Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Reflections of Ruin ❯ Silence Draws Near ( Chapter 6 )

Reflections of Ruin

by P.H. Wise

A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

 

Chapter 6 - Silence Draws Near

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

 

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In a darkened laboratory, lit only by the Malfean glow of vast green vats of churning liquid in which bubbled those shards of Pharaoh 90's power that would eventually be transformed into Daimons, a pale student of forbidden sciences sat hunched over a curiously bubbling cauldron. Huge gouts of steam rose up from it, covering the man's glasses in a thin layer of moisture. He took them off, dried them on his shirt, and then replaced them. They shone dimly in the half-light of the lab, casting their reflected illumination down onto the contents of the cauldron. A frothy, reddish fluid filled it, and the man - Soichi Tomoe - stared down into it as one hypnotized. He tossed a cinnamon stick into the bubbling liquid, and his ever present grin widened to nearly inhuman proportions. “WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” he cackled, with no small amount of insanity evident in his voice.

 

He took up his mug from where it rested next to the cauldron, dipped it into the liquid, and lifted the mixture to his lips. “Aaaaaah,” he said with great satisfaction. “Nothing beats home made hot apple cider.” He looked up. “Kaolinite-kun? Come and try this, would you?”

 

His words faded into the dark laboratory, and there came no response to them. After a moment, he frowned. “Kaolinite-kun?” he asked.

 

No answer.

 

Oh, right. She was dead. He wasn't sure how he'd forgotten that, but there was a cure for such things. Death, that is, not for forgetfulness. Well, there might be cures for forgetfulness, but he wasn't aware of any easy ones. Soichi Tomoe took a thoughtful sip of his apple cider. Let's see... where had he left that copy of the Revelations of Glaaki? No, that wasn't it. Which book was that in? Oh yes! Kitab Al Azif. He walked over to a small bookshelf and produced the tome. Good, the reference post-its were still in place. That made it easier. He flipped to the appropriate page, went to a free bit of workspace, and began to chant:

 

“Y'AI 'NG'NGAH,

YOG-SOTHOTH

H'EE-L'GEB

F'AI THRODOG

UAAAH

 

OGTHROD AI'F

GEB'L-EE'H

YOG-SOTHOTH

'NGAH'NG AI'Y

ZHRO”

 

The inhuman syllables filled the laboratory, accompanied by a sense of awful, gathering power. Over and over, they rumbled through the darkened laboratory, taking on a deadly resonance not native to his voice. Eldritch power gathered around him; Yog-Sothoth had heard his petition. Yog-Sothoth, they key to where the Great Old Ones have trod. Yog-Sothoth, the Key and the Gate. The air shimmered faintly over the workspace the Professor had cleared. It was only a tiny distortion in the fabric of space/time, but it was a start. With renewed determination, the Professor chanted again:

 

“Y'AI 'NG'NGAH,

YOG-SOTHOTH

H'EE-L'GEB

F'AI THRODOG

UAAAH

 

OGTHROD AI'F

GEB'L-EE'H

YOG-SOTHOTH

'NGAH'NG AI'Y

ZHRO”

 

The distortion grew more intense, the sense of power more deadly, and the apple cider more tasty. Soichi was a man who knew his cider, and one thing he'd learned over the years is that the presence of eldritch energies really helped to bring out the hidden complexity of a cider's taste. The shadows in the laboratory were writhing visibly now, and the sense of sheer wrongness that permeated the place grew ever more intense. He could see his breath in the air; he turned up the Bunsen burner that was warming his cider-cauldron and took a long, relaxing sip of his drink. “Aaaaah,” he said once more.

 

The spatial distortion grew stronger, now visibly warping the surface of the workspace he had cleared. One last time, he repeated his chant; one last time, the Eldritch energies increased in intensity, until it seemed as though the rational world were about to fall tumbling from its perch, and sheer, shrieking, mad chaos be let in to replace it.

 

Any moment now, Kaolinite would be restored to him. Any moment now... he could hear the echoes of her final battle through the vortex:

 

“...SPIRAL...HEART...ATTACK!”

 

He blinked. “That's a strange attack name.”

 

A moment later, a tiny fragment of pure, unadulterated Holy Magic came searing through the vortex, taking the shape of a small red energy heart. It struck the Professor in the chest and blasted him across the room, knocking over an assortment of vials, beakers, and measuring instruments on his way between point A and point B. Overcome by the sheer holy purity of the power that had filtered through it, the portal disintegrated with a snap-hiss, taking a small part of the workbench it had formed over with it.

 

Soichi sat up, mug of cider still in hand (and undisturbed from the decidedly energetic crossing of the space between his current position and the workbench). He sipped his cider thoughtfully. Hmm. It seemed that whatever had killed Kaolinite was more than a match for his blasphemous invocation. A holy power that could stand against a spell that called upon the might of the Old Ones?

 

This could be a problem.

 

Still, it didn't diminish his cheerful mood. He rose to his feet and picked up the phone off of its receiver. A moment later, a person on the other end picked up.

 

“Eudial-kun?” he asked.

 

“Hai,” came the voice of the leader of Witches 5.

 

“It seems as though we are going to have to change our approach.”

 

“I'm listening.”

