Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Princess of the Moon ❯ Princess 11 ( Chapter 12 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

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Princess of the Moon
Chapter 11
Cory D. Rose
ertle2@msn.com
http://shi_hanna.tripod.com
(c) 2003
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The energy she was feeling was faint, even Luna had to admit that, but she felt it would be a good idea to track it down just to make sure everything was safe. She just had this feeling that something was familiar about it, but she wasn't about to admit that to Usagi or any of the other girls. No matter how hard she thought about it her memories would not give up the information she needed.

A part of her felt that the person she was tracking was safe to be around and yet another part of her wanted to unsheathe the ol'claws and draw some blood. She couldn't remember ever feeling this way about anything before. Even Artemis, from the old days back on the moon, hadn't made feel like this about someone. She would have just kicked him out the nearest window, preferably from the fourth floor, and watched as he fell into the fountains below.

No something about his was entirely different and she just couldn’t quite put her paw on what it was. If Ranma hadn't been around she might have thought it was a clue to the whereabouts of the Princess, but the red headed girl filled that role quite well. Well except for the hair, and the attitude of course, but she did the job well enough. No, this was something else and she would track it down if it was the last thing she did.

It had only popped up around the area a couple weeks back, but she hadn't noticed it until a few days ago. She walked along the top of the stone fence that surrounded an expensive looking house. The trace was faint, but it led into the perfectly manicured yard. Grass for yard upon yard filled her vision. She frowned upon trespassing, but wondered if the person that made the energy she was kind of curious why anyone would just go into someone else yard.

With a cat like shrug she hopped off the fence and landed in the grass below and wasn't at all surprised as the energy seemed to increase now that she was closer to it. She slinked across the lawn and hoped no one saw her. Being a black cat meant she worked best at night when on one could see her, not here in the middle of the day when the sun was shining down on her. Then she came across what had to be the biggest pile of dog excrement she had ever encountered.

The pile was a couple days old, but had to be at least as big as she was and was the best evidence around to prove just how foolish jumping into this yard had been. She glanced around cautiously and thanked all the gods she knew that the dog hadn't noticed her yet.

She made her way around a nearby rose bush and had to stop as she noticed a large rat kneeling in the shadows holding a rather nasty looking spear of some kind. It was also wearing a leather shirt of some kind and looked quite evil crouched down in the shadows. For a second she thought she was hallucinating and she closed her eyes and shook her head.

When she took a second look the rat was gone and she breathed a sigh of relief as she moved on. She ignored the sudden feeling that something inside the rose bush was watching her with beady little eyes and sharpening his weapon. Then she heard the one noise she had been dreading ever since the 'pile' had been discovered.

WOOF!

The sound seemed to echo across the yard as this massive dog bounded out of the house and headed right for her. It barked again and Luna took off across the yard, the massive dog bounding along behind her as it barked again and again. She would have screamed, but instinct had taken over and she completely forgot to think. Run, that was she could do.

She zig zagged across the yard, the dog just a few yards behind her as she frantically searched for a way out. Panicked eyes spotted the tree beside the fence and she raced toward it with all she had. When she was just a few feet away she jumped to the tree, quickly climbed the trunk and jumped to the top of the stone fence again. The dog barked again and slammed right into the wall and she panicked for just a second.

WOOF! WOOF!

Then she jumped off the wall, to the side walk and ran for it. The honk of a horn scared her so bad she swore she nearly had a heart attack as she looked up at the approach of a gleaming silver bumper speeding towards her. She froze as it got closer and closer, her hair stood up on end and she came close to screaming. Then there was a blur of motion and she found herself lifted off the pavement and slammed into something soft and hard at the same time.

With her eyes closed she was quite positive she was dead and wouldn't be able to do her job anymore, but with Artemis around she was expendable. That thought made her start choking in shock, there was no way that moron had the knowledge to help guide the scouts. He was too much of a womanizer.

She opened her eyes and looked around and found that she was being cradled in some guy’s arms. A glance at his face was all she needed to see that it was that guy that was always giving Usagi a bad time. Mamoru Chiba, wearing gray swat pants, running shoes, a gray tank top, and a towel draped over his shoulders. He was looking down at her and Luna realized that the guy actually recognized her. She could see it in his eyes as he lifted her up and took a closer look. Luna didn't like being held like that and started to struggled.

"You are that black cat that hangs around with that blond headed girl aren't you?" Mamoru muttered to himself and tried to remember the cat’s name. "Moonlight or something."

Luna glared at him.

WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!

She yowled and tried to get away from the monster as its head suddenly seemed to appear above the edge of the wall as it jumped up and down. Mamoru was startled as well as he realized why the cat had been running and gave the dog a look over. Adjusting his grip on Luna he stepped closer to the wall and looked over. He figured the thing had to weigh three hundred pounds at least and it was covered in muscle and scar tissue.

It looked up at him and growled loud enough to be heard for several feet in either direction and he noticed two things. The first was that it was missing an eye and it made the thing look totally evil. The second was a wide leather collar on the things with 'Godzilla' etched right into the leather. Luna shuddered and wondered if the thing had any reptile abilities that matched its name.

"What an ugly dog." Mamoru muttered as he moved away from the wall and turned around. Right as Usagi stomped up to him, glaring at him in anger. "What do you want?"

Usagi grabbed Luna out of his arms and snarled. "What are you doing to Luna?!"

"I saved her." Mamoru snapped back, and was instantly angry with her.

"Ha! I saw you from across the street. You were about to toss her to that dog weren't you?!"

He blinked in amazement that she could even think of such a thing.

"You...you...you are most arrogant jerk I've ever met! First you go out of your way to constantly annoy me and now I find you about to kill my cat as well?!" Usagi snarled as she tried to control her anger. He pig tails rose up above her head and she struggled for control.

Luna was amazed, but knew better than to say anything.

"I DID NO SUCH THING!" Mamoru yelled back.

"YOU TRIED TO KILL LUNA!"

WOOF!

"I DID NOT! I SAVED HER FROM BEING RUN OVER BY A CAR!"

"LIAR!"

"DID NOT!"

"DID TOO!"

Luna tries to get Usagi's attention as the two scream in each others faces and ignore the crowd that is developing around them. Then Motoki steps through the crowd of people, spots his two best customers and walks over. "Mamoru? Fancy meeting you here."

The two turn their death glares on him.

"Motoki?" Mamoru says and struggles not to yell at the blond ditz as she bends to put Luna down on the ground.

"Motoki? You know this jerk?" Usagi asks with some surprise.

He nods. "We go to college and have several classes together. I work at the arcade to make some spare money between classes."

"This jerk had the brains to get into college?" Usagi muttered a little too loudly.

Mamoru's head snaps around and he glares at her again. "As if you will ever make it out of junior high Miss. Thirty Percent."

Usagi kicks him in the shin hard enough to make him grab it in pain, then huffs and stalks off with Luna in her arms. She isn't really paying any attention, or she would have seen Rei standing just down the street watching the four of them.

