take control of the winds, or slow them down, but he was unable to concentrate, or take any power away from the joint defenses that were only barely holding up, as Ranma and the Senshi threw everything they had at their foes.

"Fire Soul Bird!"

"Shabon Spray Freezing!"

Ranma gritted her teeth and continued to release her ki to feed the whirlwind. She had to maintain control of it as long as possible before the energies she fought to contain proved too much for her. The howling of the winds rose higher in pitch to an almost deafening scream as the Senshi poured more power into the glowing funnel. "Sailor Moon, do it now!"

"Moon princess halation!" The lunar energies hit the twister, which exploded in a pyrotechnic display as Ranma sagged to the ground. At the moment, all she wanted was a good night's rest, but a shout from Akane galvanized her back into action.

"Ranma! They're dropping out of the sky!"

The two martial artists leaped into the air, each managing to catch two of the unconscious forms. Sailor Moon rescued the last inadvertently by managing to have the girl fall on top of her. "Oooof!"

After reassuring herself and Tuxedo Kamen that she was relatively intact, she checked the girl's condition, and was relieved to note that she was already regaining consciousness. "Are you all right, miss?"

"I - I think so," she said groggily. "Tetsuo - where's Tetsuo!"

"I'm over here, Yukari," a voice answered her. Nearby, a young man sat on the street, looking around in a dazed fashion. She got up and stumbled over to him.

Satisfied that the once-possessed victims were back to normal, Sailor Moon rejoined the other Senshi. Meanwhile, Yukari reached Tetsuo and sank down to the street beside him.

"You okay?" he asked her diffidently.

"I'm fine," she said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "It's nice to be back in control of your own body, isn't it?"

"Yeah." He said nothing for a moment, then added, "They weren't all that bad, though - I mean Adamite wasn't, anyway."

"I know what you mean," she responded quietly. "I liked Brookite. What happened to them, what they became - it wasn't their fault."

"It almost makes me wish Adamite could have survived," Tetsuo said, carefully not looking at her. "Although I don't suppose either one of them would have wanted to be left without the other."

Yukari turned and looked him squarely in the face. "Adamite? Are you still there? It feels like it, a little, but everything's so strange."

Tetsuo nodded. "He's still here. I'm in control now, so it's kind of the reverse of the previous situation. I take it you've got Brookite in there with you, Yukari?"

"Yes." She brushed her hair back from her eyes. "How did it happen? I remember Sailor Moon's blast hitting us, and then nothing else."

"All we can figure out is that, as the blast hit them, you and I reached out instinctively and 'held on' to them somehow. Instead of forcing them out of us, Sailor Moon managed to destroy the part of them that had been subject to Metallia. Think about it, Brookite. Do you feel anyone's life force any more? Or the need to drain anyone?"

Yukari frowned. "No, she doesn't. She points out, though, that she can barely feel anything at the moment, even the link."

For a moment, Tetsuo said nothing, before asking quietly, "Can she feel anything of the others?"

A long pause. "No."

He nodded slowly. "We were afraid of that. Adamite doesn't know if it was because they never let their hosts wake up and befriended them, or because they still couldn't let go of their youma nature; whatever the reason, they didn't survive."

They sat together for a time, ignoring the commotion behind them. Finally Yukari seemed to shake herself, then indulged in a long, slow, self-consciously sensual stretch, not failing to notice Tetsuo's face reddening as he quickly looked away. "So," she said, her mouth quirking into a smile, "what do we do now? Try to get on with our lives, ignoring the fact that we have the spirits of two twenty thousand year old warriors inside us?"

"We were thinking about that," Tetsuo said in a partially successful attempt at a casual tone. "Adamite was telling me that he couldn't think of anything he'd rather do than work in a small restaurant."

"What a coincidence. Brookite was telling me the same thing." She bit her lip, then mustered up her nerve. "It might be a little awkward, what with them being - ah - involved, you know."

Tetsuo's mouth opened and closed several times, in a rather passable fish imitation. Suddenly his expression changed, and with a mischievous grin he replied, "I don't think it'll be that big a problem. Tetsuo's had an enormous crush on Yukari for a long time - he's just been too shy to tell her." He immediately clapped his hands over his mouth and blushed deeply, while muttering indistinctly, "Adamite! What are you doing?"