 

Professor Tomoe grinned widely.

 

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The dark mirror gradually grew lighter as the predawn light filled the room, but the girl reflected there seemed no less strange now than she had hours earlier. Dawn broke bright and glorious over Tokyo, filling her room with light, and still she stared at the stranger in the mirror. No answers to her questions had come to Ranma Saotome by the time the clock struck 7:00, and she really wasn't in the mood to spar with her father this morning. Dawn was over; the sun had fully risen.

 

Fine. If the answers weren't going to come to her, then it was time to go out and find them. Ranma stood up, bare feet on the smooth, cold wood floor, and walked to the door.

 

The door opened to reveal Genma there on the other side, ready to toss his supposedly sleeping son out the window for their morning spar. Genma's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Ranma already up and waiting for him, and he reacted a moment too slowly; Ranma seized him by the arm and flung him bodily out the open window. A faint thud announced his landing in the yard a moment later.

 

Ranma exited the room, walked across the hallway to the washroom, locked the door, and stripped naked. “Y'golo...” she stopped. Even knowing that the creature was dead, it didn't feel right to say that name.

 

But that was stupid. It had only been a dream, hadn't it?

 

...

 

Hadn't it?

 

The bucket full of cold water she dumped over her own head shocked her into full wakefulness. It still felt weird, cleaning herself as a girl. It had been over a year since she'd been cursed at Jusenkyou, and almost two months since she'd become a girl permanently, but she still wasn't used to it. She didn't think she ever would be, really. But it had to be done.

 

Ranma upended another bucket over herself to rinse away the soap.

 

Damn but that water was cold.

 

A few minutes later (and noticeably cleaner), Ranma sank contentedly into the comforting warmth of the furo. If that dream was anything more than a dream, then whoever this `Sailor Pluto' chick was, she might still be around. If she was... if she was, then all Ranma had to do to get her answers was to find her. Somehow.

 

She allowed the dream-memories to come to the surface in her mind. `OK,' she thought. `If I were Sailor Pluto, where would I be?'

 

An image flashed into her mind with startling suddenness and equally startling vividness: a huge, rune-inscribed gate rising suddenly out a hazy gray mist. Even as she saw it, she knew both the name of the place, and how to get there: this was the Gate of Time. But as for how to get there... she shook her head incredulously. “How am I s'posed ta get ta Pluto?” she wondered aloud. The other entrance was another possibility, but that was equally difficult. Ranma had no idea where the entrance to the Underworld was.

 

There were two other options, then. The first was that she could approach Uranus and Neptune, try to get them to listen long enough not to try to kill her, and then ask them to contact Sailor Pluto for her. Hah! Like that would ever happen. Knowing her luck, she'd either end up engaged to one or both of them, or it would just make things worse between them. No, clearly, approaching Uranus and Neptune was impossible.

 

That left the other option: after school, she would hunt down those other Senshi, the younger ones that is, and see if they could get her to Sailor Pluto. Since they'd taken her to the Hikawa Shrine when they'd wanted to talk to her, that was as good a place as any to start.

 

Ranma smiled as she rose to her feet, warm water streaming off her nude form. Now that she had a plan of action, she felt a little better.

 

She stepped out of the furo, dried herself off, and quickly dressed herself in a clean school uniform. She had a long day ahead of her.

 

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Meanwhile, in Nerima, Akane Tendo had also not been sleeping well. She'd lost track of how many nights in a row she'd been having the same dream, but it was too many. Tomoe Hotaru. Who was she? What was the monster that she always saw near the end? Why did it seem so awfully... familiar?

 

Akane had never really had the patience for puzzles. That had always been more Nabiki's style. But she was the one that was stuck with it. It hadn't helped that Shampoo had taken to attacking her on a regular basis. And it certainly didn't help that although she was a skilled martial artist, Shampoo was better. Three times already, she had been soundly defeated by an angry Shampoo. Three times already, she had wondered why the Amazon hadn't killed her.

 

Maybe Shampoo just wasn't a killer.

 

Akane grimaced. At the very least, the attacks had forced her to begin to take her training more seriously. She didn't want to admit it, but Ranma's arrival in Nerima had slowed her improvement as a martial artist to what was barely more than a crawl. She'd come to count on the pig-tailed boy to fight her battles for her, and her skill had suffered for it. But now, now that she was fighting her own battles again, she was showing signs of improvement, and that excited her.

 

And though she would never admit it, and though she loved him, she resented Ranma for what his arrival had done to her skills. If he hadn't come here... but then, if he hadn't come, she would never have fallen in love with him.

 

Damn him.

 

With a loud kiyah, Akane finished her morning kata and went into the house to get some breakfast. Today, she was going to find some answers. Today, she was going to find Tomoe Hotaru.

 

She just knew it.

 

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The school day went by far, far too slowly for Ranma Saotome. She sat in the back of the classroom, bored nearly to tears waiting for the day to just be *over*. She knew she had promised her mother that she would pay attention, but this was torturous. Arimura-Sensei kept staring at Haruka and Michiru and getting distracted from her lesson, and the duo were growing a little uncomfortable under the close scrutiny. To make matters even more irritating, Ranma had forgotten to braid her hair into her customary pigtail this morning, instead wearing it loose, and kept getting compliments on how nice it looked compared to that `ugly pigtail.'. At this point, she just wanted the day to be over.

