Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Princess of the Moon ❯ Chapter 02 ( Chapter 2 )

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

**********
Princess of the Moon
Chapter 02
By C. Rose
(c)2001

**********

For the first time in months, Ranma had come across a guy who was willing
to fight her tooth and nail, the fact that he wanted to kill her didn't
matter in the least. It just meant that they would be fighting that much
harder, Jedite was this evil bad guy with magical abilities and a lot of raw
power at his disposal. Ranma knew she could beat him, she just wanted to see
what he had to offer. She had already taken him down once and that had been
too easy.

Ranma ignored the fact that he had already gotten in good blow and sliced
her leg open somehow, it was just a flesh wound and nothing to worry about.
The pool of blood at her feet meant nothing to her as she limped to the
side, circling the blonde idiot. "What's the matter, that all you got?"

"What is your name girl?" Jedite growled.

"You may call me Ranko, Master of the School of Anything Goes Martial
Arts."

"I am Jedite, General of Queen Beryl's army's and soon to be King of
Earth."

"Well J-chan, you have to actually defeat me first and your track record
isn't so hot."

Jedite screamed and rushed forward, throwing a punch that Ranma barely
ducked. She blinked a few times and reevaluated Jedite's skill, he may be
dependent on his magic, but he has learned to use it effectively. His speed
is nearly equal to her own now, but Ranma just dodged and weaved. Second
rule her idiot father had taught her, never show your true strength even in
a major battle. Ranma's leg came up and hit Jedite right in the chin and
sent him flying back, she didn't give him time to get very far though as she
spun around kicked him in the side and booted him into a nearby building.

He impacted with a cry of pain, face first, and slid down to the ground
moaning. Jedite's mind, though filled with pain was confused, this girl was
breaking through his magical defenses as if they didn't exist. Even Sailor
Moon had been helpless before his force fields and power blasts, but this
Ranko was seemed to know something he didn't. Jedite crawled back to his
feet and decided that this girl was going to be dead by the time he was done
with there. "Alright, you've pushed me to far girl."

"Ohh, I'm shaking in my sneakers here." Ranma taunted.

Jedite held out his hand and a sword and shield appeared, a blazing aura of
power formed around him and his uniform shifted to a more stately style with
a cape that billowed with the aura he was producing. The sword glinted in
the sunlight and burst into black fire. "Die bitch!" He growled out, his
eyes blazing with fury.

Ranma crouched down and burst into a blazing blue aura and studied her
opponent, he kept surprising her. She could feel his power now, but is
wasn't the evil he had been producing before, but a pure kind of power that
the Scouts used. Where in the world had he learned this from, she thought.
Growling deep in her throat, Ranma's aura turns red and flares out a couple
of feet even as she launches forward. Jedite does the same and leads in with
the sword, leaving black and silver after images as it moves. Side stepping
the sword, Ranma kicks Jedite several times, but his armor is tougher than
it looks and isn't damaged.

The sword blurs in a dizzying pattern of death as Ranma weaves in and out
of the man's defenses, but she is distracted and gets hit in the face with
the shield sending her stepping back. Right in the path of Jedite's sword as
it slices her upper arm open, making her gasp in pain. Then it spreads
quickly and fills her body, Ranma staggers back and falls to her knees as
her head flares as if it is about to explode. She screams in pain and falls
over clutching her head, tears of pain dripping off her cheeks.

"This is one of the famous Pain Blades we used to defeat the Moon Kingdom
originally, they haven't seen the light of day in centuries, but it looks
like their power is still very effective, eh, bitch? Can't talk, I'm not
surprised, these things have brought the most powerful of fighters to their
knees, right where you are."

"Ahhh..." Ranma said.

"Now what should I do with you? You are going to die, but how shall I do
it, a limb at at time, or months of endless torture...Bwhahahahahahahaha!!!"

Through her haze of pain, Ranma had one thought, this man is an absolute
idiot! He had me down and stands there to gloat? Ranma groans and reaches
for her full strength and her aura flares out again, this time it is edged
in a blue band of confidence and she slowly raises to her feet, her crescent
moon flaring brightly and making her aura even bigger. The pain is more
than she has ever had to endure, but the flare of her aura seems to bleed
the dark attack off and within seconds it is down to tolerable levels.
Jedite is still laughing as she moves to uppercut him with the force of
semi, lifting him into the air and dropping him like a sack of potatoes. The
sword drops and shatters as it hits the ground, it soon vanishes like those
monsters he was summoning.