"Is it me or does that cat look like it's about to laugh at you Mamoru?" Motoki asked his friend innocently. Trying and failing to hide his smirk.

"That girl has got to be the most..." Mamoru growled as he pushed hid way out of the crowd with Motoki.

"I'll say." Motoki said with a grin.

"I don't think we are talking about the same thing." Mamoru said suspiciously.

"Whatever you say, let’s get over to the arcade and get something to eat."

"Yeah, whatever, as long as I don't have to see that girl again." Mamoru muttered and wondered why he felt so weird whenever he encountered her.

**********

Once again he found himself studying the stars and allowed his mind to drift as he tried to figure out what had happened to him. Never before had he had a vision go out of control like that and the only answer he could come up with was that someone had interfered with it.

His number one suspect was Zoicite, but even after a few hours of searching he had been unable to find any trace of the man's magic. What worried him even more was that there was no sign of outside interference as far as he could tell. None at all, not even the smallest hint that someone had messed with one of his spells.

He knew the magical signatures of Zoicite, Kunzite, and even Queen Beryl just by looking at them. Whoever had messed with the vision had done so with such subtlety that no sign had been left behind. He didn't know anyone that had that kind of finesse with magic no matter how hard he thought about it.

Then there was the other aspect of the vision that he had been trying to forget, but there was a problem. No matter how hard he tried those unwanted memories kept flashing images within his mind and it was driving him crazy. Visions of him in his academy uniform, pictures of people that he didn't recognize or flashes of him and Zoicite laughing together with Kunzite tied up on the couch nearby glaring at them.

With every passing hour he would recall more and more of the strange visions and yet little understanding of them. They had to have some meaning, but if he tried to actually think about them and understand something within his mind would resist with a tenacity that surprised him. It seemed as if it was sentient memory of some kind actively working to make sure that he didn't remember any of this stuff.

He had served Beryl for millennia and this kind of thing had never happened before. Yet one little vision of his early years and it was as if all his mental walls had been washed away. When it was all said and done though, one image stood out among the rest.

A girl with Red hair, a striking pair of blue eyes swam around his memory and it was all he could do to recall the image in any detail. There was also this unexplainable ache in his groin that just wouldn't go away whenever he tried to remember her. Something about the girl he recalled must have meant a lot to him if he was still able to feel phantom pain even after all this time. He sat back in his chair and looked to the stars once more as he grinned.

Whoever she was would have to wait because he had to set the next portion of his plan in motion. That red hair reminded him of the Sailor Scout that had taken out his Youma at the tennis courts. He would have to take her abnormal strength into account for when she showed up. The rest of the scouts weren't that much of a threat, but that one had been Jedite's down fall.

Looking to the stars as they shine and sparkle all around him he closed his eyes and started mumbling to himself. His last pick had been good, but she had been to close to the Scouts. They had shown up even before his Youma revealed herself so he figured he would pick someone that wasn't as likely to know the Scouts unlike that Rui girl.

His body started to glow and a beam of energy came from his forehead and started to form a pattern in the air as it bounced off the stars around him. All the while he continued to mumble a complicated spell to himself. Then there was a surge of energy and he opened his eyes to see that a ghostly picture of an old man wearing gloves and tending to some plants.

"The Caretaker." He said. "A bit old for my plans, but even at this advanced age he still hasn't reached his full potential yet. He will work perfectly. The Scouts are unlikely to have any contact with this one, but I will take precautions just in case."

**********

Putting on her best smile, Rei looked up at Motoki and pretended to be a bit shy. "So, tell me more about this Mamoru Chiba."

Standing behind the counter as he cooked some fries for Rei, Motoki could only shake his head. He had known Mamoru for several years now and it constantly amazed him how the guy could have such a drastic effect on women. They either loved him at first sight or they hated him with equal passion. He glanced over at Usagi as she played her way through the Sailor V game, trying to make it to the next level with everything she had. From the sounds of things she wasn't doing as well as she wanted, but better than last time if her shout of happiness had been any indication.

Usagi and Mamoru had hit it off like oil and water. They disliked each other from the start and no matter how much he tried to get the two of them to make up and be friends they ended up arguing instead. It didn't help that Mamoru liked to rile the blond up or that it was so easy to do. Motoki had witnessed the girl ignore some of the meanest insults while playing the games in here and yet one 'Meatball Head' from Mamoru and she was ready to strangle him right then and there. On the other hand there were those that like Rei that seemed to find him irresistible the instant they met him.

More than one girl had snuck in when they found out that him and Mamoru were friends and tried to hit him up for information. Though to be fair it was usually collage age girls with a lot more to offer than the teenager he had in front of him. "What would you like to know?"

"What are his hobbies?!" Rei asked. "Anything special?"

"Well let's see, he has several hobbies that take up his time. He likes martial arts..." Motoki began.

Rei squealed happily. "What else?!"

"Um, lets see, he's going to college to become a doctor and that takes up a lot of his time."

The dark haired girl nodded as Motoki set her fries down in front of her and handed her a ketchup bottle. She started to eat them absently as she hung on his ever word. "And...?"

"He also likes to grow things, flowers and such."

"How romantic." Rei gushed as plans were already sorting themselves out in her head. She would meet that hunk again if she had her way and even better, Usagi didn't seem to like him that much. That was a plus in her book.

"That jerk doesn't have a romantic bone in his body!" Usagi snarled from where she was playing the Sailor V game.

"That's not your problem, Meatball Head!" Rei yelled back.

Motoki also wondered how it was that Mamoru tended to find all the girls with tempers as well. Maybe he had a thing for girls that would stand up to him or something because the last four had all been like this. "Um..."

"HAH!" Usagi yelled back and cried out as she suddenly died in the game and grabbed her head. "Nooooooo!!"

"Serves you right!" Rei yelled back with a sinister grin.

The blond jumped to her feet and stomped across the arcade and leaned in close to Rei. "Listen Pyro..."

For a second Motoki thought he saw electricity shooting from their eyes as they glared at each other and wondered if they really were friends. He didn't need a cat fight breaking out inside the arcade if he could help it. He opened his mouth to say something when they suddenly started a tongue war, then turned their backs on each other, and Rei suddenly tossed her hair and stalked out of the arcade. Usagi growled at her and moved to follow and Motoki moved to stop her before she had a chance to make things even worse.

"Hey Usagi, want a free ice cream?" He asked.

"Yeah!" The blond squealed and almost jumped over the counter as she hugged him and he tried not to laugh at her antics.

"You two are friends right?" He asked as she let go and took a seat at the counter.

Usagi nodded. "We tend to argue about a few things every now and then, but we're still friends."

"For a moment there I could have sworn that you and Mamoru were arguing." He said with a grin as she paled.

"Ewwww! That’s gross!"