 

The hours ticked by agonizingly slowly, and just when Ranma was sure she couldn't take any more... the clock struck 11:00 AM.

 

She began to grind her teeth.

 

When the school day finally, blessedly ended, Ranma was ready to jump for joy. She dashed down the stairs leading to the main entrance to Mugen Gakuen, passing Haruka and Michiru on the way down.

 

“In a hurry to get somewhere, Ranma-san?” Michiru called.

 

Ranma looked up. “Uh...” she quickly formulated a complex obfuscatory statement to allay any suspicions the other girl might have: “I'm, uh, going to... get ice-cream! Yeah, that's it. I'm getting ice-cream.” Smooth.

 

Michiru looked nonplused, and exchanged glances with Haruka.

 

“Gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow!”

 

“Is that a date?” Michiru asked.

 

Ranma flushed red, and Haruka looked annoyed. Michiru laughed.

 

Ranma got while the getting was good, and thus did not hear what next passed between his friends:

 

“Are you jealous, now?” Michiru asked teasingly, pleased with the reversal of the way these things usually went.

 

Haruka smiled confidently. “I'm not jealous. I just can't stand the thought of you looking at anyone except for me.”

 

“That's called jealousy, Haruka.”

 

Haruka faked surprise. “Is that what that's called?”

 

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Minako grinned a cat-like grin, already planning ways to embarrass Usagi when she arrived at the study-meeting. She, Makoto, and Ami had already picked up Chibi-Usa from school, had met up with Rei, and were walking to the Hikawa shrine for their now daily study date.

 

She wasn't worried. Nothing would stand in the way of Aino Minako! Not monsters, not a distressing lack of a boyfriend, and certainly not the test that they all needed to take in order to get into High School.

 

“Masamori-kun was so cool!” Chibi-Usa gushed enthusiastically. “After he'd finished his own art project, he came and helped me with mine. Look!” She held up a strange bejeweled chalice of some sort. It looked very valuable - or would have, had it not been made out of clay.

 

The girls all voiced their praise of Chibi-Usa's art project - whoever this Masamori-kun was, he had talent. They'd all seen what Chibi-Usa's unassisted artistic ability was, and while she wasn't bad, she wasn't anywhere near this level of professional quality.

 

“Looks like a keeper to me, Chibi-Usa-chan,” Minako said slyly.

 

Chibi-Usa blushed.

 

“You know what they say,” Minako went on, “Haste makes money earned. Do your best, Chibi-Usa!”

 

The other senshi looked embarrassed, looking at Minako in askance. It was Ami who spoke up. “Ano, Minako-chan, I don't think that's quite the way the saying goes...”

 

Minako waved Ami off.

 

“You can't tell Usagi!” the little girl insisted once she had recovered from her embarrassment. “If she knew, I'd never hear the end of it!”

 

“If I heard what?” Usagi asked as she rushed around the corner, breathing like one who has just run a long distance. Despite having to stay late at school, she'd finally caught up with her friends.

 

For a moment, Chibi-Usa was mortified as she wondered exactly how much Usagi had heard. Then she calmed down. “Look what I made, Usagi!” she said, holding up the clay chalice.

 

Usagi may be lazy, but she wasn't stupid. She knew an evasion when she saw one. Still, she went along with it and looked at the chalice for a long moment. “Wow! That's really good!” It really was. Amazingly good, actually. She gave the pink-haired girl a slant-wise look. “Did your sweet, wonderful Masamori-kun help you make it?” she asked, putting dramatic emphasis on `sweet' and `wonderful,' doing a credible imitation of love-struck.

 

Chibi-Usa went totally red with embarrassment, and glared her future mother. “None of your business!” she yelled, and dashed on ahead of the group, running up the steps to the Hikawa shrine.

 

“Usagi-chan,” Ami said disapprovingly as the little girl left hearing distance, “You should be nicer to Chibi-Usa-chan.”

 

Usagi's face fell immediately. Scolding had that effect on her. She looked at Ami contritely. “I'm sorry, Ami-chan. She just...”

 

“Reminds you of you?” Rei asked wryly.

 

Usagi glared at Rei. “She does not!” she insisted more dramatically than was strictly necessary.

 

The others all laughed.

 

Chibi-Usa had stopped at the top of the stairs, and was just standing there, staring. The girls exchanged glances.

 

“Chibi-Usa!” Usagi called as she rushed up to her future daughter. “What's...” Sailor Saturn was standing there, eyes closed, leaning against the entrance to the shrine's residence, arms crossed, with her glaive propped up against the wall. Though it hadn't cut through it, the blade had created a visible impression in the wall it rested against. “... wrong...?”

 

The girls quite simply stopped and stared.