An impish smile flitted across the features of the girl next to him. "Well, that's a relief. Yukari was wondering why he never asked her out, despite all the hints she kept dropping." She instantly blushed red as fire herself. "You're not supposed to say things like that, Brookite!"

The two regarded each other for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Don't worry, children," Adamite said, once again borrowing the voice of his host. "We'll try not to embarrass you too much. It's just that when you've reached our advanced ages, you don't really feel like wasting time when you're dealing with the really important things."

"It'll be all right," Brookite added with a smile. "I think we're all going to get on very well together."

Meanwhile, the Senshi clustered around Ranma and Akane, curious to know more about them, especially the pig-tailed girl who had won the fight for them. Akane was just thankful that her fiance was currently female; his ego was getting swollen enough as it was from all the attention. If she'd had to stand there watching a flock of cute young girls crowding around him, looking him up and down with lustful gazes, eagerly pressing their slender, nubile bodies up against his firmly muscled form - she lost track of what she'd been thinking about. Certainly seemed to be warm out today. Anyway, it was a good thing he was a girl.

Of course, thoughts like that simply invite cosmic intervention. In the final assault upon the Elementals, Sailor Mercury had created a good deal of ice. This had been melted by Sailor Mars' fire, and the explosion of Ranma's tornado had blown a large quantity of warm water into the sky. Normally, one might have expected it to be dispersed over a wide area; given Ranma Saotome's unique nature, including but not limited to the unusual circumstances of his birth and heritage, and the four curses he was currently laboring under, it was not really surprising that several gallons of warm water chose that moment to fall on the young martial artist's head.

The Senshi had all leaped back when the water hit. Now they stood stock still, staring blankly at the sopping wet, obviously male figure in their midst. None of them quite knew what to make of the situation - except for Sailor Mars.

"A demon," she shouted. Whipping out an ofudo, she leaped forward and slapped it on Ranma's forehead, chanting rapidly, "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryou taisan!" Stepping back, she waited for him to burst into flame, or dissolve into a puddle of goo - at the least she expected him to fall to the street in convulsions.

Alas, nothing so entertaining occurred. The piece of bespelled paper clung for a moment, then fell off and fluttered to the ground. "Excuse me," Ranma said with a frown. "What was that all about?"

"A tough one, huh?" Mars growled, bringing up her hands in readiness to blast him if he made a wrong move. "I don't know if you were trying to catch us off-guard by helping up against those youma, but it doesn't matter. We know how to handle demons like you."

"Demons? Don't be ridiculous!" Ranma scoffed. "It's just a curse, that's all."

"A curse? So there IS demonic involvement!"

"No, no, no!" Ranma said disgustedly. "Look, I didn't want to get into all this, but here's the deal. I was over in China at a place called Jusenkyo. There's a whole lot of springs there, dozens, maybe over a hundred. The place has got a curse that says, if you fall in a spring, you take on the form of whatever originally drowned in the spring whenever you're splashed with cold water. Hot water gives ya back your real body. It just changes your body though, not your mind. I fell in the Spring of Drowned Girl."

"So even though we first met you as a girl, you're really a guy?" Tuxedo Kamen asked with some interest. If true, this vindicated his analysis of Ranma and Akane's characters.

"Yep."

"Do you turn into anything, Akane?" Sailor Moon asked, with genuine curiosity. It was odd but, if you thought about it, no stranger than holding up a pen and transforming into a sailor-suited warrior for love and justice.

"No, no, not me," Akane replied hastily. Noticing the looks some of the Senshi were giving Ranma, she added, impelled by feelings she was careful not to analyze, "I'm Ranma's fiancee."

Sailor Moon blinked. "You're engaged to a boy who turns into a girl? And you don't have a problem with that?"

Akane hesitated. Her normal response would have been to disclaim the whole notion as a harebrained scheme dreamed up by their fathers, but she wasn't sure she really wanted to give these girls any ideas, considering the dreamy expressions on a couple of the faces she saw. "It - could be worse, I guess."