**********

The door closed softly as Nodoka exited the room and headed for the kitchen. Her two house guest Pink and Link had vanished the day before. They hadn't said anything, but she was pretty sure they had left because of what happened with Genma. She didn't blame them, but to just up and leave without saying goodbye was a bit rude of them, although it might have something to do with her other house guest as well. He was sitting at the table scarfing down his breakfast just like Genma used to. It was easy enough to see where the man had picked up his horrid table manners. Happosai was a hard man to describe, though there were a few things about him that she figured would never change.

When he had saved her from Genma it had been a complete surprise. It was completely out of character for the man, really. Now if he had saved her just to steal her bra or something like that she could believe his motivations, but what he did to Genma had been a complete shock. Then he had the unmitigated gall to waltz through her house and read something she had left out on the table.

Still, no matter how mad she was with the man, he had done something that she had spent the last ten years failing to do. He had gone out and within twenty four hours located and talked her son into coming home. Though there were a few things Happosai said he needed to explain to her before Ranma could come home. Like an explanation of the post card and what Jusenkyo was.

"Are you enjoying breakfast Master Happosai?" She asked quietly.

"Very much so." He said as he put down his fifth bowl of rice. "I noticed your two house guests weren't here when I got up."

"Pink and Link seem to have taken to the road again." Nodoka explained.

"They are Amazons Nodoka; they are very independent people and will do anything to stay that way. Even being homeless is better than depending on an outsider."

"I'm afraid they never said much in the few days they were here. Just got up, helped with a few meals and practiced that strange plant style of theirs."

"I encountered a master of that style while in China once. Those two were nothing compared to the guy I fought. He could toss out a seed and the thing would start growing in mid air and by the time it landed it was bigger than a house with enough energy to send a hundred vines and roots at me. I was quite amazed at the whole thing, though a good fire was all it took to defeat him." Happosai proclaimed with a laugh. "I have a feeling we might see them around. How did you meet them anyway?"

Nodoka took a second to decide if telling Happosai some of her secrets would cause any problems, then figured that he would find out on his own. "Do you know about my side of the family?"

"You're Devil Hunters."

"Exactly, I've never been the most astute student of the family business, but I am able to do a few things when I can. I know the basics of the sword, but I've had to compensate because of my schooling. I came across what I thought was a rather powerful Demon terrorizing those two girls and moved to help them. During the fight I found out that the thing wasn't a demon and that placed me at a bit of a disadvantage because my sword uses magic to give me the skills I need to use it against Demon's only."

"You never mastered the whole style?"

"I know it all, but I have never mastered the full style because of things that happened in my life." Nodoka explained. "During the course of the fight several others showed up, including the Sailor Scouts, and three others that seemed to be chasing after Pink and Link. After we fended off the false Demon the girls began to argue and I stepped between them and offered the two a place to stay to prevent the different sides from fighting each other. One of the ones after Pink and Link was this red head that reminded me of myself when I was that age. She had red hair, athletic build, and large breasts that seemed to be characteristic of the girls on my side of the family."

"Ranma?" Happosai confirmed.

"Yes, as far as I know. I was still trying to figure out what he meant in the post card he sent me so I only had my suspicions and didn't act on them like I should have."

"The girl I tracked down seems to be the same one you are talking about and seems to have quite a few problems to sort out I'm afraid."

"What was 'he' like?" Nodoka asked. She didn't want to think of her son as a girl. It made her stomach hurt just thinking about the loss he must feel if what the post card said was true.

"I haven't told you about Jusenkyo, have I?"

Nodoka shook her head.

"In the Bayankala Mountain Range of the Zinghai Province of China there is a small secluded valley centered right in the middle of the lands of three very secretive and powerful people. They have been using their influence and resources to keep the People's Republic of China from wiping them out and taking over the area. Jusenkyo Valley is located at the heard of this mess and has a history that even I haven’t been able to figure out.

That place is one of the few left in the world that can turn the biggest skeptic of magic into a religious belief in the blink of an eye. A heavy magical curse rests upon the place and can, if you are not really careful, change your life forever. There are a number of springs dotted around the place. The water is very cold and was at one time used as a training ground for fighters learning the basics of aerial combat. Jumping from bamboo poles set with the bottom of each spring. What makes the springs so cursed is that whenever a new spring is formed and it fills with icy cold water it calls to some nearby creature, human or animal, and they will drown there."

"This is where Ranma was taken by Genma?"

Happosai just nodded. "Yes. Once that creature drowns there that spring will be altered to give the basic form of that creature to whomever falls in that spring. It used to be a permanent change, but according to the books in the guide's shack that I read through, over time the spring’s effect has lessoned and that hot water could be used to transform people back to their normal selves. Until such time as they were hit with cold water again. Something about the curse adapted to this and now whenever anyone falls in the spring they tend to attract cold water in the oddest ways. It is quite often that it’s an icy cold rain that lasts only seconds, just long enough to change the victim into their new shape. Now Ranma seems to have fallen into one of the several different types of Drowned Girl springs that dot the valley."

"If that is so, then why does he think he's cursed permanently? If a splash of hot water will reverse the effect?" Nodoka asked.

"The locals have found ways to lock the curse if they need to. I would guess that he ran afoul of one of the three groups and they punished him by locking it. The easiest way is through use of this magic Ladle that is used to throw cold water on the victim and it seals the curse. Then there are some pressure points that could pull the trick off, and this one insidious spell that the worst of those groups created. One that destroys the original body and makes the curse form the dominate one."

"Is there no way to cure him?" Nodoka asked sadly.

"Jusenkyo is pure chaos magic, which means its effects can be completely random at times. Are there cures? Sure there are, but each of them seems to be determined by the person that is cursed. I heard of one guy that was able to simply accept his curse completely and in the end he woke up one day and the curse was gone. While another guy was able to have the curse lifted by making a deal with a powerful wizard and came out of the deal a changed man."

"Do you have any idea what Ranma will be like when he gets here?"

"Ranma grew up with Genma and if what he said is true, then he has learned that he has to be careful when he meets you. I had to trick him a little to even get him to come by the house and meet you."

"What did I ever do to him?" Nodoka sniffled.

"He doesn't know if he can trust you or not and that worries him."

"I would never hurt my own son."

Happosai frowned. "He mentioned something to me that I found a bit odd; about a web page?"

"Oh I have a web page set up to help me look for clues to where Ranma might be whenever Genma runs from me."

"He said a friend of his found it, but when he went to look at it a second time it wasn't there."

"That's weird, it's been about a month since I last had an opportunity to check it."
Nodoka explained as she got up and made her way into the front room. She had a computer set up on a small desk in the corner. "Let me check on it."

Though he would never admit it, Happosai had never seen a computer in his life so he was a bit surprised as he watched Nodoka fiddle around with the box he had though was a funny looking TV. Then she pressed a few buttons and started to curse, loudly. "Problem?"

"Gendo Saotome." She snapped.

"What's he got to do with anything?"

"He makes sure that Genma gets away and that I'm always one or more steps behind them. I think making my life miserable is his hobby. The last time we met the bastard set a bunch of possessed skeletons loose and told them to kill me."

"He knows magic?" Happosai asked in shock. "That isn't good."