 

About ten seconds later, it occurred to them that they couldn't just stand there. Looks were passed back and forth as the girls nonverbally shifted the responsibility to go talk to this girl amongst them. Rei gave Usagi a look that said as clearly as if she had said it, `You're the Princess. You talk to her.' Usagi countered with a look in Ami's direction, as if to say, `Ami-chan's the smart one. She should talk to her!' To which Ami replied with a dubious look, followed by a questioning glance at Makoto, as if to say, `Jupiter is closer to Saturn in the solar system. She should talk to her.' Makoto shook her head fervently, and shot a look back at Rei: `She lives here. She should talk to the girl.' Rei looked annoyed, and immediately looked at Minako... no. That was a bad, bad idea. Thoroughly irritated, Rei stepped forward.

 

“Excuse me, miss, can I help you?” she asked.

 

Saturn didn't reply.

 

Rei looked uncertainly at the other girls, who nodded encouragingly. She took a few more steps towards her uninvited guest. “Miss? Can I help you?” she asked again.

 

No answer.

 

Rei frowned and crossed the courtyard. Geez this girl was rude! How dare she not even answer her when she shows up at her home uninvited! “HEY!” she yelled.

 

Saturn woke up with a start, knocking the Silence Glaive off its perch. It hit the ground with a loud clatter, and the blade edge sank into the ground until it was balanced only on the haft. “WOAH!” she yelped. “I'm awake! I'm...” she trailed off, looking at the girls in surprise. “Uh, hey,” she said, waving casually.

 

Behind Rei, the girls exchanged incredulous looks.

 

“You're one of the Sailor Senshi, aren't you?” Rei asked.

 

Saturn nodded. “Yeah. Uh, don't mind me. I'm just waiting for some people.”

 

At that moment, the sliding door to the shrine's residence slid open and Rei's grandfather stuck his head out. “Ah, Rei-chan! This is Saturn-chan. I told her she could wait here until the Sailor Senshi arrive.”

 

The girls stared incredulously at the old priest.

 

“Saturn-chan, I brought some tea and crackers for you while you wait.”

 

Sailor Saturn brightened visibly at the offer of food. “Really?”

 

The old priest held up the tray he was carrying, on which was a mug of hot tea and a plate of crackers.

 

“You're the best, ojisan!” Saturn exclaimed, taking the mug in one hand and helping herself to a handful of crackers with the other. She took a sip immediately, and then tossed a cracker into her mouth in an irritatingly casual display of accuracy and coordination.

 

Rei's grandfather smiled happily. “I'm just happy to have another pretty girl at the shrine!” he said, then went back inside, sliding the door shut as he left.

 

The girls continued to stare.

 

“What do we do?” Makoto whispered.

 

“We can't just transform in front of her!” Minako whispered back. “We don't know anything about her!”

 

“Actually,” Ami whispered, “I got far enough ahead in my studies that I was able to do some extra research a few days ago. The Mercury Computer has extensive files on Sailor Saturn.”

 

“What sort of person is she, then?” Minako asked.

 

Ami shrugged. “It didn't say.”

 

The girls all sweatdropped. That was not helpful.

 

“Ano,” Usagi said aloud, “If she's going to be waiting here a while, does that mean we don't have to study?” She sounded hopeful.

 

“Shhh!” the other girls hissed as one, and Usagi looked abashed.

 

“What do we do?” Rei whispered, now having walked back to join the group.

 

“I have an idea,” Usagi whispered confidently.

 

A moment later, all five girls turned towards Saturn, pointed at something behind her, and exclaimed, “What on earth is that?”

 

Chibi-Usa looked mortified, and Saturn just looked nonplused. The girls continued to point dramatically at something behind her, so after a moment, Saturn shrugged, and turned around to look.

 

Nothing. Just a tree.

 

She turned back around, and the girls were gone, having left Chibi-Usa standing there alone. Chibi-Usa noticed this a moment later, and put her palm to her forehead.

 

Saturn shrugged, as if that were more or less what she expected. “What's your name, kid?” she asked, and absently popped another cracker into her mouth to munch on.

 

Chibi-Usa finally found her voice. She smiled brightly. “I'm Usagi Small Lady Serenity Tsukino,” she said. “What's your name?”

 

Sailor Saturn looked amused. “All that, huh? I'm Saturn.”

 

“Nice to meet you!”

 

Saturn nodded her agreement.

 

“What makes you think the Senshi will be coming by here?” Chibi-Usa asked.

 

“Mostly because the one time I ran into them before, they brought me here to talk.”

 

Chibi-Usa sweatdropped. It was weird to hear about the Senshi acting like... like... careless teenagers. “Really? What did you want to talk to them about?”

 

“Ever heard of Sailor Pluto?” Saturn asked.

 

Chibi-Usa tried to hide her recognition of that name, but didn't do it very well. “Is she another Senshi?”

 

Saturn smirked, and opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment, the Inner Senshi leaped over the shrine's wall and landed gracefully in the courtyard. Well, except for Sailor Moon, who landed on her butt, but she got back up reasonably quickly, and the others only looked moderately embarrassed by her clumsiness.

 

“We heard you were looking for us,” Sailor Jupiter said.

 

Saturn gave the girls an incredulous look, her face expression clearly asking what she would not voice aloud: do you really expect me to buy that? “Uh, yeah,” she said. “About time, too. I've been waiting for almost an hour!”

 

“What can we help you with, Sailor Saturn?” Sailor Moon asked, as dignified as she was able to manage.

 

Chibi-Usa sat down next to where the Silence Glaive rested, half imbedded in the ground. This would probably take a while.