Raising an eyebrow at her moderate response, Ranma said, "Yeah, it could be worse. My pop turns into a panda, and I've got a fiancee who turns into a c-c-cat."

Mercury was puzzled. "But Akane just said she didn't turn into anything. Unless -" she was suddenly taken aback, "since you turn into a girl, you're engaged to a boy also?"

"Oh gross," Ranma said, with a revolted expression. "I said I still think like a guy."

"Ranma was talking about one of his other female fiancees," Akane explained, baring her teeth at him. "He's got four, you see."

"You're always exaggerating," Ranma groused. "It's only three. No way you can count Kodachi. And it's not like I asked for any of them, so you can just lose the attitude, okay?"

"Well, it's not as if you've actually tried to get rid of any of them,is it?"

As the confusing argument went on, Sailor Venus roused herself from rapt contemplation of the boy before them and turned to speak to Jupiter, only to find her friend also gazing at him starry-eyed. "Hey, Jupiter, wake up! Are you still in there?" she jested, waving a hand in front of her companion's face.

"Huh? Venus? Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that ..."

"Let me guess. He reminds you of your old sempai?"

"No, not particularly. He's just really cute." Loftily disregarding Venus' startled expression, she added meditatively, "It's just a shame about that curse. I don't know if I could handle having a boyfriend who could turn into a girlfriend if we were out walking in the rain."

"Oh, I don't know," Venus said, looking thoughtfully at Ranma. "It could be a lot of fun."

"Eh?" Jupiter turned to stare at her friend in surprise. She couldn't mean -

"Just think of the possibilities," Venus went on with mounting enthusiasm.

Jupiter edged away a bit.

"I mean, you could shop for clothes together, or borrow each other's shoes," she continued blithely, breaking off when she noticed Jupiter's dumbfounded expression. "What? What did you think I meant?"

Their argument finally having wound down, and their listeners too perplexed to even venture a question, Ranma and Akane took their leave of their erstwhile allies. As they walked off, Ranma turned and waved. "Next time you need some help saving the world, give me a call," he shouted. Akane slugged him in the stomach.

"Ow! What'd you do that for!"

"You just want another chance to ogle them in those skimpy outfits. You're not fooling me!"

"What? Are you nuts?"

"No, and I'm not blind either. I saw Sailor Jupiter and that Sailor Venus making eyes at you! Venus, hah! I'll bet I can guess how she came by that name!" Akane muttered darkly.

"C'mon, give me a break! I think you're just jealous 'cause you're too chunky to wear one of those getups -"

"Chunky? Chunky! Would you care to repeat that remark?"

"- while it's obvious I'd look pretty damn cute in a sailor fuku."

"You are SUCH a PERVERT!"

At the back of the crowd stood a tall Westerner, face burned brown by the sun, staring at the piece of electronic gadgetry in his hand. "That settles it," he grunted. "Professor Hikita's source was right - there's definite evidence of an extraterrestrial presence." He stowed the device in his briefcase with a frown. "Buckaroo won't like it, but we'll have to postpone the test of the Oscillation Overthruster until we can be sure of our security."

He wasn't aware he'd spoken those words aloud, and if he had been he might not have been unduly concerned - what were the odds that anyone overhearing him would understand his words? He wouldn't have been quite so sanguine had he noticed the tall woman, her dark hair glinting with green highlights, standing behind him, listening intently. Still, he didn't notice her, as was only to be expected; few people noticed Setsuna Meiou when she wanted to pass unobserved.

Now she nodded to herself as she turned to leave. "A few more pieces move into place," she murmured quietly.

"As you knew they would," a bored voice responded, seemingly from somewhere in the vicinity of her left shoulder. "I don't see why you even bothered showing up. Can we go now?"

"No one forced you to come, Persephone," Setsuna replied, a trifle testily. "You could have stayed back at the sanctum."

"That would have been even more boring," the voice complained. "There's nobody to talk to except your mother, and she's not exactly the most stimulating conversationalist these days. Look, it's over. Can we go do something fun now?"

"All right," Setsuna said with a sigh. "I just wanted to make sure this meeting went smoothly. We can go."