"Tell me something I don't know. He has this influence over people that is amazing at times. This time he seems to have found my web page and had it removed from the net. I've an e-mail here saying that it was pulled due to complaints and that legal action would have been taken if it wasn't removed. He does this to me all the time." She growled and thumped the desk a few times to vent a little anger.

"Just make a new one, can't be that hard to do." Happosai said, in the tone of voice used by backseat drivers across the globe.

"I can't, my internet will be cut off sometime in the next few days to prevent me from doing just that."

"You've been putting up with this all these years?" He asked.

"Yes, only it just gets worse and worse as time goes on."

"Gendo and Genma need to learn a few lessons I think." Happosai said as he turned to go outside. "Oh, Ranma will be here at noon tomorrow so you might want to get ready in case something happens between now and then. Gendo seems to be pulling strings to make sure you can't see Ranma so we need to pull our own strings. I'm going to go call in a favor, then go on my rounds."

Nodoka just sighed and nodded. "Rounds?"

Laughing, Happosai pulled a pair of panties out of his coat and flapped them around as he bounced out of the house with a big bag across his back. "By Liberating my Silky Darlings!"

"Well at least that was normal for him, though did he have to take my best pair?" Nodoka muttered and checked to see if she was indeed walking around sans her underwear. "How in the world does he do that?"

**********

Tires squealed as Nephlite raced down the road passing cars left and right. He weaved through the thick traffic on the roads with the skill of a professional driver out for a little fun. The top on the car was down and his long brown hair was blowing around in the wind behind him. He glanced in the rearview mirror and adjusted his glasses as he raced around a large white truck pulling a trailer load of wood to some unknown location.

For a second he considered the truck and wondered if such a thing might come in handy sometime in the up coming weeks. Then he put it out of his mind and squealed the tires as he skidded around a corner, shifted gears, and accelerated up the street leaving a cloud of smoke and the smell of burning rubber behind him as he grinned.

Who would have thought that these useless humans could come up with something like this just by building it with their own hands and not a bit of magic? Dodging all the obstacles that were in his way was a lot of fun too. He slowed the car down to a slightly less insane speed as he made sure people had time to dodge out of the way as he came by and squealed the tires again as he headed into the section of the district that he needed to be.

His magic was giving him a mental map of the area, telling him where he needed to go and the exact location of the target he had chosen for his next plan. He still hadn't learned that old man's name and he found it a bit odd that everyone just called him Caretaker. It didn't really matter either, because within the next twenty four hours he would have enough energy collected for Queen Beryl to make the wait worth it.

A few minutes later he pulled into a parking lot next to the park and noticed all the construction equipment that was being set up in the grass nearby. There was nobody around so he walked over and checked the big machines over. He had never seen anything like them before. One of the big machines, a large white and blue loader that looked like it would have been able to just run over Zoicite with no problems caught his attention.

Jedite/Jade got out and walked around it as he examined how it was put together and decided that it would work. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small crystal and tossed it on the ground beside the loader. It flared with energy for a second before it started to grow and formed into a Youma.

"Vexpa." He snapped.

The Youma was a typical type, vaguely female as Queen Beryl liked them to look and one of a half dozen he had taken from Jedite's collection when was disposed of. The rest had been split among Kunzite and Zoicite and the unwanted ones abandoned until they found something useful to do. Vexpa had been one of Jedite's unused Youma because of her quiet nature.

That very nature was what he had taken her for. She had a fully human looking body, a blank face with no features, and was wearing a black dress that hugged her body, there was a long slit up either side of the dress and front and back portions came to a pint a few inches above the ground. He black gloves also came to a point just below her elbows, had a black choker around her neck, and a pointed black witches hat with a red ribbon around it.

It saw him and slowly knelt down in front of him. "Master."

"Listen up; I have a mission for you."

"Of course Master."

A few minutes later he walked deeper into the park and checked his mental map again just to make sure he was headed in the right direction. The Caretaker had barely moved in the last half hour, so it was easy enough to find him. The guy was kneeling next to a large setting of flowers, weeding out all the bad plants and replanting new ones in their place. Nephlite watched him for several minutes and tried to figure out the best way to approach the man. From the looks of it the man rarely ever left his job. Then a breeze blows through the park and Nephlite uses that to his advantage.

Casting a spell under his breath and with a flick of his finger the wind picks up just enough to blow the Caretaker’s hat off his head and sends it tumbling towards Nephlite. He watches as the man turns to get the hat, but by the time he even moves it's at Nephlite's feet. He picks it up and his symbol etches itself into the weaving of the hat for a half a second before vanishing. Smiling, Nephlite hands the hat back to the Caretaker and watches as he glows for a second as his Youma goes into effect. "Good afternoon!"

"Hello." The man says as Nephlite hands his hat back to him.

"What's with all the construction equipment out by the parking lot?"

"The park is going to be leveled her in a few days so someone can put up another office building." The Caretaker says sadly as he puts his hat back on, though his eyes told a different story.

Grinning, Nephlite pats the man on the shoulder. "I'm sure everything will work out in the end."

"I certainly hope so, well I have a few more flowers to plant. Excuse me." The man says and wanders off.

Even after a few seconds Nephlite can tell that everything is working just fine as Peasosu begins to work her magic on the man's mind. Amplifying his energy a hundred fold and then the fire works would really begin to fly.

**********

The bird flapped its wings a little as it glided across the ground to gain a bit of height, turned on its wing, and landed in red mass. It trilled happily as it took a second to rest. Ranma, who was sitting against the large tree where she was camping out with her two Amazon friends tried to glare at the bird that had just landed on her head.

She thrashed her head back and forth to dislodge it, but the thing dug its claws in and managed to stay in place. It pecked her head a few times. Then she tried to knock it off her head and it took off in a burst of feathers and an angry squawk. “&%$# BIRD!”

A few yards away Shampoo was squatting in front of the fire poking it with a stick to make sure it didn’t go out while she was making something to eat. She looked up as Ranma started to curse. “Ranma what you doing?” Shampoo asked as she walked over and sat down beside her.

“Trying to figure out this technique.” Ranma explained as she flapped the scroll back and forth.

“What it about?”

“The old fart called it The Devil’s Fist.”

“Oooooh!” Shampoo said as her eyes widened. “Never heard of that one.”

“It’s an advanced technique.” Ranma said smugly.

“Teach to Shampoo?” She asked cutely.

“Now way! It’s a special technique of my school!”

“Please?” She asked and looked up at him with puppy dog eyes.

“No!”

“Ah!” She muttered as she got up and stalked off. “Then Shampoo no share Ice Cream.”

“Whatever.” Ranma called after her and turned back to the scroll she was reading.

She wasn’t really sure what in the world she was supposed to do with the techniques. It seemed simple enough, but the more she looked into it the harder it became. It involved some kind skill she hadn’t managed to figure out yet. The scroll said something about folding her Ki in just such a way so that it could ‘phase’ through solid objects and touch the enemy. She had always wondered why secret scrolls never just told a person how they worked. Things would be a lot easier if they got to the point and told her what she needed to know.