 

Saturn winced. “Just Saturn,” she said. “The `Sailor' thing sounds pretty stupid if you ask me.”

 

Sailor Moon glared, and the other girls looked slightly less friendly after the insult. “What can we help you with, Saturn?” Sailor Moon asked again.

 

“I'm looking for Pluto.”

 

Chibi-Usa looked at the Silence Glaive for a long minute, and then got the look of a person being tempted to do something they knew they shouldn't do.

 

“What do you want with Sailor Pluto?”

 

“Answers,” Saturn said simply, and finished off her tea. She set the cup down next to the door.

 

The Inners exchanged looks. “We were hoping for some of those, too.”

 

Chibi-Usa touched the bladed edge of the Silence Glaive with her finger. Her eyes widened, and she immediately stuck that finger in her mouth. “Ow!” she whispered.

 

Saturn shrugged. “Whaddya wanna know?”

 

“We meant from Pluto.”

 

“Oh. Oh! Ya can't get to her, either? I know the planet's kinda hard to get to, but I thought ya might know the way into the Underworld.”

 

Sailor Moon raised an eyebrow. “The Underworld? What does the Underworld have to do with Sailor Pluto?”

 

Saturn blinked. Was it possible that these Senshi knew even less than she did? That was depressing. All she had to work with herself was some funky dream memories that she'd rather not have. “Sailor Pluto? Guardian of the Underworld? Ruler of the Star of the Underworld? Her planet's got serious connections to the land of the dead, ya know. Did ya think that was just for show?”

 

Chibi-Usa lifted the Silence Glaive a few inches, then let it drop. The blade sank easily into the ground with a thunk. She smiled, then repeated the process. Sailor Moon's eye began to twitch.

 

The Senshi looked disturbed at that. This was new information. “We thought that she was...”

 

“Just supposed to stay at the Time Gate? She had more duties than that.”

 

“How do you know all that?” Mars asked.

 

Saturn looked uncertain. “... That's one of the things I was gonna ask her.”

 

Chibi-Usa lifted the Silence Glaive again, then let it drop back to the Earth with a thunk.

 

“CHIBI-USA!” Sailor Moon yelled, “STOP PLAYING WITH THE SILENCE GLAIVE!” It didn't occur to Moon to question where she'd gotten the weapon's name from.

 

Chibi-Usa stuck her tongue out at Sailor Moon, who rushed forward to grab the weapon away from her. Chibi-Usa wouldn't let it go, and for a moment, they engaged in a tug of war, each of them yanking on the haft of the weapon, trying to pry it out of the grip of the other.

 

The other Senshi stared incredulously.

 

“Ano, Sailor Moon,” Mercury said, “It's probably not a good idea to...”

 

With an irritated look, Saturn held out her hand, palm upwards. The Glaive vanished, and reappeared a moment later in her outstretched hand. She gave it a twirl and then leaned it against the building again. “Please don't do that again,” she said.

 

Both Sailor Moon and Chibi-Usa had the decency to look apologetic.

 

“If you can't take me to Sailor Pluto, maybe you can answer my questions yourselves,” Saturn said after a moment.

 

“We can try,” Mars replied. “But do you think we can take this somewhere a little more private? Someone could walk up here at any moment.” She pointed to a more secluded area on the far side of the shrine's residence, which could not be seen by anyone coming to visit the shrine unless they actually walked back there.

 

Saturn gave a brief nod, scooped up her Glaive, and followed the Senshi around to indicated area. Two trees grew up tall on either side of them, bordering the wall, and the grass grew thick at their feet.

 

Sailor Saturn asked her questions. What she wasn't prepared for was the answers. “So you mean to tell me I'm some kind of reincarnated survivor of a magical kingdom that existed on the Moon ten thousand years ago?” she asked incredulously, once the explanation had been given.

 

Sailor Moon nodded enthusiastically. “Yep!” she chirped.

 

“That's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard!”

 

“And you know in your heart that it's true,” Sailor Moon replied.

 

Saturn shook her head, denying what she did, in fact, know in her heart to be true. “I've heard a lot of crap before, Princess, but this takes the cake.”

 

Venus smiled knowingly. “For someone who doesn't believe her, you're awfully quick to call her `Princess,' Saturn-chan.” She emphasized the `chan.'

 

Saturn glared. “Shut up. This is ...” she shook her head once more. “This is a little much, don't cha think? I need ta...” she trailed off, and looked at the assembled Inner Senshi for a moment.

 

And then a pair of little furry demons walked around the corner, yawned, stretched, and padded over towards the assembled Senshi.

 

Sailor Saturn's eyes went wide as she stared in horror at the twin offenses against all that was right and good in the world. Terror welled up within her breast, and it was all she could do to not scream.

 

“Saturn?” Moon asked, a feeling of dread growing in the pit of her stomach. “Saturn, what's wrong?”

 

“Sailor Moon!” Luna called excitedly. “We've found where the next attack is going to be!”

 

Artemis spoke up. “There's a large concentration of dark energy gathering at the con...”

 

“CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!” Saturn shrieked at the top of her lungs, and bolted for freedom. Not just any cats. TALKING cats. TALKING CATS!

