Furies Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ami settled comfortably in the nest of cushions
Makoto had made for her. She stretched her injured leg out and
sighed in relief. It had been dislocated AND broken. And even with
a senshi's powers a green stick fracture took time to heal. And it
all hurt. A lot.
"USAAAAAGI." Ami winced at Rei's shrill tone. She turned to see
the senshi of fire looming over Usagi.
"MY MANGA!" Rei snatched the magazine out of
Usagi's hand. "We're supposed to be having a meeting. It's not
for you to stuff your face and read manga. You're going to sit
here and pay attention for once." Rei dropped down beside Usagi
with an air of permanence.
"And not a word out of you!" she cut Usagi off as
she started to speak. "BE QUIET!. Sit. Listen. LEARN!"
Ami stifled a chuckle. Rei had been wild when she'd
found out about the attack and Usagi's injuries. She hadn't let
Usagi out of her sight since then. She was sleeping over at Usagi's
house and even following her into the toilet at school. Ami had no
idea how she had arranged to be at their school, but had no doubt Rei
was going to be a permanent fixture until the crisis had passed.
"I know a few things about what happened, not much,
but a little."
Rei and Usagi stopped their fighting and swivelled
to face Ami. Minako and Makoto joined the semi-circle facing Ami.
"I'll divide this into two parts. First, our new
enemy. The Skroach . . ."
"Skroach?" Minako looked at Ami with a raised eyebrow.
"Um . . ." Ami blushed a little. "Well, yes. We . . .um . . .I
had to call them something and they look like . . ."
"A scorpion crossed with a cockroach!" Makoto
enthused. "An' we'll crush 'em just like a big bug." Makoto was
still angry about her poor showing and eager for a rematch.
"Errr . . .yes . . .well as nearly as I can tell the Skroach is
some type of cyborg, though neither term is quite correct."
"Cyborg?" "You know Makoto ,a robot, like Ultra Man." "Not quite
Usagi. Cyborg means cybernetic organism,
a melding of animal and machine. Although in this case, the machine
isn't like anything I've ever seen. And the animal, well it's
definitely not terrestrial."
"Well that's a relief." Everyone stared at Usagi . "Well I'm
tired of fighting all these terrible
things. It'll be nice to have something that's not terrible." Rei
jerked Usagi's head around.
"That's terrestrial. Terr-es-trial. NOT Terr-able.
Don't you know anything you stupid girl. You're going to get
killed. . ."
Usagi pushed her face close to the enraged fire
senshi until there noses touched.
"GOT-TCH-A!" Rei stared, frozen, at the laughing moon princess.
Then with a howl of rage she launched herself at Usagi knocking
her to the floor. Rei began screaming and shaking Usagi.
"You idiot. You stupid, stupid, useless, clumsy. . ."
Rei was sobbing uncontrollably. "You could have got yourself
killed, you could have died. Stupid, stupid girl. You could have
died. . ."
Usagi grabbed Rei in bear hug and started rocking
her back and forth.
"I'm OK Rei. I'm OK. Go ahead and cry. It's all
right. Everything is OK." She continued to cradle Rei in her
arms, stroking her back ,murmuring soothingly to her until Rei's
tears abated.
"Feel better now? Here, blow." She handed Rei a
tissue. Rei looked up shamefaced.
"I'm sorry. I. . . " "It's all right Rei. Believe me, no one
wishes you
had been there more than we do."
"That's right," Makoto added. "It was just luck I
was close enough to get the All Call before the communicators
went out." She turned to Ami. "How did that happen anyway?"
"Perhaps I should start over. The new enemy seems
to be a cyborg, of alien origin. It's covered in some kind of
composite armor that's very tough." Minako and Makoto nodded in
unconscious agreement.
"Unfortunately the armor also kept me from getting
very good sensor readings. And I didn't manage to get a sample to
analyze." She turned slightly toward Minako. "You saved all our
lives yesterday."
"I did? I did! Well of course I did." Minako struck
a pose. "For am I not the agent of love and beauty, called by
the goddess. . . uh how did I save every one?"
Ami grinned at Minako's infectious exuberance, then
sobered.
"Your first attack damaged this just as it was firing." Ami
brought up a schematic of their attacker on her computer.
Everyone crowded around to see. "This 'gun', for lack of a better
word, warps space."
Everyone stared at Ami. "I don't know how, but this 'gun' can
warp space,
basically twisting anything it hits out of our space and into
another. It will destroy anything it hits and it will hit anything
it can see, within certain limits."
"Which are?" Minako was suddenly very serious. Ami
suspected she was seeing Sailor V, rather than Sailor Venus.
"It was firing just as Minako's Crescent Beam hit; judging
from those readings it takes a lot of power. I'm guessing it's a
single shot weapon. Or has a very slow rate-of-fire, unless it's
got a power supply that I couldn't scan. Which is possible.
Secondly, there is no defense, or none that I can think of. Maybe if
I can get an intact weapon to sample.. And finally, it seems to be
very short ranged. This may be a design limitation of the weapon
or it may be a safety feature. In any event, coupled with
everything else it gives the weapon a maximum range, in atmosphere,
of less than fifty to one hundred meters."At the looks of relief on
the other's faces she added a stern warning. "You must understand,
within these limits this weapon is unbeatable. There is nothing
that will protect you. It will cut a battleship in two as easily
as you'd cut a stick of butter with a hot knife." Seeing that her
teammates were properly chastened she continued.
"These 'cyborgs' are very strong and fast. In
senshi form we are faster, marginally. I think it's stronger,
but not as maneuverable as we are. It's got another weapon. What's
known in science fiction as a 'Blaster'."
"What's that?" "A controlled discharge of very high
energy. . . " "You mean it shoots lightning bolts." Ami stared at
Usagi who gave her a gamine grin.
"Hey, I'm not as stupid as you think I am." "No one could be."
Usagi nodded happily, then whipped around. "Hey,
pyro. What's that crack supposed to mean?"
Ami gently cleared her throat. The bickering
stopped instantly.
"I've evolved some tentative tactics to deal with
this enemy." She pulled some papers out of her bag and passed
them around. "This is a schematic of the thing. I've outlined
the weak points in red, with text describing which attack
should be most effective. Obviously first priority in an attack
must be the warp gun. As long at that gun is intact we're at
a great disadvantage. The tactics I've evolved depend on
teamwork, our superior maneuverability and sniping at it beyond
the weapons maximum range." She paused and fixed everyone with a
very un-Ami like glare. "NO ONE is to fight one of these things
alone. Wait until we are all together. If there's more than one of
them, we have to separate them and hit them five against one." She
waited a moment to be sure everyone understood.
"Now for our second visitor. It seems. . . " "She." "What?"
"She. You said it. It's a she. I mean she's the." Usagi foundered a moment. "I mean," Usagi enunciated
carefully, "that she is a she. A girl. Not an it." At the looks
from the others she went on defensively. "Hey, I talked to her. And
she's real sad about something."
"Maybe 'cause she didn't get to fry us," Makoto
muttered sotto voice. Not sotto enough as Usagi glared at her.
Makoto shrugged apologetically and turned her attention back to Ami.
"I couldn't get very good readings. And a lot of
the ones I did get don't make much sense. To start with it. . ."
She paused as Usagi gave her a hurt look. "To start with SHE seems
to be in a higher energy state." At the blank looks elaborated. "All
of her electrons appear to have been kicked up to the next shell."
The looks slipped from blank to vacant.
"Essentially she seems to be in a gaseous state, an
animate plasma." Vacant became vacuous.
"A flame. She's a living flame, alright!" "Jeeez. Get a grip
Ami." "Sorry." Ami flushed in embarrassment at her
uncharacteristic loss of temper.
"I have no idea how she maintains stability. I
mean, a plasma isn't normally stable like that. Not to mention
I have even less idea how she stays alive. Of course you need
to know that it was almost impossible to get any readings through
the. . . 'energy field', so this might all be completely wrong." Ami
paused to gather her thoughts. "The only things I can be sure of are
effects, even if I'm not sure of the cause. For instance she
seems to be almost completely invulnerable to energy weapons.
The Skroach's blaster and Venus's 'Love and Beauty Shock' had only
minimal effect. Direct physical attacks have slightly more effect, but
she is incredibly resistant to even those. She seems to have
three weapons." Ami ticked off a mental list. " Some sort of missile
weapon that fires slugs of extraordinary dense matter very fast."
"Uh, how dense, and how fast?" Ami looked
embarrassed at Minako's question.
"I'm not sure. I only obtained partial reading from the
single time it . .uh . . .she used it to blast the Skroach away
from Sailormoon."
"It's not your fault Ami. Don't worry about it. I
think you're doing great. None of us would have the slightest
idea what to do." Ami smiled gratefully at Usagi
"She has an energy weapon that she used that to destroy
the Skroach. I think it's," Ami's voice dropped to a whisper,
"a graser." At the half expected blank looks she opened her mouth
to explain.
"That's a. . . " "A gamma ray laser. Cool." Jaws kissed tatami
all around the room. "Usagi," Ami said faintly, "how do you
know. . . " "Oh, I love science fiction. I got sort of
interested from some of the video games." She smiled brightly at
the dumfounded faces.
"Uh, yes. Well as Usagi says, a gamma ray laser.
VERY powerful. Much longer ranged that the warp gun and probably
able to fire more often. I can't be sure because I couldn't
get a good reading on the power supply. And lastly, the final
defense is some sort of variable geometry impact weapon. That is,
it seems to be able to change shape. I have pictures of what look
like a staff, a hammer, an axe and transitional forms as it shifted
from one shape to the next."
"Any thing else? I mean it seemed to recognize us?" "What! You
didn't tell me that Minako!" "Sorry Rei, things were a little
confused when we
met you after the fight."
Ami typed a few commands into her computer. "All right, here's
the video and audio from the
crea. . . from her."
All the senshi fell silent and listened to the
weirdly distorted voice.
"I've run it through several filters, just to make
sure. It's definitely a voice. She recognizes Venus and Jupiter as
senshi. At first she seems to think Usagi is Queen Serenity, then
seems to recognize her as Princess Serenity. Here," Ami pointed
to the screen, "she seems surprised by something, turns around
almost three hundred sixty degrees. Looks up. Sees the moon. And
here she runs off. I don't know what kind of shielding she uses
but she disappeared off my sensors even before she was out of
visual range." Minako stared down at her folded hands for a moment.
"All right Ami, what do you think all this means?"
Ami looked distressed.
"Minako, I don't have enough information to. . . " "Give me
your best guess Ami." Ami was not fond of guessing , but for
Minako. . . "Well, we've defiantly got a new enemy.
Intentions, unknown. Capabilities, very powerful. But with only
one sample there's no way to know its total abilities. I can only
tell you that it's unlikely that we've seen the worst they can
do." Ami took a deep breath.
"As for. . . the other. . . I don't know. She saved
our lives. If she hadn't come when she did we'd all be dead. But she
didn't seem to happy to see that we were senshi. And I don't know what
to make of her reaction to Usagi, or Princess Serenity rather." Ami
looked down at her computer as if for inspiration then back up at
her friends. "I wish I knew what to tell you. Until we know more
we've got to classify her as a new enemy with unknown. . . "
"No." The single word, silk soft, unrelenting as a drawn
katana, froze the assembled senshi.
"No," Usagi repeated firmly. "She's not an enemy.
She's hurt, angry, afraid. But she's not an enemy."
"Usagi," Makoto turned pleading eyes to her
princess and friend, "I know you want. . . "
"She's our friend." Makoto looked despairingly into
Usagi's calm
implacable eyes.
"Hai, Usagi. She's our friend." Usagi swept the rest of her
senshi with her eyes,
holding each with her gaze 'till they nodded in agreement. Rei
was last.
"Usagi, this is crazy! Luna would never. . . " "Luna's not
here. She and Artemis are out trying to
find our new enemy. Enemy," Usagi emphasized the singular
word, "not enemies. This girl is our friend. And I'm sure that if I
can just find her, talk to her, maybe alone so she's not afraid. . . "
"You are NOT going anywhere alone." Rei grabbed
Usagi by the shoulders and twisted her around. "You are not playing
video games, you are not going to the mall and you are NOT going
out to make new 'friends'."
"But Rei. . . " "But NOTHING!" Rei thundered. "If you even
look
like you're THINKING of going off to find this 'friend' I'm going
to paddle your little princess butt until you can't sit down for a
month. Do you understand THAT!!"
"Yes Rei," Usagi agreed meekly. Rei nodded
satisfied. She would have been much less pleased had she seen Usagi's
crossed fingers behind her back.