From her lessons with Cologne back in the Amazon Village she understood a little of what the scroll was saying. All those years with the old man had taught her a few things as well, but in this case she couldn’t figure out how her Ki was supposed to be folded. The Scroll didn’t really give any details on how to do it and the little picture was just plain confusing.

It was kind of ironic that most of the scrolls her old man had used over the years were just like this one. He never had explained them to her. Just told her what to do and forced her to train until she had it down. Whether she understood how it was done or not.

So she figured this one was using the same principle to exclude some vital part of the technique that only a student of the Anything Goes School would know about. She had been trying to figure out what that one thing was for the last hour or more, but there were so many different ways it could be done that she couldn’t find the one that worked best. All she had for her effort turned out to be a headache and some eye strain from reading the scroll over a few hundred times.

She stood up and stretched. Then rolled the scroll back up and stuffed it in her subspace pocket with her Sailor Scout stuff and started to pace around the tree. Thinking still wasn’t one of her finer points and it showed at times like this when she was being forced to do something. If someone had tried to kill her at that moment she would probably figure it out just to defeat whoever was attacking her, but to just come up with the idea without it was nearly impossible.

For a brief moment she considered talking to Shampoo to see if she might know how to do it. She had noticed that the Amazons had this uncanny ability to find and hoard all kinds of obscure and useful Ki techniques. Then she shook her head and decided that it wouldn’t be a very good idea. She would have to figure it out on her own since there was a good chance that anything she showed to Shampoo would end up among their techniques.

She stepped over to a nearby tree and started to study it a little, and letting her Ki senses examine it in greater detail. It had been one of the skills that Cologne spent quite a bit of time making her learn how to master. They were telling her that the tree had quite a few weak spots inside the tree just below the bark. If the technique worked the way the scroll said id would she would be able to reach through the bark and rip out the wood just below the bark along those weak spots.

Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the tree and reached deep within to tap her Ki. She ignored the fact that it seemed to surge within her body like an unleashed monster. Her hand started to glow as she mentally folded the Ki several different ways and carefully tapped a finger against the tree. She quickly figured out how to make the bark explode around her finger by barely touching it.

After blowing the sawdust out of her eyes she stepped back with her hand still glowing, and tried to think of a different way to do it. She glanced at her hand and concentrated on it for a second and the glow took on a deeper glow, almost a navy blue, and she reached out again. The instant she touched the tree she knew it was a mistake and she felt a surge of power leave her. The tree seemed to explode around her hand even as she was yanking it away.

She groaned a little as the thing seemed to go into slow motion as it fell over with that creaking noise a falling tree makes. As she scrambled out of the way she kicked it with a Ki powered kick and shattered the mass into several large chunks and sent up a wave of dust and sawdust. “&%$#$%@*&” She snapped under her breath.

Perfume, who was sitting next to Shampoo over by the fire looked up as the tree fell and laughed as Ranma jumped out of the way. “Is that how it’s supposed to work?”

“No!”

“We might be able to help.” She said.

“I have to figure this out on my own.”

“Well good luck then.” Perfume called. “If you need help just be sure to ask.”

“Humph!” Ranma grumped and walked over to another tree and started pacing back and forth. “I’ll figure this out.”

After a few minutes of pacing she gave up on thinking about it, walked over to her tent, and crawled inside to grab a bandage to wrap around her hand. She sat down and opened her pack which was sitting against the back of the tent, with her sleeping bag rolled up next to it, and noticed that Ito was curled up inside sleeping.

“Hey, Ito!” The cat looked up and yawned. “What?”

“Have you managed to find us a place to stay yet?”

“No, I didn’t get a chance to work on it to much today.” Ito said.

“Why?”

“I was busy.”

“Doing what?”

“Things.” The cat said.

“Can you be a little more detailed?”

“No.” The cat snapped and ducked back down inside the pack.

Ranma sweatdropped. “Do you want to be hung by your paws from one of the higher tree branches in that tree over there?” She asked mildly.

The head popped back out. “I got…busy, alright. I’ll finish taking care of it tomorrow when I’ve got something I need.”

“Just don’t forget, we can’t stay her forever you know.” Ranma said as she finished wrapping her hand.

“Especially with you knocking trees down like that.” Perfume said as she stuck her head in the tent and looked at the cat. “Ah, there you are! Will this work?” She asked as she held up a pair of nearly sheer panties.

Ranma froze in shock and fell over with her pig tail sticking straight up.

With a blush clearly visible on her red furred face Ito just nodded and ignored the strange look that Ranma was giving her.

The Amazon tossed them on top of Ito’s head, glanced at Ranma, and laughed as she vanished as fast as she had appeared. Ranma, with multiple sweatdrops forming on the back of her head looked at the cat. “What the hell do you need with….with…those things?!”

“Well I was going to try and get you a place to stay.” Ito said as she folded the panties with her paws and placed them in her subspace pocket.

“What do you need them for though?” She asked.

“I told you already.”

Ranma suddenly had a dream about Ito selling herself on a street corner by flashing a see through panty at guys as they passed. She shuddered. “I won’t allow you to do it!”

“What in the hell are you talking about?” Ito yelled.

“I won’t allow you to sell your body on the streets!” Ranma declared and grabbed one of her shirts out of the pack. “Even if I have to tie you up.”

The cat’s fur stood on end. “WHAT?! WHO THE HELL SAID ANYTHING ABOUT THAT?!”

“Now be a good cat and hold still.” Ranma said. “This won’t hurt, much.”

“Huh?”

“I’m not going to let you do it!” Ranma yelled as she lunged forward.

“I’m NOT!” The cat yelled and jumped out of the bag. “Will you calm down?!”

Ito ducked under the attack, avoided the shirt, and ran out of the tent as fast as she could. She quickly vanished into the trees around the tent before Ranma had a chance to react. A half a second later Ranma rolled out of her tent, this time with a net in her hand, and took off after the cat with a yell. Perfume and Shampoo, who were still cooking lunch, looked up at Ranma as she ran off after the cat.

“What’s she up to?” Perfume asked as she tasted the soup. “Lunch is almost done.

“Shampoo have no idea.” The other Amazon said with a shrug. “More for us.”

“Yeah, but we might want to follow after her.”

“Why?”

“In case she gets in trouble?” Perfume asked, and then shook her head as Shampoo gave her a weird look. “Naw! There’s no way that girl could get into that much trouble.”

Shampoo continued to give her friend a weird look.

“What?”

Ito screamed as she burst out of the bushes nearly, ran into the clearing, hurtled the soup, and tore off under the old house several yards away. A few seconds later Ranma burst out of the bushes and slid to a stop panting for air and glaring around her. “Where did she go?”

She could see Ito watching them from the shadows under the house as she shook her head frantically. “Um…lunch is almost ready.” Perfume said to distract Ranma.