 

The Senshi looked at Luna and Artemis, looked back to the spot Saturn had just evacuated, and didn't even bother to conceal their incredulous expressions.

 

“Did we miss something?” Artemis asked.

 

“That was Sailor Saturn!” Luna exclaimed.

 

Chibi-Usa blinked. She didn't remember Aunt Ranma being afraid of cats... at least, not in the future. What on *Earth* was that all about?

 

------------------------

 

Saturn kicked a lamp post angrily, visibly cracking it. Damn it! All these years, and she was still afraid of cats: the legacy of her father's attempt to teach her the neko-ken as a child. She hadn't learned it exactly, but the end result had been close enough that it had satisfied her father anyways. That was another idiotic thing her father had done to mess up her life. One thing among many.

 

She looked back at the distant Shrine, still visible at the top of the hill. She couldn't go back there now. Not when there were not just two cats there, but two *talking* cats. She'd been hoping to keep that secret from, well, everyone.

 

A shadow passed over her, then another, then another and another and another.

 

Sailor Saturn looked up in time to see the Inner Senshi roof-hopping by. They didn't spot her as they passed, and there was an extra one with them - a little girl Senshi who... Saturn thought about that for the moment. Though something about the transformation made it hard to tell which girl corresponded to which Senshi, after what she'd seen today, it was pretty obvious that the Usagi and her friends were the Inner Senshi. That left Chibi-Usa as the little girl Senshi.

 

Saturn frowned. They were willing to let a little girl who couldn't be older than, what, maybe eleven or twelve, fight with them?

 

She watched them fade into the distance for a long moment, considering what to do about it. Then she hopped up onto the roof of a nearby building, and set out to follow them at a distance.

 

------------------

 

Akane stepped off the train at the Azabu Juuban station. She knew where she needed to go. With a determined look on her face, she walked out of the train station. Briefly, the thought of going by Ranma's house occurred to her, of simply ignoring this strange urgent sense that had called her from across Tokyo to this place. This ward.

 

No. She couldn't ignore this. She needed to follow this wherever it lead. Allowing the strange, urgent `pull' to lead her, Akane Tendo started walking.

 

-------------------

 

It was nearly time to go on stage, and Michiru Kaioh was ready. Clad in an elegant white dress with long white gloves, she held her violin in her left hand, preparing to go on stage with the rest of the string quartet. They were all students from Mugen Gakuen, and the private party they were performing at had given the school's music program a considerable donation for the privilege of having their top students perform for them. Two of the three other students were girls. Suzuhara-san was the viola player - a darkly pretty girl who had dedicated almost her entire life to the pursuit of musical excellence - and it was always a pleasure to perform with her. The other girl, Kotori Monou, was a delicate, flighty blonde with long hair and expressive eyes. She played the cello. The second violin player and the sole boy in the group was a sullen, serious looking boy with short hair and orange tinted glasses named Gendo Rokubungi. They were the best that Mugen Gakuen's music department had to offer; they were some of the best student performers in Japan, each considered brilliant in his or her own right. They were ready. They went out together to polite applause, each carrying their instrument, each ready to perform.

 

The ball room was dimly lit, and nearly two hundred people sat around their tables, some still finishing their dinners, others watching interestedly. About half of the people present looked like they were related. At least, they all had certain features in common: eyes that were slightly larger than normal, a tendency not to blink very much, narrow foreheads, and noses that were nearly flat. All of them wore suits and dresses (as appropriate). A crystal chandelier hung overhead, throwing off faint refractions of light all over the room.

 

Michiru smiled faintly, and that was the only outward indication of the intensity of what she felt in that moment. She always felt alive before a performance. Really, truly alive. The only other moments she could compare it to were when she transformed, and when she was with Haruka. Her heart was racing like it always did before she started playing, but it wasn't fear: she never allowed it to become fear. The energy she felt, the excitement, was carefully channeled, directed into the enhancement of her performance.

 

She sat down, and the other students did the same. A moment later, Rokubungi-kun struck the tuning fork, and the faint sound of the concert pitch hummed around him for a moment. Immediately, he adjusted his cello to match the pitch. Then, holding that same concert tone, he tuned the rest of his strings. The others did likewise, matching his `A.' A minute later, they raised their instruments, and silence fell upon the room as the first soaring notes of Bach's `Air' from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major filled the room.

 

They played the song slowly and freely, the song's soaring melody and moving harmony intertwining like ocean currents. Playing lead violin, Michiru was in her element, moving her bow back and forth across the strings as she coaxed beauty from her instrument. When the piece was over, and the last resonances of the string quartet's song faded into silence, the audience sat, stunned by the loveliness that these performers had brought to them. There would be no applause until the recital was complete, but if what they had just heard was any indication, the applause, when it came, would be deafening.

 

They began then their main performance: Samuel Barber's String Quartet Op. 11. The first song passed without incident, but halfway through the Adagio for Strings, Michiru's eyes widened. Through sheer force of will, she forced her playing to continue unaffected as the premonition rolled through her awareness. A Daimon attack. Here. She didn't know who was being targeted, but she knew that with only her here to ensure that no Talismans were seized by the Death Busters today, things would be difficult.