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

"Kohanasan, please recite the attributes of the
Dragon." The young man in question rose and cleared his throat
before beginning.
"When the Dragon tries to ride the clouds and come
into heaven there happens immediately a furious storm. The Dragon
has the eyes of a tiger and the horns of a deer and the body of
a crocodile and the claws of an eagle and two trunks like the
trunk of an elephant. It has also a moral: We should try to be
like the Dragon, and find out and adopt all the good qualities of
others." Kohana bowed jerkily to the teacher and sat down.
"Very good, Kohanasan." The teacher beamed at the
student his eyes searching the class until they settled on. . .
"Tendousan, would you please recite the virtues of the Moon."
Akane looked blankly at the Sensei a slight tic
forming over her right eye.
"Tendousan," the Sensei repeated. "Would you
recite the virtues of the Moon please."
For a moment Akane sat, unmoving and unblinking her
attention turned inward. Then, suddenly, she seemed to become aware
of the teacher and bolted upright.
"Hai, Sensei. I can!" She paused, flustered and
spoke again in a very different voice. "Ummm. What was the question?"
Sensei silenced the tittering class with a stern
look, then turned a disapproving frown on Tendou Akane.
"Tendousan, if you can not pay attention in class,
perhaps you shouldn't BE in class. Perhaps you would prefer to
stand in the hall. . . holding a bucket of water?"
"Yes Sensei. . . I mean no Sensei. . . I'm very
sorry." Akane looked miserably down at her feet, flushing
at the renewed snickering of her class mates. So miserable was she
that she didn't notice when the mirth stopped, like a dog run over
by a train. Nor did she notice the blazing look from Ranma that
effected this sudden influx of manners.
"If you would Tendousan. . . please recite the
virtues of the Moon."
"The Moon appears melancholy to those who are sad,
and joyous to those who are happy." As she spoke Akane swayed a
bit and put out a hand to steady herself.
"The Moon makes memories to those who travel, and
creates homesickness." Akane stared blindly ahead, a slight
tremor shaking her body, as if from some suppressed emotion.
"When the Emperor Godaigo, exiled by the traitor
Hojou, beheld the moonlight on the seashore, he cried out,
' The Moon is heartless.'. . . But she's not heartless.
She's not." This whispered protest was low and shocking in its
intensity. Sensei started to reprimand Akane for departing from
the established list of virtues, then stopped as Akane continued .
"Our hearts ought to be. . ." Tears were streaming
down her cheeks and her voice was choked.
"Our hearts ought to be pure and. . . and calm. . .
like . . . like the light of the Moon. The light of the Moon shines
alike upon foul and pure, upon. . . upon high and low." By ones
and twos the rest of the class started crying as well. . . not
knowing why.
"That beautiful Lamp is neither yours nor mine, but
everybody's. When we look at the Moon, we should remember
that its waxing and its waning are the signs. . . are the signs
that the culmination of all things is likewise the beginning of
their. . . of their. . . end." Akane dropped into her seat sobbing.
"I'm sorry. . . I'm sorry . . .I'm so sorry."