“Cool! I’m incredibly hungry so I’ll catch the cat later and make her tell me what’s going on.” Ranma said as she plopped down beside the fire and grabbed a nearby bowl.

The two Amazons nodded slowly. “Sound Good.” They said to humor the girl.

From underneath the house Ito watched the girls eat and tried to figure out what in the world was going on. “There are days when that girl is down right unstable. Maybe I should find an excuse to send her back to Juban for the rest of the day just to get her out of my fur.” She muttered to herself and glared at the girl as if trying to use her mental powers to make her leave. Then Ranma jumped up.

“I gotta go, I forgot to take care of something in Juban when I was there earlier!”

“See’ya later!” The Amazons said as Ranma ran off and left them with cleaning up the dishes. They glared in the direct that Ranma had gone.

Ito popped her head out from underneath the house and watched Ranma run off as well. “When you’re good, you’re good.” She said smugly.

**********

Vexpa was in human form as she stepped onto the train, dressed in a simple school girl uniform and carrying a small book bag. She had given her new form short black hair and angled features that didn’t really stand out among the crowd. Once inside she grabbed one of the hand holds hanging from a bar attached to the ceiling of the car and made sure she had a somewhat concealed spot.

A quick glance around the car quickly filled with students and business men on their way home. She counted over forty people in this car and she was a bit amazed that there were even more people pilling into the car. She grinned a little and remembered what Nephlite had told her to do when she went into action. That meant she had to be quiet enough not to let the humans know she was there no matter what happened. All she had to do was collect a tiny bit of energy from the people on the train as it traveled across Tokyo. The humans would never even know what was happening if she was careful and that was a specialty of hers.

She closed her eyes and sent out an invisible wave of negative energy, almost nothing compared to what some of the Youma usually used. She let it slowly seep into the metal of the train car around her and made sure that she had everything under control. Her powers weren’t really all that formidable in a fight, which was why Jedite had never used her on an actual mission. He had explained to her that impatience had caused his problems and that he wanted to take a different rout now. So all she had to do was do what Nephlite told her to do and he would take care of the rest.

Any of the energy she collected would go straight to him after she finished up her mission, except for a tiny amount that would be siphoned off and sent directly to Jedite. That way if she was killed by the Scouts none of the energy collected would be able to return to people she got it from. They would just have to recover it on their own like they normally would and she would be able to get more from them every time they road the train.

Vexpa grinned to herself as she felt her power fill the car around her and started to draw in the energy from the people around very slowly. They didn’t even have a clue what was going on and she figured that at this rate it would take days to drain everyone completely. At most they would feel a little tired at the end of the day. Within a week she would have drained enough energy to match the energy from a thousand people. She could easily get more energy in this one mission than the Dark Kingdom had collected to date. All it would take was some patience. Something the Dark Kingdom didn’t have very much of, so she would have to be doubly careful.

She was a bit hesitant to try something like this, but Nephlite had insisted that it would work out perfectly. Then she heard something and turned to look down at something sitting on the floor nearby and noticed that there was a large black cat yawning as it woke up looked up at her. It seemed to realize what she was as its fur started to bristle and for a brief second she considered draining the thing completely and leaving its dead body for someone to find.

Then she changed her mind and focused on the plan that Nephlite had insisted that she follow at all costs. It had only been a few minutes and so far she had quite a bit of energy stored away and she used a bit of that to slowly let it move onto the next car and began to quietly absorb that energy too. Nephlite had originally set her free and told her suck the construction crews dry when they showed incase the Caretaker didn’t work.

Waiting around for that to happen hadn’t been doing her any good so she had set off to set her own mission set in motion. Nephlite knew what she was doing and had approved her initiative through their mental link. As she gathered energy she looked down at the cat again as it started to hiss at her. A couple of people looked up to see what was going on so she didn’t have a chance to do what she wanted to do. Vexpa smiled at the cat since people were watching her and quickly drained most of its energy. It made a funny sound as it just fell over and started to sleep.

“Such a cute kitty.” She said and knelt down to pet it, filling its body with negative energy as an after thought. There was a possibility that she might be able to use it if she needed to.

“What was it hissing at?” An old man asked her as she stood up.

“It’s hard to say. I’ll bet it spotted a mouse running around in here.” An old woman in a nearby seat said with a cackle.

The old man just nodded and turned back to reading his paper.

Vexpa just smiled serenely and transferred the energy to Nephlite like she had been told to do. There hadn’t been much in a cat, but there were millions of them floating about the city and she already had a few ideas how she could use it now that she possessed it. She would have to ask Nephlite if the cat’s energy was good enough to start collecting more from them. They couldn’t fight back either, which in her mind was a good thing.

**********

The plan was set and now all she had to do was set it in motion. Rei grinned as she glanced around the corner to see if Mamoru was in sight. She sighed a little and stepped back and took a second to adjust her little red dress she was wearing. Hoping that it would be enough to let Mamoru notice her, but she had to be careful. Ever since she had met the guy she had been thinking about him and she had every intention of at least getting to know him a little better.

She reached into her purse and pulled out a small compact to do a quick check of her make up, took second to fluff her hair, and added a bit of lip gloss as she nervously waited. Then she heard something and turned to look around the corner again. A guy on a bicycle nearly took her head off as he flew around the corner, nearly knocking her off her feet.

“Eeep!” She yelled as she stumbling back against the wall. She glared, a bit of fire in her eyes, and yelled at the guy as she watched him ride down the street. He didn’t even bother to slow down as he made a rude gesture at her and dodged through traffic and disappeared. Growling a little she looked down and saw that she had dropped her compact on the ground, breaking it into about a dozen pieces.

“Ah crap.” She muttered. “I’ll make you pay for that!”

“Haha!” Echoed back, ticking her off even more.

“Jerk!”

“Are you alright?”

She froze and slowly turned around to see Mamoru looking at her with a concerned look on his face.

“Ahmina…” She blathered out and blushed, shook her head, and took a second to smile at him. “Excuse me.”

Mamoru nodded as he took a second to bend down and pick up all the pieces to the compact, brushing most of it into a pile with his hand. He picked it up and tossed it in a nearby trash can and dusted off his hands as best he could before turning back to Rei. “There you go.”

“Thank you.” Rei said shyly.

“We met this morning I think.” He said.

“Yep, you saved Usagi’s cat.”

“Mamoru Chiba.” He introduced himself.

“Rei Hino.”

“Would you like some tea?” He asked.

Grinning, somewhat insanely, Rei grabbed his arm and nodded a few times. “Yeah! How about at the Crown Arcade?”

“I was just heading there.” Mamoru said with a grin.

Rei could feel his eyes checking her out and knew that the little red dress had worked perfectly. They started walking down the street and she spaced out the world around her as she walked along with him. She could feel what his arm felt like through his green jacket and knew she had made a good choice. It was enough to make her a little giddy as they talked.

Mamoru wasn’t sure what to think as he glanced down at the girl hanging off his arm.