 

The overly large eyes in the audience glittered in the light of each table's candles.

 

There. A red-headed woman was sitting at a table off to the left, with two briefcases at her feet. She was watching the performance with great interest. Michiru carefully concealed her reaction as she recognized the woman: Eudial.

 

Even as the string quartet allowed the last, final notes of Adagio for Strings to linger, and then to fade into silence, Eudial rose to her feet and began walking towards the stage, clapping loudly. All eyes went to her. Some of the observers were confused, wondering who this woman was and why she was disrupting the performance. The rest leaned forward with barely concealed anticipation.

 

“Very good!” she said, grinning widely. “Very, very good. Your dedication to your art is impressive...” she looked directly at Michiru. “Michiru Kaioh. Maybe impressive enough to hold a Talisman inside your pure heart crystal!” She produced a large black rifle from underneath her coat. “COME OUT, DAIMONS!”

 

The two briefcases she had left at her table exploded, sending the table flying, and instantly killing the other four people who had been seated there. Instantly, the crowd went into a panic. Screams rang out across the room, and about half of them bolted for the doors, recognizing this as a monster attack. The other half remained where they were, watching intently. The red smoke of the explosion faded away, revealing two rather unconventional Daimons standing in its wake. Both were recognizably female, and one had purple skin, and the other, green. The purple skinned Daimon had a huge kata blade in the place of her right arm, and was clad in the traditional clothing of a Samurai. The other was incredibly scantily clad, and was covered in black star designs, but otherwise bore no obvious sign of what she had been made from.

 

Michiru rose to her feet, and the rest of the string quartet did likewise. Immediately, the other three students scrambled for the exit, but not fast enough.

 

Eudial fired her gun, and Michiru leaped back to avoid the bolt of black energy that came shooting out of it. It struck Gendo Rokubungi in the face, and though he was blasted off his feet, and his cello clattered loudly to the floor, no pure heart crystal was produced.

 

Eudial laughed. “You can't evade me forever, Michiru Kaioh. But try. It might be fun!” She fired her gun again, this time striking the Suzuhara girl even as she was rushing through the door to get out of the ballroom. She collapsed, and a pure heart crystal emerged from her chest. Another blast took down Kotori, producing no heart crystal. “You appear to be out of decoys,” Eudial said, grinning widely.

 

Michiru ran for the door even as Eudial took aim.

 

The audience members who remained rose to their feet, and one of them - an old man - stepped forward. “We won't allow you to summon Pharaoh 90, Death Buster!” he yelled.

 

Michiru and Eudial turned towards the man, staring at him in shock for a moment. Though Michiru did not know what Pharaoh 90 was, the Old Man clearly knew more than he should.

 

“You won't interfere, old fool,” Eudial said, and shot him.

 

The blast of dark energy passed through him and splashed harmlessly against the far wall. The old man grinned. “That won't work on us,” he said, and before either Michiru or Eudial had time to consider what he meant by `us,' he began to change. His entire body bulged outward, and his human flesh and clothing exploded off of him in a sick, wet spray of gore. The monster beneath was one that Michiru recognized: a Deep One.

 

Then the rest of the remaining audience members began to change as well. A moment later, the overpowering smell of the rotting tide filled the room. Fully one hundred Deep Ones had revealed themselves.

 

“Don't just stand there, idiots! ” Eudial said, glaring at her Daimons. “Take care of them!”

 

The Daimons nodded, and battle was joined. Although the Daimons were individually stronger than the Deep Ones, they were also outnumbered fifty to one. It was clear from the beginning that the best they could hope to accomplish was buy their mistress time enough to capture Michiru's heart crystal and escape, and Eudial wasted no time in sending another three blasts of darkness Michiru's way.

 

Michiru dove for cover, cursing herself for having stood and watched instead of escaping while her enemy was distracted by the arrival of these new monsters. No choice, then. She produced her transformation pen.

 

“NEPTUNE PLANET POWER! MAKE UP!” Power and light flared around her, and when it faded, she was much changed.

 

Eudial's eyes widened in shock. Her own student was Sailor Neptune! She laughed out loud. “YOU are Sailor Neptune? Unbelievable. No matter. Your heart crystal will still be mine!” She raised her rifle.

 

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!”

 

Nobody paid any attention to Sailor Moon and the Inner Senshi. The all out brawl between the Deep Ones and the Daimons continued unabated. Three of the fish-frog things dove on top of the sword-wielding Daimon, receiving vicious, mortal slashes across their bellies for their trouble. They weren't dead yet, though; though mortally wounded, they held the creature down while another Deep One raised a glowing blue spear that pulsed with the cold, dark power of the very depths of the ocean, and plunged it into the Daimon's heart. The star-Daimon was having better luck, cutting a swath through the Deep Ones as it fired off black energy stars from every star-tattoo on its body. The smell of blood mixed with the rotting-tide stench of the Deep Ones.

 

Eudial fired another shot Neptune's way.

 

“DEEP SUBMERGE!” Neptune cried, sending a blast of the power of the oceans of Neptune even as the dark bolt of energy went flying towards her. The two shots struck in midair and detonated violently, knocking both Neptune and Eudial off their feet.

 

Eudial cursed. Her rifle had been damaged by the fall. No matter.