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

"I'm fine Ranma. So just stop following me around."
The object of Akane's ire was perched nonchalantly atop the dugout
roof.
"Hey, who says I'd WANT to follow an uncute chick
like you. I got to take PE class too, ya know," Ranma stated
righteously .
"Since when have YOU ever. . . " It was perhaps just as well
that Akane's furious
rejoinder was interrupted by Coach Eddy.
"Attention, please. Because of illness, injuries
and other factors the boys base-ball team will be unable to field
two full teams for the next few weeks. In order that they not miss
practice it has been decided to fill those missing positions with
the best members of the girls soft-ball team." There were excited
shrieks from the girls (they adored the gajin English teacher and
baseball expert) and disgusted moans from some of the boys.
"Will the following girls please report to the base-
ball field as I call your names." The coach started to read names
from a list. As he did so there were sullen mutters from the boys
team.
"Man. This sucks." This came from a tall, thin boy
whose hair gleamed wetly with styling gel.
"Hey, wassa matter Tomo." Tai leered at the girls
as they trotted off to suit up. "Don' you LIKE girls." Tai winked
slyly. "Maybe Tomo likes. . . " Tai made a rude hand gesture
that indicated a boy who. . . was different.
"I like girls all right," Tomo retorted hotly. ". I
just don't want 'em messing up practice. We've got a good chance
at the championship this year. . . we need REAL practice. Not
playing with girls."
"Yeah. . . but I wouldn't mind playing with some of
that!" Tai jerked a thumb at the girls who were running, giggling,
out onto the field.
"Ahhh Mannn." Tomo was really disgusted now.
"They're wearin' SHORTS. How the hell 'r they gonna' SLIDE
in shorts."
"Girls don' slide play'n softball," instructed one
of his sage comrades.
"Whooo!" Tai wolf-whistled. "Well they can play
soft-ball with ME any time. Would you look at that." He pointed at
the gaggle of girls swinging back in forth in warm up exercises. Each
time they twisted, white shirts rose up, revealing a tantalizing
band of bare girl flesh.
"Especially that Tendou chick. Ya know I hear she's
really hot. I heard that she's done it with the entire Kendo team."
"Ahhh man. That's stupid. She doesn't like boys." A
boy named Kieko leaned in close to whisper confidently. "She only
likes girls. I heard my brother and some friends talking. . . "
"Bull," Tai retorted. "She likes boys alright.
Hell, she's always with some boy. . . or bein' 'kidnaped,'"
Tai leered suggestively. "That Ryouga guy's always hanging around
and she's got Ranma livin' with her an'. . . "
"But he's her fianc�," one of the other boys
protested.
"Fianc�!" Tai laughed. "Is that what you call it. I
say she just a little nanpa who'll give it away to any. . ."
A cold shadow fell across Tai and he looked around
to see Saotome Ranma standing behind him holding a bat in his hands.
"Do you know how many bones there are in the human
body?" Ranma asked conversationally. "Three hundred fifteen. I
had to learn all of 'em."
Ranma straight armed the bat, holding it between
the thumb and forefinger of each hand.
"An' how to break." Tai flinched as the bat snapped
with an explosive crack.
"Each. . . " Ranma slid the broken halves, one over the other.
Another explosive crack, and he held four pieces of wood.
"And every. . . " BANG! Ranma held eight splintered pieces of
bat, and Tai
fell heavily to the ground as his legs gave way. Numbly he stared
up as Ranma loomed over him and crumbled the shattered wood into
dust that dribbled over Tai like a pelting rain.
"You don't look so good. I think you should go
home. An' stay there 'till whatever problem you have. . . is gone."
Ranma swept the rest of the boys with a look that
seemed mild, until you looked into his eyes.
"Anybody else got the same problem Tai's got. . .
they better go home 'till they're over it."

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

It had been too much to hope that the story
wouldn't get around. Akane was by turns embarrassed and angry.
And it didn't help any that Tomo, the opposing pitcher had fanned
her out her first two times at bat.
"Now, just take it easy Akane-chan," her friends
told her soothingly.
"Don't let this guy get to you," came another
voice.
"HEY! AIR HITTER!" Tomo's taunting voice drifted
into the dugout from the pitcher's mound. "Aren't you gonna' come
out and at least PRETEND to be a ball player. I'll even throw
underhand. . . just like a GIRL."
Akane made a noise like a rusty hinge as her back
molars met and tried to interpenetrate.
"Now Akane-chan," came the pleas from her
teammates. "The bases are loaded. This is our last out. So just
stay cool and. . ."
Akane stomped out to the batters box and planted
herself. A few experimental swings tore the air with tremendous
power, but little control. Ranma, at shortstop, looked at her
wild swings and sighed. It would relieve a lot of her frustration
if she could just hit a good one. . . he watched another wild swing
knock some perfectly inoffensive electrons loose from the air and
sighed again.
The first ball was fast and outside. Akane's bat
hummed with the force of her blow.
"STRIKE ONE!" "Come on Akane-chan!" "You can do it. We believe
in you." Akane set her self, pounded the ground a couple of
times with her bat then brought it back over her shoulder.
The ball was low and inside. Akane swung with
enough power to orbit the Tokyo dome. Unfortunately a base ball
is much smaller than a sports stadium. She hit only air and almost
went over with the force of her blow.
"STRIKE TWO!" "Hey. . . ONE MORE an' you can go home and
play with
your dollies!" Ranma speared Toma with an incredulous glance,
wondering if he were suicidal or just stupid. He stared at the pitcher
for a moment, wondering if Toma could absorb enough punishment to
make it worthwhile to let Akane pound him a bit or if. . . A sudden
prickling between his shoulders brought Ranma around. Akane. . .
Akane wasn't seething anymore. She wasn't grinding her teeth. . .
she wasn't mad. She was. . . focused. Ranma turned and trotted
quickly to the pitchers mound.
"HEY. . . Saotome, get back into position." Ranma
ignored Toma and dropped cross legged to the ground beside
the pitcher. Toma shrugged his shoulders and began his windup.
With the way this skirt hit it didn't matter, anyway.
The ball was a slider, fast and impossible to hit.
His best pitch. Toma chose it just to show her up.
"STR. . . " The umpire started his call early. . .
anticipating what had come before.
There were three distinct cracks. The first as the
tip of Akane's bat went trans-sonic. The second occurred when
the core of the ball burst through the disintegrating
outer-covering. Ranma reached out from his seated position,
snagged Tomo by the sleeve and tugged him gently aside as the
core of the baseball scorched through the space previously occupied
by Toma's head at Mach 1.2.
". . . IKE. . . uuuuu. I mean. . . uhhhhh. FAIR BALL!
TAKE YOUR BASES." Akane stared at Toma for a moment. She turned and
walked over to the dugout, replaced her bat in the bat-stand with
exaggerated precision, then trotted toward first base as the first
of her teammates triumphantly crossed home plate.
Ranma let go of Toma's sleeve and the pitcher
rocked back into place, looking more like the statue of a ball-player
than flesh and blood. An acrid smell wrinkled Ranma's nose and
he glanced down to see a dark spreading stain just below Toma's
belt level.
"Aaaah Maaan!" Ranma grimaced. He looked stealthily
around to see that everyone was distracted by Akane's home
run. Quickly he removed Toma's jacket and tied it about the frozen
boy's waist.

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

Cooking class with Akane was always exciting. There
were always interesting sights, and sounds and smells. Akane
approached cooking the way marines approached a hostile beach
but with less restraint. . . and with a level of violence that
would have gotten her thrown out of any properly run street
gang. It wasn't that she couldn't cook quite edible meals,
her class mates agreed. After all, she made a very. . . tasty. . .
curried rice. It was just that the struggle to. . . subdue. . . all
the evil ingredients. . . well, after that kind of fight the
poor dear was just too tired to cook anything complicated.
Besides, men were all unappreciative pigs. . . who should
be grateful for a hot meal to swill down like the ungrateful
swine. . . they probably spent all their time with loose women while
their poor wives slaved to keep home and children. . . The discussion
usually dissolved into a general debate about men, with the
girls divided into two camps. One group favoring castration
and shock collars for husbands, while the extremists. . . But not
today. Today there was no light hearted banter about boys. . . no
excited anticipation of the perfect souffle. . . Today Tendou
Akane was cooking. . . calmly. . . quietly. . . well, ALMOST quietly.
"Quit that. . . you'll spoil your dinner." Akane
absently rapped her right hand across the knuckles with a spoon as
said hand stealthily tried to scoop a dollop of cookie dough out of
a bowl.
Nervously her classmates squeezed together, like
sheep huddling against a storm.
"What do you think. . . beef for a main course?" She
cocked her head as if listening.
"Well. . . " She sounded doubtful. "I don't know. . .
do you really think. . . " Her face brightened and she banged a
fist against the counter top. "I'LL DO IT!"
The huddle of girls jumped and made a sound very
like. . . sheep bleating.
Happily, Akane began pulling ingredients from
cabinets almost dancing in her excitement. Mesmerized, like someone
who looks up and sees the lights of an oncoming train, the
cooking class watched Akane burble happily to. . . herself. . . as
she peeled, and chopped and seasoned. . . occasionally stopping to
rap the naughty right hand that continued to make sneak attacks
on the cookie dough.