"A crescent moon..." Jedite gasps and goes pale, trying to crawl away.

Ranma continues her attack by kicking him into the air and using it as a
free floating punching bag, punching and kicking the idiot until his entire
body is black and blue, his eyes are rolled back in unconsciousness, and she
is sure of victory. She is about to put him down for the final time when
Jedite's body vanishes out of her hand in a swirl of cherry blossoms.

Ranma's eyes narrow and she relaxes, looking around for where Jedite had
gone. Something inside her is telling her that he was teleported away, but
what that thing is, she has no idea. Then she senses something and her head
snaps around to look at a nearby roof top and spots a tall green haired
Sailor Scout holding a weird looking staff. She jumps down and walks over,
calmly assessing the situation and smiling at Ranma. She pulls a mirror from
behind her back and holds it up for Ranma to see the bright silver crescent
moon glowing on her forehead.

"What is that?"

"That is the mark of the Royal Family of the Moon, Ranma, only those of
that family can have that mark and your display of power just now proved
that you are a member of that family. That marks you as a princess of the
moon, you have royal blood in you Ranma and it is beginning to adapt to the
power that is within you, making you stronger in every way."

"I am not a Princess lady, I am a man, I was born a man and will always be
one."

"Do you think I didn't look at your past Ranma Saotome, I am the Guardian
of Time, I can watch anything that has ever happened or will be. You were
given this form for a reason, you don't have to act like a Princess as you
understand them Ranma. NO matter how you act or dress, you are a Princes of
the Moon Kingdom. You make what kind of Princess you will become, not what
others think you should act like. The Scouts need your help with Jedite and
the others that will eventually follow him in the years to come. Please
Ranma, if you don't help, eventually the Scouts will be killed and the world
will suffer under the heel of whoever it was that killed them. They are all
that stands between peace and the destruction that the elements of evil that
will try time and again to take this world."

"Is that supposed to sway me, to make me take up a fight that is none of my
business?" Ranma snapped. "What if I do help, then what, do I dress up in
these stupid costumes and let all the perverts in the nation look up my
skirt all in the name of love and peace?"

"There is a magical field around those that wear this uniform Ranma, you
could meet your father dressed like this and he wouldn't recognize you."

"Yeah, he would be to busy trying to look up my skirt or chasing me
around for a quick feel." Ranma grumbled.

Pluto sighed and held up a Sailor Scout Pen with the symbol of the sun on
it. "This is one of the only Sailor Scouts that was destined to never appear
Ranma, Sailor Sol or Sun. When a girl takes up one of these pens and
transforms into their Sailor Identity, the transformation multiplies their
best assets, your strength would be incredible, as would your speed, and
your Ki attacks would be strong enough to level entire city blocks if you
used all the power available. Just imagine the amount of good you could do
with that at your disposal."

"A powerful toy is not enough to make me just drop my beliefs you know."

Pluto stepped back and bowed and opened a large door that hadn't been there
seconds before. "Then look upon the Gate of Time and see the possible
futures that may come to be if you don't help us Ranma."

The door opened to show a barren land scrape devoid of even plant life, the
sky was almost pitch black, the light coming from a tiny pin prick of
something high in the atmosphere. Pluto pointed to it. "That is what will
happen if the Silence is brought to pass just a few years form now." The
scene shifted again and showed Jedite and another man with long white hair
pulling girls out of a line up of half naked girls, the surroundings looked
like a labor camp of some kind. "This is a year form now, just a few short
months before the Silence takes place, notice the girl being held by Jedite,
that is someone you know, yes?"

"...Shampoo?"

"Her and the village are vaporized in one shot when they refuse to bow down
to Queen Beryl's rule, only the girl's between fifteen and twenty are
allowed to live and that is as you see them."

"You said these are only possible futures?"

"Yes, there are hundreds of possibilities to choose from, some like this,
others where they were more lucky. It all depends on choices Ranma, will you
accept this pen?"

"I don't know..."

"I can offer one more incentive Ranma, when you take up the mantel of
Sailor Sol it will make you whole again. That means that your fear of cats
will vanish and you will be able to learn how to control the true Neko-ken."

"I-I...sigh, alright I accept."

"Here, take it and say what is already in your heart."

"Huh, I don't know about this..." Ranma hesitated.

"You accepted Ranma, that was a promise to help the others wasn't it?"
Pluto said.

Ranma reached out and took the pen from Pluto, he had a strange feeling
about this, and they both gasped as it turned into light fragments and
formed around her arms as a pair of gold and black bracers. "W-what the
hell?!"