 

“What do we do, Sailor Moon?” Mars asked, staring at the chaotic scene.

 

Moon glanced at her Senshi. “You guys take care of the monsters. Chibi-Moon and I will stop Eudial!”

 

The Senshi nodded as one, and leaped into action. Soon cries of “FIRE SOUL!” and “CRESCENT BEAM!” and “SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!” and “SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!” joined the din of battle as magical attacks went back and forth across the room. The Senshi did not distinguish between Deep Ones and Daimons, and the chaos of the battle grew much, much worse.

 

Eudial grimaced. This called for some bigger, better firepower. She pulled another large gun out of subspace and leveled it at the two Moons. “You're not going to interfere this time, Sailor Moon!”

 

“We'll see about that. MOON SPIRAL...!”

 

Eudial began charging up her weapon, “FIRE...!”

 

“...HEART ATTACK!” Sailor Moon finished, sending a huge glowing red energy heart flying at the other woman.

 

“...BUSTER!” Eudial screamed, and pulled the trigger. A blast of magically supercharged plasma went roaring out the end of her weapon. For the second time that day, two attacks clashed in mid-air, and for a moment, it seemed as though Sailor Moon's attack would overcome the Fire Buster. Then the energy heart cracked, and fragmented into a thousand pieces. The blast of flame flew right through the shattered energy-heart, moving inexorably towards Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon.

 

Sailor Neptune's eyes widened. “Get out of the way!” she shouted, her compassion overcoming her sense of duty to her mission.

 

“PINK SUGAR HEART ATTACK!” Chibi-Moon cried, desperately trying to intercept the blast with her own attack.

 

No reaction. Not even the faintest glimmer from her weapon. She glared at it. What a time for it not to work!

 

At that moment, just before the ball of supercharged plasma would have wiped out Moon and Chibi-Moon, there came the sound of breaking glass. Sailor Saturn dropped into the room from the skylight, landing directly in front of the blast, and glass rained down around her. “SILENCE WALL!” she shouted. A barrier of crackling black energy snapped into place just in front of her; the plasma ball slammed into it and detonated violently, obscuring her for a moment in a storm of fire.

 

The flames faded, revealing Sailor Saturn standing there, unharmed. She smirked confidently. “That the best you got?”

 

Eudial cursed, and immediately vanished, teleporting out of the building.

 

Neptune stared at Saturn disbelievingly. Had Sailor Saturn *really* just intervened to save Sailor Moon? But... Saturn was the bringer of Silence, wasn't she? If she was awake, she was here to destroy the world. Wasn't she? She needed to think about this. She needed to talk to Haruka. Leaving the rest of the fighting to the Inner Senshi, Sailor Neptune made her escape, not even bothering to check Suzuhara's heart crystal on her way out, but only absently pushing it back into the girl's chest as she passed.

 

-----------------

 

The doors to the ball room burst open as the remaining Deep Ones made a mad dash for safety. They had accomplished their mission: the Death Busters had not retrieved the Talisman. It had cost them nearly a quarter of the strike-force's number, but they had succeeded. They fled into the night, leaving a very confused group of Senshi in their wake. The sword-Daimon had fallen about midway through the battle to the claws of Deep Ones, but the Star-Daimon had gotten away.

 

Saturn and the Inner Senshi stared at the remains of the ballroom in confusion. What had they just put a stop to? Who were these monsters that were fighting the Daimons? What interest did those creatures have in all this? And then there was the question that Venus voiced aloud:

“Are you scared of cats?”

 

Saturn ignored her. “Well, looks like there's nothing else ta do here,” she said, and then turned to leave.

 

“Wait!” Mercury called.

 

Saturn blinked, looking up at the blue-skirted Senshi. “What?”

 

Mercury tossed her a small, pink, incredibly girly watch. “Take this communicator. It'll allow us to contact each other if we need your help in the future, and you to contact us.”

 

Saturn looked at the watch dubiously, then pocketed it and leaped back up out of the room through the skylight, leaving the Inner Senshi alone in the destroyed ballroom.

 

-----------------

 

Akane stopped in her tracks. It was fading. She was too late. Whatever it was that had happened, she had missed it. She clenched her fist and muttered a curse. Then a shadow passed overhead, and she looked up.

 

A Sailor Senshi had just leaped from one side of the street to another.

 

“Hotaru Tomoe?” she asked aloud.

 

The Senshi stopped in her tracks and turned to look down at the girl who had just called out. “Huh?” she asked, clearly surprised. Was that recognition in the Senshi's eyes?

 

“Hotaru Tomoe?” she asked again. It was the same girl as the one she had seen. Well... almost. The costume was the same, even down to the many-spiked crystalline broach. But the girl was different. She was older, her hair was dark red instead of black, and her eyes were blue, not purple.

 

Akane frowned.

 

“Who?” the Senshi asked. She hopped down to the street. “You ok, Akane?” That look of concern in her eyes seemed familiar.

 

Akane stared at the Senshi of Ruin. The way she'd just said her name... but she didn't know any redheads that looked like this. Unless... “Ranma?” she asked.

 

The Senshi's reaction was all the confirmation that she needed.

 

END CHAPTER 06