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

Delicious smells wafted down the hall as Akane
passed by, almost floating in her excitement. In her hands, as
delicately as if she carried the Imperial Regalia, she held a
covered tray. And on that tray. . . Akane started to hug herself
in her excitement. . . remembered the tray in her hands at the last
minute and recovered with a gasp and a giggle. And on that tray. . .
oh it was wonderful. . . marvelous. . . beef. . . chicken. . .
trout. . . three vegetables. . . and for dessert. . .
a strawberry crepe. Delicate, paper thin, golden brown pastry. It
was all so perfect. She just knew that Ra. . . Her mind stuttered
away from the name. Anyway it didn't matter. It was perfect.
She didn't have to prove anything to. . . to anyone. And anyway
he. . . anyway some people didn't appreciate good cooking.
Still. . . it would be wasteful. . . to waste all this food.
Kasumi wouldn't want her to waste food. Her mother. . . Akane knew
her mother wouldn't have wanted her to waste food. Well then. . .
there wasn't any choice , was there. Absently Akane thumped a
lower form student on the head as he reached under the covering,
rendering him instantly unconscious.
She couldn't let this food go to waste. There was
really no choice. Akane batted aside the chemistry club as they
leapt salivating for the tray. . . No choice at all. She'd just
have to find Ran. . . find someone. . . so all this food didn't go
to waste. Filled with the golden glow that comes from making the
hard. . . but correct decisions Akane turned the corner and. . .
"Ooow!" Stumbling back Akane twisted to keep the
tray steady. Offended at the inconsiderate person who would stand
in the middle of the hall she looked up. . . and up. . . and UP.
"Oh. It's you." Akane raked the person with a long
up and down glance. "That's a new look."
"Do you like it? I know the old freak will." Akane
stepped back, startled at hearing a deep, human voice, instead of
animal sounds. The scorpion tail lashed suddenly over Akane's
head to smash into the wall. Akane leapt aside with a distressed cry,
covering the precious tray with her body.
"Not bad, huh. And I've made some other
improvements." Taro Pantyhose swept his wings forward to show a row
of razor sharp teeth along the edge. Thick tentacles lashed the air,
each now tipped with a poison spike.
"I've chased the old freak over half of China,
through India and back to here. It ends. . . I'm tired of this. The
old-man's got to change my name this time. Or I'll. . . " A deep
chuckle rumbled in the massive chest. "Who am I kidding. I think
I'll just kill him. . . whether he changes my name or not. Hey, maybe
I should just kill fem-boy too and take HIS name."
"R. . . ranma!" Taro looked down as if just remembering
Akane's
presence.
"Heh. Yeah. Taro Ranma. Has kind of a ring to it.
And it's not like fem-boy deserves. . . " He sniffed the air.
"What's under there?" "Nothing that concerns you." As Akane
tried to edge
past ,Taro snatched the tray and held it tauntingly above her head
as he removed the covering.
"Well, what do we have here?" "Give that back!" Taro held
the tray just out of reach as he scooped
a claw full of beef into his mouth.
"Hey, this is pretty good. Who cooked it?" "I cooked it,"
Akane huffed, offended. "YOU!" Taro chuckled. Then paused
as a thought
struck him.
"If YOU cooked it, then that means this is for fem-
boy." He looked consideringly at the tray's contents.
"That means that this. . . and this. . . and this. . .
you cooked for fem-boy." One by one Taro slid each dish off
the tray. Akane stood frozen as she watched all her work,
all her lov. . . all her work, land on the floor with a
splat. Finally, there was only one item left. . . the crepe. The
delicate. . . delicious. . . DIFFICULT crepe. As if in slow
motion Akane watched Taro nudge it, teasingly, with the
tip of a claw. . . closer. . . closer. . . it teetered on the
edge. . . gravity and pastry fought. . . gravity won. And the golden
confection tumbled through the air. . . end over end. . . falling
like a wounded angel. . .
"Murderer!" The thought tolled through Akane's
brain. He'd killed it. Her poor, innocent crepe. It never had a
chance. . . And the rest. Gone. All gone. All her hard work. . .
S-P-L-A-T. Beef, chicken, fish. . . all gone. It was too late to
start over. . . where would she ever find the ingredients. . .
SNAP! Taro looked around startled. He thought he'd heard
something. . . well. . . SNAP. But what. . . He looked down to
see the Tendou girl staring at him.
"BEEF!" She raked him with eyes that made him. . .
uncomfortable. Like she was mentally undressing him. Which was
silly since he was already. . .
"CHICKEN!" Involuntarily Taro's wings snapped back into the
closed position, tight against his body.
"Now just what do you think you're. . ." he started
arrogantly, Then hastily stepped back as Tendou Akane slid toward
him, graceful as a dancer, with a very unhealthy light in her eyes.
"FISH!" Instantly his waving tentacles stilled and curled
up out of sight.
"Uh. . . actually octopus isn't really a fish. . ."
Uneasily Taro began to back away. Step by step Tendou Akane matched
him. This was silly. HE was bigger. . . stronger. . . faster. . .

Ranma jerked upright from his nap as a scream, like
a cat being skinned alive with a dull knife, pierced the quiet day
like a needle through the eyeball.
AKANE! Damn. He knew he should have stayed with
her. But cooking class. It was not a good thing for him to stay
around Akane when she was cooking. He had a habit of saying. . .
unfortunate things. And she was already upset. . . and what
could possibly happen. . . Asking himself questions he couldn't
answer Ranma pounded across the grass toward the main building.
The wall exploded and. . . something. . . blasted overhead,
past Ranma and toward the empty swimming pool. He looked up to
see Akane, chest heaving, fists clenched, but looking unhurt.
Just as Ranma started up to her. . . screams, lots of screams,
sounded from the girls locker room. Ranma froze. . . he wanted
to go to Akane. But she looked all right. . . and those girls
sounded really frightened. . . but Akane. . .
"Yo. . . Akane. . . you OK?" She tensed for a moment. . .
then looked down,
through the broken wall at Ranma.
"I'm fine. . . just. . . FINE!" Akane turned and stalked off.
Ranma debated following for a moment, but the
screams were louder and more desperate. . . besides he recognized
that look. Better give Akane some time. . . a lot of time. . . to
cool off. Ranma dashed for the girls gym. As he sprinted in through
the front door a jet of cold water hit him.
"Ranma-my-boy." An obscene little. . . something. . .
fastened leach-like between breasts that were just forming.
"AAAAAA!"Ranma screamed and batted at the. . . thing.
He cringed as it nuzzled and fondled and. . . "
"GET OFF ME, ya old freak." "Now is that any way to talk to
your master?" "You. . . ain't. . . my. . . master," Ranma panted
as he
struggled to dislodge. . . Sprinting suddenly forward, Ranma tried
to crush. . . it. . .between him and a concrete column. It. . . leapt
off, just before impact, cackling as Ranma reeled back, stunned from
his impact.
"Heh, you'll never beat me at this rate. If you'll
wear this bra I'll train. . ." The obscene voice broke off and. . . the
thing. . . sprang aside, like a roach on a hot plate, as Ranma
launched a flurry of punches and kicks. Ranma followed this up
with a chi blast that sent. . . it. . . tumbling outside the
girls gym. Winded from his exertions, Ranma was slow in following
and lost track of. . . it.
Laughing with the innocent glee of a dammed soul
the ancient pervert bounced along the halls of academia looking
for fresh meat. Suddenly, senses honed by centuries of
perversion and debauchery tingled. He could sense what he
needed. . . youth. . . innocence. . . virgin flesh. It drew
him. . . excited him, like blood in the water attracted a shark
Except the old pervert had less conscience and more appetite as he
skittered through the corridors like some poisonous bug. The scent
was stronger. His groin tightened with the familiar sweet pain.
His heart pounded at the thought. . . first there would be
fear. . . fear and the desperate futile struggle to get away. He
liked that almost best of all. . . almost. There!! He suffered
a momentary pang as he finally recognized his prey. Too old and
tough. . . still there were compensations. The thought of Soun's
revulsion. . . of her poor. . . departed. . .
"Oh, Akane. Just what a tired old man needs. . . a
fresh young thing to ease his declining years."
Akane looked up from contemplating the tops of her
shoes as she trudged along the empty hallways. She had a brief
impression of a giant cockroach. Then a blurring in the air and
a weight. . . a heaviness on the spirit rather than on the body.
Happosai, master of arts martial and perverted
snuggled between the warm soft mounds with a sigh. Akane was really
too old, the old man thought regretfully. Ahh, if only he could
have gotten to her a decade earlier, when she was in her prime. He
thought wistfully of how he first seen her. Young, tender, so
full of energy. He pictured her again in his mind. In her little
gi, sweat making dark patches in. . . interesting places. In a
darling little ruffled dress. With matching panties. Ancient
blood, cold and thick with centuries of evil, heated at the
remembering. He remembered other things. Little Akane in the furo,
water beading on her soft skin. Her back to the window. . . she
didn't notice the thickening shadow creeping in the window. But
soon she would see. . . would cry out. . . would fight. . .
wiggling and twisting. . . His pleasant day-dream was clouded
by another memory. Of a strong hand around his ankle. Being ripped
from his perch from the wall and thrown to the ground, to land like
a sack of garbage. Of looking up, and seeing . . . silhouetted
against the sky. . . an avenging angle ready to send his soul
to hell. He'd been afraid then. . . for the first time in years.
Afraid that the Kami's had finally come for him. Then he'd realized
it wasn't an angel, wasn't the Kami's , but something worse. Much
worse. Akane's mother.
He was the Master. No mere woman could beat him.
He'd started to teach her a lesson. . . but Akane's mother had been
swift and terrible in her rage. And Soun, the ungrateful worm, had
found his backbone and tried to. . . Happosai winced as the scar
that ran halfway around the inside of his thigh and up his belly
twinged in remembered pain. Still, makeup and the right clothes
could shave years. . .