A surprised Pluto kept her face straight and replied. "You are the first
new Scout to be born in over ten thousand years Ranma, it is adapting to you
and making you a modern version of a Sailor Scout. Can you feel the power in
your veins?"

"I can...it's..."

"Say the words Ranma."

"SOL CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!!"

This feeling of pure ecstasy filled Ranma and she moaned as she was lifted
into the air, the bracers flare with a blinding light, when it recedes Ranma
is clad in a fuku unlike any have ever seen before, reddish black leather
body suit, a red and black skirt, a green front bow and a white back bow
with the ribbons trailing nearly to the floor. She has on knee high reddish
black boots, the arm bands now decorated with little crescent moons, and a
tiara with a ruby in the center. This feeling was filling Ranma's soul and
she shuddered a little as she nearly came right there, what ever it was she
felt wonderful. Strong and fast, powerful and unstoppable enough to take on
all of the demons in Jedite's arsenal. "Whoa!!"

"See what I mean?"

"This may be a little much..."

"What do you mean?"

"This could become addicting if I let it."

"That is always the same with the first transformation, it is the power
adapting itself to your body. The fact that you have royal blood in you is
probably what is making it so pleasurable for you, the transformation is
very intense."

"Okay, I could get used to this." Ranma said and suppressed a moan and
shuddered a little. "Hey wait a minute, it's broad daylight here, why
haven't we been seen yet?"

"I am the Guardian of Time Ranma, I made us just about a half second ahead
of normal time, so everything is stopped until I start us up again." Pluto
said with a hint of arrogance.

"Is there anything else I need to know?" Ranma asked.

"As a Princess you will be receiving a cat adviser."

"Ca-ca-cat?"

"Your fears should be gone Ranma..."

"Almost completely, but there is this feeling left over...I don't know how
to describe it."

"It's just reflex Ranma, you'll get over it in time. I'll send you a cat
adviser as soon as I can." Pluto said, the girl didn't need to know that one
had been sent for already and would be arriving inside a week. It had to
come all the way from the Retreat, fairy cats were made to be such good
companions too. With that thought, Pluto stepped into the gate and vanished
in a swirl of fog. The course of time resumed and Ranma found herself above
Tokyo bay, she screamed as she fell the twenty feet into the water, cursing
green haired women all the way.

AT the Time Gate Pluto laughed at her water logged friend.

**********

It was midnight when the guard dozed off to sleep and he opened his eyes
and looked around carefully. For the first time in months the time was ripe
for him to try again, they were getting lazy in their patrols. They must
have thought him beaten or cowed, but he would never give up his freedom
again, not after the Master. He raised an arm covered in fur and let his
mind wander deep into untouched territory to call up a skill he hadn't
touched in fifteen years. At first he couldn't remember the techniques, but
after days of trying he had finally recalled them. His arm snapped out and
hit the guard in the back of the head, she fell to the ground with a loud
clatter.

Snapping the bamboo door off it's string hinges, the escapee vanished from
sight as it high tailed itself out of the cursed village of Amazons. Curse
that ungrateful son of his and his dishonorable ways, he had worked to hard
over the last few years to see his dreams destroyed like this. Genma Saotome
raced along, his panda body running on it's hind legs like some well trained
circus bear. Spears, arrows, darts, and a whole plethora of other objects
were thrown at him as he raced along, dodging the pathetic Amazons attempts
to capture him. Genma laughed, or growled in joy as he ran over a hill and
vanished from sight.

The Amazons stopped chasing the giant cowardly panda and laughed. "Do you
think letting him go was a good idea, it only took him a whole three months
to finally try and escape, I was beginning to think that he was retarded or
something, I only left the cage door open ever night for weeks." Said
Perfume.

"True, and he still broke it when he escaped." Shampoo said.

"Do you think he will find Ranma for us?"

"Yes, he is the girl's father, he will find her eventually."

"Then let us go, the idiot doesn't even know how to cover his tracks when
he runs. I'm bored already. Are you sure you have everything you need?"

"Oh yes." Shampoo said and pulled a large sword out of nowhere, moon light
glinted off the blade, giving it an evil look. A half mile away a panda saw
the girl's at the top of the hill, the sword, and the reflected light and
ran for his life.

