Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A New Future 1 - Things Change ❯ Old Friends ( Chapter 4 )

This is an alternate history (both the world in general and the Senshi in particular) continuation for both Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2, set in a world with no space exploration, personal computers, cell phones, or anything else requiring a transistor. It is labeled hentai for the opening scene only (no lemons), and X for that scene and possible graphic violence later.

This was originally published by me under the name Anduril at Anime Addventures, with the only changes being a few corrections in spelling and punctuation. If you like the beginning of my story but think I've gone off the rails, or have your own ideas for a great branch-off, or think I'm taking too long to update and want to continue the story yourself, come to Anime Addventures and join in the fun!

I claim no ownership rights to any of the works of Rumiko Takahashi or Naoko Takeuchi, or anything in the GURPS Ogre and GURPS Tales of the Solar Patrol settings published by Steve Jackson Games. Everything else is mine.

 

 

Ku Lon sighed to herself as she bustled around the kitchen of the Cat Café, cleaning up from the morning rush and getting things ready for the lunch crowd. To think that an Amazon matriarch of her age and stature should be living in a foreign country running a restaurant, of all things! Of course, the country wasn't that foreign (at least in principle), being inhabited by descendants of refugees from the Fall, but they had gotten a little ... strange ... over the millennia — not that the Amazons were ones to talk, if the oldest texts were any indication. Still, she did miss the village, with its quiet bustle, morning sounds, fresh air, old friends, and a crowd of young ones to teach.

The shrunken old Matriarch thought back wistfully to when the Amazons' four thousand years of waiting had ended in her greatest failure through sheer bad luck, the day she got back from visiting an old/young friend in a nearby village that had just given birth to her fourth child to find the tournament in an uproar, her favorite great-granddaughter gone on a hunt for a female outsider that had beaten her in combat (!), and the Crystal Pyramid that was the special charge of Ku Lon's family flickering. The next month, waiting for Xian Pu to return from wherever the chase had taken her with word that she'd killed the outsider that might be the Princess reborn, had been the worst in Ku Lon's three centuries of life. And then when Xian Pu did return with word that not only was the young outsider still alive, but a Jusenkyo-cursed male ... !

Suddenly, a purple-haired, beautiful teenage girl burst through the door, bursting with excitement. {Great-grandmother! Come quick!}

“Xian Pu, what have I told you about speaking our language while living here?” Ku Lon asked sternly.

{But Great-grandmother, the Crystal Pyramid, it's glowing!}

{What?!} Ku Lon exclaimed, grabbing her staff and pogoing out of the kitchen and down the corridor to the storeroom. Yes, the pyramid that usually just flickered whenever Ranma had been within a few miles recently was now glowing steadily, and brightly enough to light up the storeroom from its shrine in the back. Balanced on her staff for height, with shaking hands the ancient Matriarch reached out to pick up the pyramid. Please, don't let this simply be some of the Senshi visiting Nerima in their full-powered forms like last time! Pressing her forehead to the pyramid, she concentrated while Xian Pu and a just arrived excited Mu Tse, his thick glasses perched on his forehead, impatiently watched.

After several minutes of rapt silence, Ku Lon lifted her head and reverently returned the Crystal Pyramid to its place of honor, then turned to her young helpers. {This is promising,} she said with reluctant eagerness. {Whatever burst of Silver Millennium magic activated the Pyramid occurred only a short time ago, and the distance and direction place it at the high school. The two of you must go there immediately and learn what caused the burst, if Ranma was involved, and if so what affect it had on him.}

{Does this mean that the Princess's memories have returned, and Xian Pu and I can drop this ridiculous act?} Mu Tse asked eagerly.

Ku Lon rapped her great-granddaughter's fiancé firmly on the top of his head. {Ranma! Not `Princess', not ever until we know that she has awakened, not even in Mandarin. You never know who might be listening. And we won't know until you find out, so hurry!}

Then a voice came from outside the storeroom. {Yes, they need to hurry, but they can drop the act. The Princess has awakened.}

The trio rushed out of the storeroom to find a tall young woman with dark green hair in a Senshi fuku and bearing a staff topped with a large garnet framed by a heart-shaped setting standing in the corridor from the dining room. Ku Lon instantly hopped down from her staff and bowed low, motioning the other two to join her. {Lady Pluto, this is an honor indeed.}

{A necessary one, I'm afraid,} the young-seeming woman with a regal bearing replied, motioning the three to rise. {While she has awakened, it was a traumatic experience — more from her new memories than what actually happened to him, though that was bad enough.} She grimaced. {Pronouns are a bitch when dealing with Ranma.} Turning to the two chuckling teenagers, she reassumed her regal bearing and said, {Go, and convince — convince — Ranma's protectors to bring him — her — here. You can drop the act, but don't mention me or any of the other Senshi to Ranma. I'll be taking care of that later.}

The two teenagers glanced at Ku Lon, and at her nod of approval hurried off. Once they were out of sight, the two remaining women relaxed, then Ku Lon squeaked as Sailor Pluto picked her up and gave her a solid hug. {Setsuna, my dignity!} she huffed.

Pluto just laughed somewhat tearfully and leaned down to set Ku Lon back on her feet. {I'm sorry, Ku Lon, it's just so good to see you again.}

Ku Lon quirked an eyebrow at her old family friend, then motioned her toward the kitchen and pogoed ahead. Once there, she set about heating water, then pulled a tin of green tea and a couple of tea cups and saucers from the cupboard. Pluto smiled. {You remembered!}

Ku Lon glanced over at the Senshi as she set her cup of tea in front of her, not spilling a single drop from her leap onto the table. {It's only been a few years since your last visit, I'm hardly going to forget your favorite tea in that time,} she said somewhat reproachfully.

Pluto glanced at the much older/younger woman, then sighed and slumped a bit. {Yes, it has been a few years. But I did say that might be the case when we last spoke and I verified that Ranma is Princess Yasuko. The temptation to violate my rules restricting interference in order to act on Ranma's behalf would have just been too great. I stretched them more than a little as it was.}

Ku Lon stared thoughtfully into her own cup of tea, then nodded and grinned at her guest. {Yes, you did warn me. Still, I have missed our twice-yearly gossip-fests, so that just means we'll have to make up for lost time! So what have you been up to these past two years? I know you were having problems adjusting to actually living with other people for a change, and that has to mean all sorts of juicy gossip!}

Pluto laughed gaily. {Oh, I've actually developed something resembling a life and a family these past few years living with the Outers. It's been ... wonderful — if more than a little difficult after so many years alone. But the details will have to wait a bit, we need to discuss how to handle Ranma and his ... new memories and future.}

Ku Lon straightened and nodded agreement. {Right, business first, gossip later. So what's happened to Ranma, and what are the most likely outcomes....}