SNAP!

"You disgusting little pervert." That was no way to talk to
her elders. It was
shameful the way Soun was letting Akane run wild. And he would tell
him so, just as soon as he could breathe again.
"You dirty little. . . " Where HAD little Akane learned those
words. . . and
where had she gotten the hydraulic clamp?
"Always looking. . . leering . . touching." "Now Akane, you're
very young. . . and must be guided
by your elders." Happosai leered up from his position between
Akane's breasts. "You have a responsibility. . . a duty in fact. . .
both to your family and your ryu. . . After all, without ME there
is no Tendou School. . . no dojo." Happosai went on grandly, in
a tone that he imagined conveyed his importance and stature.
"I am the Master, and I decide who will be my
successor. Your father. . . your sisters, they depend on you. Their
home and livelihood depend on how well you. . . " Happosai wiggled
suggestively against her breasts.
"Listen to you? O-be-y you?" Akane's voice was
flat, toneless.
"Why yes." Akane really was a bright girl, Happosai thought
fondly. Perhaps she wasn't too old after all perhaps. . .
"Akane, dear. You're. . . squeezing. . . too. . .
tight. . . "
"If you can still breathe. . . it's not too tight." He really
had waited too late, Happosai thought
regretfully. She'd grown up with this. . . attitude. Well,
perhaps her daughter. . . or Kasumi's. Now that was a thought.
A daughter of Kasumi's. His withered manhood tightened at the
thought. Kasumi's daughter, fresh, gentle. . . easily frightened. A
proper Japanese girl. And if he started while she was young enough to
be trained properly. He shivered in excitement at the thought. But
first. . . Akane. . . misguided child. . . needed to learn who the
master was. Happosai knocked a hot coal from the bowl of his
pipe onto a chi point on Akane's hand, a maneuver that worked
well on Ranma. . . and worked on Akane. The python grip loosened
and Happosai slithered out. He turned casually and. . . really
quite lightly he thought, rapped the iron bowl of his pipe against
her temple. He hated to do it. . . but it was cruel to let girls
have so much independence. It was a mistake to educate them. And
this silly business of letting them own property, vote. . . learn
martial arts. They started thinking about things. . . talking
back. . . resisting. A little resistance was good, stimulated
the juices. But too much was irritating. No it was much better
for them if they learned young who the Master was. Another. . .
gentle. . . rap against the opposite temple sent Akane reeling,
blood tricking from her ear.
"Now Akane dear." Happosai moved close to the
stunned girl and tickled his pipe up and down her side bringing
the stem to rest at the tender juncture between her legs.
"I think it's time that you learned some important
lessons. . . about life. . . proper respect. . . obeying your elders."
Happosai gave her a saintly smile. "Don't you agree that it's time
you learned these things. . . how to behave like a good girl? The
womanly arts. . . so that you can please. . . your Master."
Akane's lips drew back from her teeth in an
expression that would have resembled a smile only if you were a
shark, accompanied by a low rumbling growl that would have made
a rock crusher lose bladder control. Centuries of martial practice
roused the ancient lecher from his dreams of perversion. Angered
by this obvious sign of rebellion. . . and when he'd tried so
hard to treat her gently in recognition of her faulty
upbringing, Happosai brought his pipe slashing forward intending to
smash the nerve cluster just under the breast. A move intended
to paralyze the arm while causing intense pain. An attack that
Happosai enjoyed as much for its devastating psychological effect. . .
women were very sensitive about attacks on their breasts. . . as for
the simple pleasure of watching them cringe in. . .
Happosai's strike stopped as suddenly as if he'd
slammed into Mt. Fuji. He blinked. . . the end of his pipe vanished
in Akane's fist. Akane made a sudden, sharp motion and his
pipe was ripped from his fist with a quickness that peeled skin
from the palm of his hand. At this point any normal pervert
with more than two functioning neurons would have surmised that
'something- had-gone-wrong' and slithered back under his rock.
Unfortunately, for Happosai he had sacrificed cognition for perversion
a century or so earlier.
"Master. . . " Akane purred, rather like a cat. . . a
large hungry cat.
"Ahh. . . yes. . . but you don't have the tone quite
right. It should be softer, demure. . . respect. . ."
"Mas .s .s .s .t .e .e .e . r." There was something
about the way Akane rolled the word around on her tongue. . .
not with respect. . . but as if she were. . . tasting. . .
Before Happosai could decide if this was a good
thing. . . or a bad thing. . . a hand like a power shovel clamped
around his throat.
"urrrrrrrrr." Sounding like a leaking tire and
looking like toad-under-a-tire, Happosai dangled from Akane's fist.
"Teach me. . . a lesson?" she questioned. "With. . . this?" She
rapped Happosai sharply between
the eyes with his own pipe.
"With THIS!" She rapped him again, harder. "ullll ulll."
Akane seemed to take that as an affirmative. She
placed the stem of the pipe between her lips and drew on it until
the bowl glowed cherry red. She looked at the pipe. . . she looked
at Happosai. . . and smiled.

"Akane!" Ranma bounded through the school grounds, peering
in window, looking on roof tops.
"AKAAANEEE!" He was getting worried. . . really
worried. No Akane. . . and the pervert was. . . Ranma jarred to a
sudden stop as the shrill terrified scream of a rat being ripped
apart by starving cats echoed across the campus.
"Uh Oh." Ranma turned and sped back toward the direction of
the sound. That hadn't been Akane's scream. . . he was sure
of that. . . well pretty sure. . . but whatever it was. . . it
might be dangerous. A whimpering noise brought him to a sudden
stop. Looking around he didn't see anything. closing his eyes
he extended his highly trained senses and. . .
"Hi guy. What's up?" Hopping down in the bottom of the pool
that had
been emptied for cleaning and repair he found the battered
form of Taro Pantyhose huddled in the corner, knees drawn up to his
chin. Ranma noticed a variety of interesting scars. . . was that
from a. . . fork? One wing dangled limply and two tentacles
had been ripped completely off his body. A sudden sound,
like the hunting cry of a mountain wolf broke the still air.
A shudder ran through the huge body. Taro turned to Ranma with a
wide eyed stare, like a baby owl.
"She scared me." Ranma wrinkled his nose as an all too
familiar
acrid odor assaulted his nose. He looked down at Taro's feet and
grimaced in wry sympathy.
"You're not the only one pal." "She scared me." Taro repeated
in a small voice.
"She. . . she tried to. . . eat me." His lower lip trembled and his
eyes filled with tears. "I don' like her. . . she tried to eat me."
It didn't take much imagination to realize who SHE
must be. Ranma patted Taro's shoulder awkwardly.
"Nah man. I think she just wanted to hurt you
really, really bad," Ranma said comfortingly.
"She wanted to EAT me," Taro insisted shrilly.
While Ranma tried to think of how to respond to that, they heard
a skittering sound. A sound that reminded him of cockroaches in
the wall. Listening carefully Ranma moved suddenly, shoving Taro's
massive bulk aside to reveal. . . a tattered bag of ground beef?
"Eeeeewww!" Ranma stepped back in disgust. Looking
around he found a stick that had been used to mix
sealant to fix cracks in the pool. Using the stick, he
flipped the disgusting mess over. It was even worse on the other
side. The. . . thing. . . mewled in panic and tried desperately to
scrabble through the concrete bottom of the pool. Stepping forward
Ranma took a closer look to make sure. . . "Yeppers.". . . it was
the old pervert. . . bare from the waste down. Ranma shuddered.
The freak was disgusting enough under normal circumstances.
There were welts all up and down his backside. . .it looked like
someone had spanked him. . . with. . . Suddenly Ranma noticed. . .
"Ahhh Man. That's gonna hurt commin' out." Ranma
looked at the tip of the perverts pipe protruding from. . . he
shuddered again in revulsion.
"Maybe a good dose of prunes. . . " His stomach churned at the
thought. Then again. . .
it couldn't happen to a nicer. . . whatever. There was a sudden
low pitched growl that seemed to shudder the bedrock. The growl
of a very big. . . very angry. . . predator. The growl came
again. . . Happosai commenced his mad scrabble, trying to claw
his way into the earth. Taro whimpered and wrapped his tattered
wings around himself, rocking back and forth. Ranma thought for a
moment, considering what he knew of the situation.
"OK, guys. Here's the deal. Old man. Hey, old man."
Ranma made as if to bop the pervert on the head, stopping
when he realized he'd have to touch him.
"Listen to me old man. . . or I let HER have you."
The scrabbling sounds stopped instantly.
"Here's what we're gonna' do. The two of you are
certified psycho's. . . you're always kidnapin' people, blowing
things up. . . startin' fights all over the place. An' most of it's
cause YOU" Ranma poked Happosai with the stick ."won't give Pant
. . .uh . . .Taro here a new name. Somebody's gonna get hurt they way
you two act.., Old Man, you 're gonna give the. . . you're gonna
give Taro a new name. You been jerkin' the poor guy around long
enough. You're his god parent for Kami's sake. You're supposed to
take care of him. . . not make his life hell. You're gonna give him
a good name. . . any name he wants. An then you an' him are gonna go
away. Whatever spot on earth's the direct opposite of Nerimia. And
stay there. Unless someone asks you to come back. An' that's not
gonna be until you guys learn some manners."
Another angry growl, closer this time, forced a
frantic assent from the cringing pervert.
"OK," Ranma said hopping out of the dry pool. "I'm
gonna go distract Akane. I expect you guys to get gone, real
soon. An' remember. . . NO tricks. Or. . . " Ranma drew a finger
across his throat. The two figures huddled in the bottom of the pool,
listening to Ranma's retreating footsteps. Suddenly a shadow fell
over them from above. . . a shadow with a female silhouette.
The two huddled together like frightened children.
"Gentlemen, have I got a deal for you," came a low
voice from above. "Today, only, transportation to the Airport,
tickets to the destination of your choice and clean underwear."
The two looked up to see Tendou Nabiki grinning a
shark's grin down at them.
"And, for the two of you. . . a special price."