She paused for a moment, following the two bickering martial artists with her eyes as they moved off down the block. "You've trained him well, Genma," she whispered. "Let's hope it's enough. We're only likely to get one chance at this."

"Look at it this way, my dear Pluto. Win or lose, at least it's likely to be interesting."

With admirable self-control, Setsuna managed to refrain from leaping into the air with a loud shriek. She turned to regard the red-and-yellow clad figure standing next to her. "Greetings, Tyddo, Lord of Folly," she intoned formally. "Does the Time of the Awakening approach? Is there aught you require of me or mine?"

"Nothing at the moment," the old man said airily, waving a hand. "Kind of you to offer. Hello, Persephone. Nice to see you again."

"Hello, Tyddo," the voice responded cheerfully. "I thought that was you I saw. Are you involved in all this? Maybe it'll be more fun than I thought."

With a feeling of dread, Setsuna realized that he had only answered one of her ritual questions. Paling, she asked again, "Does the Time of the Awakening approach?"

The old man tipped his head to one side and regarded her keenly. "Time's a funny old thing, as you should know better than anyone. There are so many different possibilities."

Setsuna regarded him with a slight frown. She much preferred playing the role of the mysterious, all-knowing one herself. Fortunately, there were few entities in the galaxy that could beat her at being enigmatic. Unfortunately, the being before her was one of them. "Then, pray tell me, what is the closest Time? What is the most probable Time?"

"Funnily enough," the Lord of Folly confided breezily, "they happen to be one and the same - about a hundred years from now."

"What!" Setsuna felt as near to fainting as she had in millennia. "But that's when it all comes to a head!"

"Quite so." Tyddo looked at her reprovingly. "Honestly, you should have known. You're attempting to set events in motion so a select group of people may be able to handle a situation you fear you will be unable to. It shouldn't be too surprising that they may be capable of some things you really don't want them to do."

Her mind raced as she considered possible courses of action. "I suppose I could just go ahead and kill the Saotome boy, or at least remove him from the equation," she muttered. "That would be the easiest way to defuse things. The only question is, would I have enough time to come up with a workable alternative?"

Tyddo shrugged. "It's up to you. You've been working at this for eighty years now, and even with a century to go success is by no means guaranteed. I think it's a little late to start over. If you're unsure, you might check out the jukebox."

"Oh dear," she said with a grimace, "not Inverness. It's such a silly place."

"Indeed," he agreed blandly.

"Yay!" Persephone cheered. "We haven't been there in centuries! Let's go now, Setsuna. I want to see if Little Frieda is still there."

Setsuna massaged her aching temples. "We can't go now," she protested. "You never know how long you're going to end up spending there, and I've got that meeting at the Nekohanten coming up, and I need to make arrangements to get Ranma to leave the Tendos, that is, if I'm still going to use him. All that, and Small Lady should be showing up here soon; at least, if there's any chance of the proper timeline being restored she will."

"Pretty please?" Persephone wheedled. "It'll be fun! And after all, there's no point in going to the Nekohanten if you're going to decide you need to kill Ranma."

Unfortunately, thought Setsuna, she had a valid point. "All right," she said, shaking her head and then wincing. "You'll get your visit." Ignoring the gleeful noises coming from her unseen companion, she looked back at the Lord of Folly. "Very well. Until I have a chance to do as you suggest, I won't do anything drastic."

"Good girl. Just look on it as giving you a little extra incentive," he said with a grin, before vanishing.

"Marvelous. Just in case the extinction of all life in the Solar System isn't incentive enough." Setsuna sighed. Shaking her head, she too vanished.

The End

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

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi. Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi. Tyddo and the Snake Mother are taken from "The Face in the Abyss" by A. Merritt. Inverness and Little Frieda were created and are owned by the ZBS Foundation. Rights belong to their respective holders.

For those who may wonder: no, Ranma is not Sailor Titan, Sailor Earth, or any kind of Sailor Senshi. He should be so lucky that the worst that happens to him is he has to wear a fuku.

Tune in next time, as Sailor Pluto and Persephone travel to the Valley of the Ten Thousand Oms Unfolded to visit the Bodhisattva Jukebox in "Apotheosis 2: Dancing With Myself."