Across the street, peaking around the corner of a building, Usagi the Master Spy dressed in her school uniform, a trenchcoat, over sized sun glasses, and a big hat created with the disguise pen watched as they moved off. Several of the people around her decided that they didn’t want to be anywhere near her and crossed the street as she growled and glared at Rei and Mamoru as they walked down the street. “What are they doing?! What the heck does she see in that jerk?!” She muttered to herself.

She snuck around the corner and tiptoed down the street, occasionally dodging around a person here and there. From there she followed after them for a couple of blocks, every now and then she would giggle, hide behind a trashcan or pole, and then continue on. It didn’t take her long to figure out that they were going to the arcade and stopped about half a block away to watch them as they entered the building and headed up to the second floor where the café was located.

As she adjusted her hat to hide her face she looked around the area and spotted a tree a little ways away with some bushes around it that would provide her with a bit of cover. She ignored the whispering around her as she tiptoed over, dived into the bushes, and reached into her trenchcoat to pull out a pair of binoculars. The disguise pen seemed to provide her with all the equipment she needed to fit the role she was playing. Of course her hair was exactly the same and she failed to realize that it didn’t do anything to hide who she was, but that didn’t matter. She had some spying to do.

With the binoculars pointed at the second floor of the arcade she watched as Rei and Mamoru took a window seat and started talking. “Rei what are you doing?” She muttered to herself and glared at the spawn of evil sitting across from her friend.

They talked to Motoki’s sister for a second before she left to get their order and Usagi growled under her breath as she adjusted the image in the binoculars. She was a bit jealous that Rei could wear a dress like that and look so good. Why did she have to pick a guy that drove her nuts ever time they met? The two of them were going to have a little talk about this later on. After she made sure Mamoru didn’t do anything to hurt her friend. “What do I do, what do I do, what in the world do I do?”

“USAGI!”

“AGHAAA!” She yelled and jumped back against the tree and holding a hand over her heart as she gasped for air. Then she looked down and saw that Luna was glaring at her from beneath a bush. “Luna!”

“The disguise pen is for Scout business only! How many times do I have to tell you that?” The black cat snapped, her crescent moon shining in the shadow of the bush.

Usagi crawled back over to the bush and looked around to see if anyone had seen her. She giggled a little as she noticed several people looking in her direction and ducked down behind the bush to hide from them. Then she picked up the binoculars and put them back in her coat. Then as Luna watched the blonde pulled out a length of rope, a pair of hand cuffs, and magnifying glass. The cat sweatdropped as Usagi started to giggle.

“Just what do you think you are doing?” The cat snapped.

“I will make sure that jerk doesn’t hurt Rei.” She cackled. “He’s horrible to me, so the jerk has to be that way to everyone else.”

“I kind of doubt that…” Luna said with a bigger sweatdrop forming on her head.

“Ah come on, it’s the perfect solution to this.” Usagi explained with a maniacal grin on her face. She took a second to adjust her hat because it kept slipping around in between hair buns she had tied up on top of her head. After taking a quick look around, Usagi pulls out the disguise pen and tries to come up with a better disguise. She needed to get into the building.

“Usagi, you can’t…” Luna saw this and started to tell her something, but Usagi was already holding the pen up.

“Turn me into a stunning waitress!” It flares and a wave of light flares around her body for a few seconds. “Alright, let’s go!” She says.

“Usagi, you can’t…” Luna tries to say again, this time a little louder so that the girl might actually listen to her.

“Luna!” She snaps and notices for the first time that she isn’t dressed like a waitress. Instead she is dressed in her school uniform again. “What the heck? It didn’t work?”

“I’ve been trying to tell you! The pen can only be used once every few hours before it has to recharge.” Luna snapped.

“What a rip off!” The blonde yells and glares down at the cat.

Luna wasn’t about to admit that she was glad it had a limited use. Otherwise Usagi would have been using to go to school in her pajamas. Why bother to get dressed when you can just walk around in nothing at all without anyone noticing. “Look, it didn’t work, so will you quit spying on them and let them have some time alone?”

“No!” Usagi yells and tip toes over the edge of the bushes and starts to spy again.

Sighing loudly, Luna turns around walks off. “I won’t help out with this. You’re on your own.”

“Okay, Bye!” Usagi says, waving in the cat’s general direction. ‘I need to be closer. I can’t hear a thing they are saying.’ She thinks as she moves to another position and looks up.

Suddenly a red wall steps in front of Usagi and she looks up to find Ranma standing in front of her on the other side of the bush. “Hey, what in the world are you hiding in there for? Is there a Youma around her somewhere?”

“Eh heheheh” She laughs. “There’s no Youma, just trying to make sure that guy up there doesn’t hurt Rei.”

Ranma glances up at the second floor of the arcade and notices that Rei is glaring down at them. “Well they seem to be kind of preoccupied…”

“I know what I can do!” Usagi says and bounces up and down a few times happily, and then she suddenly jumps over the bush and grabs Ranma’s hand. “Let’s go!”

“Huh!?” Ranma asks as she is pulled off her feet and dragged into the building and thought to herself. ‘This is one strange day.’

**********

There was this strange feeling in the air as Luna walked along the top of the fence and looked down into the alley below her. She had left Usagi a little ago and decided to take a little while to calm down when she started to sense something weird. At this point she wasn’t sure what it was either.

She had been following it as best as she could for the last several minutes, but whatever was causing it was elusive and hard to track. It seemed to remind her of a Dark Kingdom’s energy and at first she had thought they were attacking again. But then she had lost track of the signal and couldn’t even find it again.

A few minutes later it had happened again and she slowly traced it down the street, though several alleys, a park, until she finally ended up in another alley. On the ground below her was a simple looking cat sleeping behind a trashcan. It had light brown fur with white highlights and as far as she could tell it was completely normal.

Her head snapped up as she suddenly sensed another surge of dark energy and she broke into a run and made her way further along the alley. The alley actually had a couple of dog legs shooting off to the sides behind a building and she jumped off the fence and looked behind the alley. She was a bit surprised to find nothing but a couple of tom cats hissing at each other.

What caught her attention was the fact that one of the cats seemed to have a black aura of power around it as it hissed at the other cat. Luna wasn’t sure what was going on, but her hair started to bristle up as she watched the aura snap out and slam into the other cat. It cried out in pain as its body was thrown back into a brick wall and slid to the ground.

“I have to inform the girls about this.” She said and turned to go and do just that.

She didn’t even get more than a few steps before cats started to land all around her, quickly forming a shield of bodies. They all had a sickly look in their eyes as they glared at her and Luna realized that they were all possessed. She crouched down and hissed at them and tried to find a way to get around them and back to the Crown Arcade.

“Get out of my way. I can help you if you let me go.” She snapped at them. She was a bit surprised when one of them answered her.

“You are different.” The cat with the dark aura said as it walked up behind her.

Luna gaped at it. She took a second to see that it didn’t have a crescent moon on its forehead so she knew it wasn’t like her or Ito.

“My master says to kill you.” It said as glassy black eyes bored through her mind.