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

It wasn't fair, Akane thought resentfully. Kunou
blows out all the windows in the school, pretends to be a ghost. . .
Ranma and Ryouga regularly re-enacted the warring-states
period. . . Hinako Sensei, for goodness sake, could have a
full scale battle with Ranma on the soccer field. And did anyone
notice? NO, they did not. But just let her break a little piece of
the school. . . Akane winced as part of the roof slid off onto
the ground with a crash of masonry and a cloud of dust. . . .just
let her break a little, a TINY piece of the school. . . and every
body acted as if. . .
"What pervert girl do to Ranma?" Akane snapped out
of her reverie to see another Chinese invasion.
"There's never a divine wind when you need one." "What? What
you saying?" "Nothing," Akane replied wearily. "What do you want
Shan Pu?"
"Shan Pu want to know what pervert girl do to
Ranma."
"What? What are you talking about? I haven't
done. . . "
"Don't try to fool us sugar." Ukyou stepped from
behind a tree. "Ranchan's been following you around all day
like he was your shadow." Ukyou snapped her Spatula into guard
position. "Something's going on. . . "
"Indeed peasants. . . your feeble minds have struck
the heart of the target. Some foul sorcery no doubt."
The cool arrogant tones dropped from the trees,
followed closely by a tall figure that landed with pantherish
grace. Akane dropped her head into her hands.
"Hello Kodachi," she spoke from between her
fingers.
"Do not seek to sway the righteous anger of the
Black Rose, she who dwells among. . . "
"The lunatics," Ukyou muttered. "Who dwells among the stars,"
Kodachi continued
firmly. "The light that pierces the darkness, the wind that
blows. . . "
"Shan Pu can feel big wind alright." Ukyou stifled a chuckle
as Kodachi swung around to
glare at the big Amazon. She started to say something then turned
back to Akane.
"Well peasant. . . what do you have to say for
yourself? Speak!"
"Go away, Kodachi. I have a headache." "We all want
answer." Shan Pu moved to Akane's
side, flanking her.
"That's right sugar. Something's going on, and we're
here to get answers." Akane looked up to find herself surrounded.
Ukyou was struck by the strange feverish glitter in her eyes.
"I don't know anything about Ranma. Just. . . just go
away. I don't feel good." Akane dropped her head back into her
hands. "Just go away."
"Don't you ignore me!" The Black Rose's hand
snapped forward, releasing her ribbon like a striking snake. As the
deadly tip approached Akane, Kodachi felt a brief tug. Startled she
looked down to find her hand empty. Looking back up she saw Akane,
still with her head in her hands, and the black ribbon curled at
her feet.
"Pretty good, you take away crazy-talk girl toy."
Shan Pu slid forward a heavy mace in each hand. "Now you try Amazon
warrior." As she spoke Shan Pu launched a straight blow that Akane
would have to either block or slip. If she blocked, Shan Pu would
counter with the second mace before Akane could recover. If she
slipped the blow, avoided it. Well, that would just move her
INTO Shan Pu's counter strike. No matter what Akane did or did-not
do. . . Shan Pu had her.
Her predatory smile of victory was jarred loose as
her mace smashed to a unexpected halt as Tendou Akane CAUGHT the
war-hammer in one hand. Shan Pu's arm went numb to the shoulder and
the mace dropped from suddenly nerveless fingers. A lifetime of
training brought the second mace around in a crushing blow without
conscious thought. Akane's head came out of her hands at last. Her
free hand snapped forward. . . the heavy mace slammed into her open
palm. . . and stopped as suddenly and finally as if it had run
into The Great Wall. Stunned and off balance Shan Pu stood frozen
as Akane tightened her grip on the heads of the two heavy steel
balls. Shan Pu could hear the metal collapse, see it crumple like
rice paper and her mouth went suddenly dry as two brown eyes
made contact with her violet ones.
"I. . . don't. . . feel. . . good." Akane took a step forward
with each word. . . and
Shan Pu, as well as Ukyou and Kodachi matched her step for
step. . . in the opposite direction.
"My . . . head . . .hurts." Ukyou winced as the steel mace
heads collapsed in
Akane's grip with a bang. Suddenly aware of the battle spatula in
her hands Ukyou, showing a rare prudence for a resident of Nerimia,
tossed it out of sight.
"Now Akane-chan. . ." she started pacifically. Akane
growled and Ukyou took a step back.
"My HEAD hurts. MY . . . STOMACH . . .HURTS! I don't
feel. . . " Suddenly Kodachi was right in Akane's face, a surprising
look of sympathy and concern spread across her visage. Looking
about, she pressed a small white bottle in Akane's hand.
"I quite understand. Please forgive me for
bothering you. I didn't realize. . ." Kodachi stopped suddenly
and drew herself up coldly. "We shall, of course, finish
this another time." Kodachi turned to go, then looked back over
her shoulder.
"Take two tablets, every four hours." With that,
the Black Rose vanished.
A look of astonished understanding passed across
Ukyou's face. She turned to whisper something in Shan Pu's ear,
then spoke to the bewildered Akane, who was looking at the spot
that had recently contained the Black Rose.
"I'm sorry Akane," Ukyou said contritely. "I never
would have. . . I mean, if I had known. . . " She broke off,
embarrassed.
"Well, I know how you feel. . . and if I can do
anything. . . " She broke off again, and turned to leave, dragging
Shan Pu with her. As they left Akane could hear Shan Pu's voice,
disappearing in the distance.
"Why leave so quick. . . Shan Pu have good herb. . .
help pervert girl. . . bloat. . . cramp. . . "
Astonished and bewildered Akane watched as the two
antagonists went away, then looked at the small white bottle in
her hand.
"M. . . I. . . D" Slowly she spelled out the romanji as
she turned
the bottle in her hand.
"O. . . L" Her shriek of embarrassed rage registered 4.3 at
the Tokyo earthquake center and prompted a second stage alert.

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

"Yo, Akane! What's up?" "Hi Ranma." Akane picked listlessly
at her bentou.
Ranma looked at Akane's slumped form with concern.
"Everybody missed lunch 'cause you . . .Uh . . . anyway
would you like some of my bentou? Kasumi made it." Ranma winced
as he suddenly realized the implications of what he'd said.
"Not that I'm saying your cooking's bad or
nothing, I just thought. . . "
"Thank you Ranma. That's very nice of you. I just
have a lot of things on my mind right now." Akane looked up at
Ranma's concerned face with a small sad smile. "I'm not very
hungry, but some company might be nice." Flustered, Ranma froze
for a moment.
"I'm sorry. I guess you've got things to do with
your friends." Akane sadly lowered her head .
"No, no,no. You've got it all wrong. Geez, Why dya
always gotta take me the wrong way?" Ranma plumped himself down
beside Akane. "If you want me to sit with you, I'll sit with
you." Ranma glanced at the students milling around the partially
demolished school." I got nothin' better to do anyway." Ooops. "Uh
I mean. . . that is I didn't mean. . .uh. . . "
Akane sighed softly and laid a hand on Ranma's
leg.
"That's OK. I know what you meant. Thanks." Ranma
stared amazed into Akane's big brown eyes. He was struck by how soft
and warm they were. Ranma wiped sweaty palms on his trousers.
His pulse thundered in his ears. He was dizzy. All he could see were
Akane's eyes, and her lips. Almost against his will he felt himself
being drawn down, down ,down. . .
"I've got to go! Here." Akane thrust her bentou
into Ranma's hands and dashed off. Ranma sat staring at the bentou
for a bemused second, then leaped to his feet, scattering food
everywhere.
"HEY! Hey, Akane. What's going on. Where're you
goin'?" He dashed after around the gym in pursuit, but there was
no sign of her.
"Hey, Akannnneeeee!" Ranma leapt form roof to roof
calling her name.

"Innncommiiinnng!" Venus ducked behind a car, then rolled right.
The
car and part of the roadway exploded in a shower of steel and
stone fragments.
"Mercury, where are they!" "I'm trying!" Sailormercury was
belly down in a crater with only
her dismounted visor peeping over the rim. Sailor Jupiter
lay half on top of her, shielding her with her body and firing
'Supreme Thunder' as fast as she could generate power.
"WORLD SHAKING!" "Dead Scream." The combined attack of two
of the most powerful
senshi blasted a small office building into dust.
"Got the bastard!" Sailoruranus was exultant. "Yes, well that
only leaves about a dozen more." "Oh, don't be such a pessimist
Sailormars." "Would you let me go!" Sailormoon struggled
futilely in Sailormars grip.
Mars increased pressure on her headlock.
"Would you stop that. Baka." Sailorsaturn stood to
one side, Silence Glaive in guard position, Sailor Neptune to
the other side and slightly behind, guarding their rear. Both very
studiously ignored their princess being womanhandled by the senshi
of fire.
"Let me go. I've got to help them." "Dammit, if you want to
help, then stay here.
There's too many of them and they're to spread out. You might get
a few, maybe even a lot. But it only takes one to get lucky. . .
to get you!"
"I don't care." Sailormoon was sobbing in
frustration and fear for her friends. "I don't care, I've. . ." Her
head rocked back from the impact of Sailor Mars slap.
"LISTEN! You're our big gun. We're only going to
get one shot at this. Let Ami find all of them. Let Venus, Pluto
and Uranus draw them out. THEN you can dust them. But if you go
out there now, we loose our advantage. And maybe everyone dies."
"I'm sorry Rei, it's just. . . " Sailormars gathered
her tiny princess close.
"I know, I know. I'm scared for them too. You've
just got to. . ." A sudden rippling explosion of fire, and steel
brought them around in time to see Uranus and Pluto buried under
a twenty story office building.
"NOOO!" Sailormoon wrenched out of Sailormars's
grasp and sprinted toward her friends.
"Shit!" Cursing bitterly, Mars pounded after her
friend, followed by Saturn and Neptune. They caught their princess
as she skidded to her knees by the rubble and started wrenching and
clawing at the debris.
"Dammit Usagi." Fright had driven every thought
from Rei's mind except concern from her friend's safety.
"Dammit Usagi. You can't help them. Get out of the
open."
"I'm not going to leave them." Usagi didn't even
look around as she wrapped her arms around a stone that was the size
of a minivan and heaved. Nothing happened. Her fingers biting into
the stone until they bled, Usagi set herself again, and heaved. Still
nothing. Weeping in frustration Usagi began beating and kicking
at the granite monolith baring the way to her friends.
"Sailormars is right, Sailormoon. There is
nothing we can do here. We must get you to a place of safety."
Usagi wiped a grimy hand across a dirty tear
streaked face and turned to face Sailorneptune.
"Sailoruranus is down there! How can you leave
her? Don't you even care!." A slight tightening around the eyes
was her only response.
"Come on!" Sailorneptune repeated "We must get you
to safety."
Usagi stared at her senshi for a moment. Then her
face took on a hard set look.
"Usagi. . . " Sailormars started. The Eternal Tier appeared
in Sailormoon's hands.
Wings erupted from her back.
"ETERNAL" "Princess, please. . . " Sailorsaturn was pleading
"MOON" "This is not a good idea." Sailormars added. "SILVER"
"OH SHIT!!" Sailorneptune grabbed her sister
Senshi, and leaped for cover.
"KISS!!!" A really big noise slammed the three senshi into
the ground in mid leap. The resulting shockwave tumbled Sailorvenus
head over heels for thirty yards and left Mercury and Jupiter
deaf and dazed. Groggily Sailormars dragged herself out from under
Neptune and Saturn. She looked around to see Eternal Sailormoon
standing with outspread wings, like an angel at the gates of hell. She
staggered toward Sailormoon, limping and cursing ribs that she was
sure were broken.
"I did it!" Sailormars looked down where Sailormoon was
pointing. At first all she could see was blackness in the pit
Eternal Sailormoon had blasted. Then two pairs of eyes, surrounded
by layers of dirt and grease. . . blinked.
"I've got them." Mars looked to see Sailorvenus extending
her chain
to the two at the bottom of the hole.
"I did it, didn't I?" Sailormoon repeated. "Yes you did. Now
don't do it again." "OK, I won't," Sailormoon answered muzzily.
"And for goodness sake, put some clothes on.." Eternal Sailormoon
looked down to see that she was
in her formal Eternal Sailor Suit (i.e. not even a bobby pin.).
"OK, I will." Usagi's eyes rolled up in her head
and she collapsed like an empty rice bag into Sailor Mars arms.
"Ami. I need you." Sailormars smiled wryly down at the grubby
girl
in her arms. She was getting too old for this last minute
Usagi-risks-death-to-save-everyone stuff. Usagi was going to be
the death of her yet, if she didn't learn a little common sense. The
sudden appearance of an enemy soldier shouldn't have been a shock,
but it was. Sailormars looked in horror as the glowing hellmouth of
a warp gun pointed at her. . . at USAGI! Rei moved in what she
knew was a futile effort to shield Usagi with her body. Out of the
corner of her eye she could see Venus , moving in slow motion. Her
hand coming up for a 'Crescent Beam.' But so slow. . . too slow.
Rei wept inside, not for her own death, but for Usagi, and cursed
herself for failing to keep the princess safe. Having prepared
herself for death, it was almost a disappointment when the upper
third of the enemy soldier vanished. Almost. Rei blinked,
unable to believe her eyes. Then trained reflex took over and
she leapt away, Usagi cradled in her arms. >From behind cover
she watched her sister senshi also leap away as a fiery figure
charged into the battle zone. As she watched black Skroach popped
out of hiding and launched a storm of blaster fire at the newcomer.
They might just have well tried to stop a bullet train with a paper
sword. The figure raised her right arm and a hurricane of needles
moving at .3c ripped through the invaders. Ten of the invaders were
reduced to a fine yellow mist in a fraction of a second. However
using the weapon seemed to have affected the newcomer for she
staggered and went to one knee, as if she were exhausted.

##Princess located## the voice whispered. A grid
map of the area seemed to float before her eyes. On it blinked
icons, red for the enemy, orange for the senshi and a bright pink
for the princess. Red icons were coming in behind and to the
flanks of the princesses position. Cursing her weakness Akane
diverted power to the contra-gravity unit and leaped.

Sailormars watched in astonishment as the fiery
figure suddenly seemed to soar up and over her head to come down
behind her.

##Warning. Accumulators at 43%. Field integrity
below 83%## the voice paused consideringly ##Hostiles
detected. Mutliple contacts. Requesting fire support and power
link.## There was a brief silence. ##Unable to make contact.
Negative fire support. Negative power link.##
"No kidding," Akane muttered too herself. "They've
only been dead for about a hundred thousand years."
##Input not understood.## "I said we're on our own."
##Acknowledged.## "How are we fixed for weapons? Can we use
the big
gun?"
##Insufficient internal power for energy weapon.
Sufficient power remains for a one second minimum power burst from
projectile weapon.##
"Is that the best we can do?" ##A larger energy drain will
compromise shield
integrity.##
"Well, we don't want to do that now do we." Akane
shuddered mentally as the memory came to her of how. . .
unpleasant. . . and messy shield failure could be.
"Ok, time for a little attitude adjustment." A
short thick rod appeared in Akane's hand. Obedient to her mental
command the rod the rod expanded and formed a beaked war-hammer
topped with a triangular spike. The hammer finished forming
just as Akane lightly touched down in the middle of a six 'man'
formation of the black soldiers. She had a brief moment to appreciate
the beautifully articulated obsidian armor that covered her foes.
Then the closest raised an arm and lightning blossomed at less than a
meter. Akane shivered at the sensation, as if someone had poured
ice water through her bones. The soldier seemed surprised to see
Akane emerge unharmed from 'his' blaster fire. He raised his arm
for another shot when Akane pierced the top of his skull with her
hammer putting him out of everyone's misery. Whipping her hammer
free Akane brought it back and around in a spinning arc, catching a
second soldier just below his 'ribs'. The hammer caught, just for
a second, slowing Akane's recovery as she wrenched the hammer
free with a cracking splinter of armored flesh and a yellow spray of
'blood'.