Her eyes narrowed as she realized that the other cat’s aura was beginning to writhe and she rolled to the side as it lashed out. The ground where she had been crouching shattered into dust as the aura touched it. Yowling in shock Luna panicked and broke into a run. She vaulted over the wall of cats, bounced off the wall, and landed doing a full sprint.

“&%$#!” Luna yelled as she raced down the alley.

She could sense that the cats were chasing after her as she raced around the corner and headed down the street. All she needed was five minutes alone to call the girls and tell them about this, but the cats wouldn’t let her. They were right on her tail as she ran. She ignored the humans as she ran and even ran through their legs if they didn’t get out of her way.

The people around her had to scramble to get out of her way as the small army of possessed cats chased her. The lead cat didn’t even seem to see the people as it used them to springboard after Luna. She figured it would catch up with her within a matter of minutes if he kept moving like that. So she took a chance, this time watching the traffic in the street around her, and dashed out into the street without warning.

“Aghaaa!” Luna screamed as she dashed right into oncoming traffic.

Squealing tires filled the air as the army of cats entered the street. Luna didn’t look back to see what was going on, but from the sounds happening behind her she was positive that a few of them wouldn’t be a problem anymore. She made a mental note not to tell the girls about it, they had a thing about killing their enemies. At that moment she had other things to worry about.

Like the large white truck bearing down on her with its horn blaring. She screamed, jumped forward, and let the truck pass over her. Its axle barley missed taking her head off, but she had the presence of mind to notice that there weren’t any cars behind the truck. The instant she saw clear sky she broke into a run again and quickly made her way to the other side of the street.

She took a glance behind her and quickly spotted about a dozen cats still chasing her including the lead cat. Luna gasped for air as she ran and tried to think of something to do, but the only thing she could do was find one of the girls. Three of them were at the Crown Arcade, but she was now heading in the wrong direction to get to them. Then she hears something that was almost enough to make her faint in relief.

“Luna!” Sailor Mercury yelled as she stepped in front of the cat.

“Meow!” Luna yelled and jumped into the girl’s arms and started to purr loudly.

They stood there as the cats ran up to them and started to fan out. The lead cat’s aura formed about it as it glared at them.

Mercury looked down at the cats. “What’s going on Luna?”

“That cat there is possessed by dark energies.”

“Hold on Luna, we need to get out of here.” Mercury said as she crouched and jumped up onto a nearby roof. Kicked off, and roof hopped for the next few minutes and quickly lost the cats. They landed in an empty lot a few blocks away from the Crown Arcade and she took a second to set Luna down on the ground. Then she pulled out her computer and started typing.

“Thank you, Mercury.” Luna said as she looked around nervously.

“You’re welcome. Those cats were possessed?”

“Yes, at least I think they were.”

“I’m not picking them up with the computer.”

“Are you getting anything at tall?” Luna asked in surprise as she looked up at the girl.

She didn’t answer at first, taking several seconds to double check her readings. “All I’m picking up are about two hundred very tiny moving dark energy signatures.”

“Two hundred!” Luna gasped in shock.

“One second, let me expand the search area.” Mercury said as she typed for a few seconds. “Now I’m picking up even more of them.”

“How many?”

“About a thousand or so, the readings are kind of hard to figure out. They are almost impossible to read as it is. Most of them seem to be at a nearby park.”

“We have to tell the others!” Luna yelled in a panic.

Sailor Mercury tapped a button on her computer and sent out an alert to the others to meet her and Luna at the park. Then she read another screen on the computer and looked down at Luna. “The readings are increasing.”

They quickly ran out of the lot and headed for the park.

**********

To Be Continued...

End Notes –



Omake Six:
By C. Rose

“Halt!”

Usagi, dressed in her black leather trenchcoat, clothes, and black glasses turned to see a man standing about ten feet from her. He was wearing the weirdest piece of clothing she had ever seen. A full set of black leather formal wear, complete with a cape and a cane. He was also wearing a pair of wrap around sun glasses.

“Who are you again?”

“Agent Rose, and you are coming with me.” He reached into his cape and pulled out a rose. “Or else.”

The blonde snorted. “I’m not afraid of a man who tosses around roses.” Agent Rose tossed the rose and Usagi screamed as she scrambled out of the way. She watched out of the corner of her eye as it embedded in the side of a nearby car. “You will have to do better than that!” She yelled.

He stepped forward and whipped his cape to the side and sent a dozen roses flying at her. Amazingly enough she stayed calm and dodged out of the way of each rose as it flew by her like a bullet and riddled the car behind her with more holes. Making it look an eccentric vase. Agent Rose growled.

Then a blue haired woman dressed in form fitting leather dropped form out of nowhere and knocked Rose boy out. She turned to slink over to Usagi. “Are you alright?”

Usagi hugged her. “Hi Trinity!”

“I told you to call me Ami.” The leather clad girl said with a little blush.

“I like Trinity better.”

“Fine fine.” Ami said with a wave of her hand as she pulled out a small computer and typed for a second. “Our exit point is a couple blocks down.”

“Cool, I’m hungry.”

“You are always Hungry.”

As they exited the Matrix they sat up and disconnected with the help of a girl with long brain hair in a pony tail. “Morpheus wants to talk to you.”

“Hi Mako-chan! I’m hungry!” Usagi yelled and hugged the girl.

Makoto blushed. “I’ll fix something up for you.”

“Yay!”

Cypher stepped out of the shadows, adjusted her long black hair, and waved at them. “I see you're back.”

“Yeah! Mako-chan is gong to make us something to eat!” Usagi told her.

Trinity rolled her eyes. “We have to go and see Morpheus first.”

“Alright.” Usagi said and followed the leather clad girl out of the room.

“She gets weirder by the day.” Cypher said.

“Yeah, but she does a good job.” Makoto said as she put on her apron and tied it behind her back.

Just down the hall Usagi and Trinity step into an office and look at the desk where a black cat is waiting for them. It looks up at then. “Well?”

“Everything worked perfectly.” Usagi explained.

“I had to save her from Agent Rose.” Trinity said.

Usagi frowned at her.

“AGAIN!?” Morpheus yelled and lashed her tail.

“He pops up everywhere I goooo!” Usagi whined.

Suddenly an alarm goes off and Morpheus jumps off the desk as they hear a scream from down the hall. The girls follow after the cat as it runs into the Core room. “What’s going on?”

A blond girl peaks out from behind the mess of wires on the other side of the room. “I didn’t do it!”

Morpheus looks over at the blinking screen and realizes that the EMP pulse had just killed the matrix. “AGHAAAAAA!!!!”

“I just looked at it.” The blond muttered.

Cypher, looking a little disgruntled walks into the room. “It seems that the people that were still in web have somehow managed to survive. Blonde over here managed to pulse the matrix and just kill the robots. It’s a friggen miracle.”

Usagi hugged her.

“LET GO LET GO LET GO!!!” Cypher yelled and waved her arms. “I DON’T SWING THAT WAY!”