Sailormars crouched behind the broken wall,
tending to her fallen princess as best she could. The other senshi
were busy fighting so she was on her own. Despite her worry for
Usagi and her friends she was captivated by the battle between at
least ten of the enemy and their new 'friend'. All of Rei's doubts
(well most of them) had been removed along with the enemy soldiers
head, shoulders and torso. Anyone who saved Usagi's life was a
friend in Rei's estimation. Almost gleefully she watched her 'friend'
smash the head of one enemy, then smash the chest of another.
Then. . . disaster. Helplessly Rei watched the war hammer stick in
the armor of the soldier. Just for a moment, but moment enough for
another soldier to come from behind and fire its warp gun at almost
point blank range. Rei summoned her 'Mars Flame Sniper' knowing
it was too late, and knowing it endangered Usagi. It wasn't the
smart thing to do but it was the honorable thing. Besides, Usagi
would have approved.

The rubble strewn battlefield, close range weapons
fire coupled with the enemies unfortunately sophisticated
stealth field prevented Akane from sensing the attacker behind her
until the warp gun's power signature peaked just before firing. And
by then it was much too late.
Akane felt as if she was being ripped to pieces by
barbed hooks. She doubled over as a blowtorch of energy gutted her
like a pike.
##Warning! Accumulators at 22%. Shield integrity
12%. Containment failure in 4.32 seconds. Warning! Accum. . . ##
A normal human would have died instantly from the
pain . A dead man would have risen screaming from his grave
and a saint would have confessed to any sin to make it stop.
Tendou Akane was no normal being. One hundred thousand years
earlier she had been 'gifted' with the deadliest weapon system the
Silver Imperium had been able to devise. A weapon system that
had so horrific an effect on the user that only four people had ever
survived its first use and three of those had suicided rather
that face it again. The fourth stood squarely in the path of
the black soldiers ultimate weapon.

In centuries of battle the final weapon had never
failed them. Until now. They watched their strange antagonist
double over with a scream that even their armor couldn't filter
out. Disbelieving they watched the figure straighten and turn toward
them.

##Warning! Containment failure in 3.32 seconds.
Accumulators at 19%. Field. . . ##
"Arm Graser." ##Insufficent power. . . ## "Override
failsafes. Divert power from containment
shield."
##Anti-suicide protocols forbid. . .## "Imperial
Override. Serenity is in danger. Disable
all failsafes. Leave only enough power for a crash translation
to normal-space."
##Imperial Override accepted. Diverting all power
to graser.##
Akane gasped in pain as the containment field
flickered and dimmed. Her enhanced senses rapidly spooled
down to normal and her preternatural strength failed as power went
to her graser.
##Ready## whispered the voice. ##Ready to fire.# Akane
straightened, turned toward her opponents.
They couldn't believe she was still alive. As alien as they were
she could sense that much. They struggled to bring their own weapons
to bear. Blaster fire sparkled and danced across her shield. She
could feel it now in her diminished state, like white hot iron
punching into her vitals. Enough hits like these could kill her.
Or if they hit her with another warp gun. If they had time. . .
##Target acquisition.## Hellfire blossomed as a blade of
gamma radiation
blasted through armor, stone, steel and flesh. Akane spun, her
remaining sensor capability questing for hostiles as the deadly
beam smashed black armored soldiers into atoms. It was like using
an H-bomb to kill butterflies, only not as subtle.
##Power exhausted. Crash translation initiated.## Akane screamed
as flesh was stripped from bone,
bone from muscle and mind from body. She could feel her body
being twisted and crushed through dimensions only dreamed of by
philosophers. A normal translation was a trip to hell. A crash
translation was hell multiplied with a few new torments added in.

Usagi regained consciousness just in time to have
Sailormars shove her to the ground and shield her with her own
body. She could hear the scream of steel and stone vaporizing,
smell the stench of ozone mixed with burnt alien flesh. This was
followed by an even more terrifying scream. Usagi pushed and shoved
herself free of Sailormars. She could no more resist someone in pain
than a moth the flame. And Sailormars, like all of her friends lived
in fear of the day she would burn. Mars made a desperate grab for
Usagi's ankle, then lunged to her feet after her certifiably
crazy friend. Almost as quickly as she started she slammed to a
stop as she rammed into the back of Usagi who stood frozen in place.
Sailor Mars started to berate her friend for recklessness
when she saw . . . Their 'friend' was crumpled on the ground, her
fiery aura crackling and sizzling like a burning corpse. Before
Rei's horrified gaze she watched the figures vaguely humanoid
form twist and flow like a blob of putty in the hands of a madman.
With an explosive crack what appeared to be a battered girl
in a torn school uniform appeared. Uasgi started to bolt out in
the open toward the girl only to be grabbed by Sailormars.
"Wait baka! You don't know if it's safe." "I need to see if
she's hurt." "You need to put on some pants!" Usagi looked
down, only then realizing that in her
exhausted state she had not regained her street clothes when she'd
reverted from her Eternal Moon Angel form. She looked up just in
time to see the figure disappear at a shambling run into the ruins.
Then Sailorjupiter and Sailorvenus showed up
carrying the injured Pluto and Uranus and it was too late to
follow.

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

Ranma had been drawn to the sight and sound of
fighting with a sick certainty that Akane was in trouble.
He almost missed seeing her torn and bloody body lying like a heap
of trash in an alley.

**************************************************
"So, you don't think it is a gas leak?" The DDO asked
the young ONI specialist.
"This just came in from a KH-11." The Lt. Commander
slid a folder across the cluttered desk.
"The spectral analysis of this . . .event . . .doesn't
match any possible type of gas explosion . . .unless the Japanese
are piping fusion plasma into homes." The DDO swivelled slightly
to face his other visitor.
"Recommendations?" "Permission from National Command Authority to
activate local assets." The DDO though a moment.
I'll pass that along to the National Security Advisor.
But I think the President will authorize. Any thing else?"
"Yes. It looks like another series of . . . accidents . .
.are beginning in Japan. In light of the last situation I think we
should move some other assets . . .just in case." The DDO knew what
that meant.
"We're stretched a little thin at the moment. Do you
really think that . . ." The nondescript man reached out and tapped
on a satellite photo.
"Someone blew a chunk of prime Tokyo real-estate to
hell and gone." The finger indicated a graph next to the photo.
"With what looks like an x-ray laser. A laser of this power . .
.who ever controls this, holds the balance of power. I'm not happy
about the Japanese having this and not telling us. And that's assuming
they control it. In someone else gets control . . .the Chinese, some
break-away Balkan state. . . I think this needs to go to NCA as a
FLASH priority." DDO closed his eyes in thought a moment.
"All right. I'll send your recommendation. The Navy
isn't going to be happy about this. It's their call but I can't think
of any close assets except the Lincoln and the Stennis. And they're
on their way to the Indian Ocean."
"That's their decision. In the meantime I suggest you
place your local assets on stand-by." DDO smiled thinly and reached
for a secure phone.
"This could be considered and unfriendly act Dr. de la
Hoya."
"Not at all. We are merely concerned about events that
may have an adverse effect on an old friend and important trading
partner."

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

An ocean away a telephone rang.

"Moshi mohsi." "Harunachan. It is so good to hear your voice."
"Who is this?" "Come now." The big voice boomed over the handset,
good natured and laughing. "Don't tell me you have forgotten your
old Uncle Heiro?"
"U . . .uncle Heiro?" "Oh . . .I can tell you thought I had
forgotten YOU.
You should have known better. I have just gotten into town.
Why don't you meet me for tea. You can tell me everything that has
been happening." The jovial voice rattled off the address of a very
fashionable tea house and a time to meet. As the phone clicked to
disconnect Sakurada Haruna slumped bonelessly into a chair.

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

Nine billion miles from earth a relay closed.
Computers analyzed data and decisions were made. Another relay closed
and engines powerful enough to melt a continent roared into life.

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