**********

-A Day in the Life of Ryoga the Wanderer-

Ryoga was knocking snow off his boots as he looked around the jungle he
found himself in, not ten minutes ago it had been snow so bad he had been
having trouble seeing. Then he had jumped over this large crack in the ice
and landed in this jungle, how the snow survived here he had no idea. All he
did now was that some thing was calling him, but whenever he focused on it,
he remembered his most prized memory of a topless girl smiling at him.
(Ryoga's memories have always been a little delusional). He was still
looking for Ranma, but felt it wasn't as important as it had been two years
ago. Their trail had dried up completely and he had no idea where to look
now, but that girl who was haunting his dreams kept popping up.

She had traveled all over China studying with various masters and priests,
if the rumors were true, she had learned how to user her chi. Ryoga wanted
to ask out...er..challenge his mysterious beauty, but had no way to find her
with his sense of direction. Then one day he had been thinking about her and
felt her far away and he had run towards where he felt her, crossing
jungles, cemetery's, mountains, cities, and lakes until he had become
totally lost. It must have taken half an hour at least, at one point he had
felt he was close, but had lost it when he tripped and fell in that lake.
Some Americans had pulled him out, but since he didn't know English very
well they had taken him to the nearest port. When he had stepped off the
little walkway down to the docks he had turned back to thank them, but ended
up tripping and getting a face full of snow.

Where the hell that came from he had no idea, maybe it had snowed when he
wasn't paying attention. Americans always were a bit weird, maybe it was
because of that weird weather. Now he was in a jungle, it looked familiar
for some reason as he walked. Suddenly there was a doorway ahead of him
between a couple of trees and he went through, maybe they had a phone he
could borrow or decent directions. He walked out on stage and noticed that
there were a lot of half naked men running around and a totally naked girl
chained to a wall, she was screaming in some language he didn't know. With a
shrug Ryoga batted the men of the stage into a crowd he hadn't noticed and
shattered the wall the girl was chained to.

She wrapped her naked body around him and tried to kiss him, but he
couldn't see anything with his eyes close and what he was feeling was
tempting enough. He could feel the blood going to his nose while he carried
her off the stage and tried to ask her for directions to Juban. Eventually
he gave up and sat her down and waved goodbye, he missed the sad look on her
face as she slumped down, naked, on the beach. The sign in the background
said 'Welcome to the Bahamas'.

(Note-I just had to put this in here, it just fit for some reason...heh)

**********

Akiko was not having a good day, she had thought it was going to be such a
good day too. She had woken up early, fixed herself breakfast without
screwing it up and even managed to get to school on time for a change. She
had spent most of the day finishing off her homework and fantasizing about
some of the guys in her class, just a typical, normal day. After school she
had ran home and quickly changed into her casual clothes to go and meet her
friends for a lazy afternoon walk through the mall. That was when the
problems began, after a couple of hours her friends had headed on home, but
there were still a few things that she needed so she decided to stick around
and get them on her own.

For some reason she had known that something was going to happen, but had
ignored it, figuring she was just being silly. On the way home from the mall
she had decided to take the long was and get a good look at the ocean before
bed. She had been walking along the sidewalk, just along the beach that
bordered the ocean, when three boys had come out of nowhere and dragged her
down to a secluded part of the beach to have their fun with her. Now
normally she would have been more than happy to help them out, but they had
to start hitting her for no particular reason and that just pissed her off.
She struggled for several minutes trying to find a decent leverage to throw
the idiots off, they weren't even that good in the first place. Then the
most amazing thing happened, the first of the three boys who was currently
on lookout, let off a short scream and vanished.

The amazing thing was that none of the boys seem to notice when he
vanished, but Akiko had noticed a reddish black blur just milliseconds
before he vanished. She was a little board so she didn't have anything else
to do, all she really wanted was for the moron above her to finish what he
was doing. She struggled a little more and caught a second vanishing act at
the corner of her eye, as the second of the three boys vanished, but this
time the last of the three took note and jumped to his feet. Just in time
to see a tall red headed woman wearing a Sailor Scout fuku appear out of
thin air and kicked him across the jaw with a spinning kick that launched
him back over a dozen yards to land in the water at the edge of the beach.
Akiko was a little amazed that he didn't get back up, then realized that the
kick must have very powerful to have thrown him that far. She shrugged and
hoped he got out of the water before he caught a cold or something.

Akiko sat up and stretched the kinks out of her back before looking up at
her savior. She had witnessed the regular Sailor Scouts on more than one
occasion as they dealt with the various monsters that roamed around the area
lately. None of them had looked anything like this one, there was an aura
of power around her that could be felt more than a could be seen. She had
long red hair that fell down her back, to well below her thighs, it had been
braided tightly and tied back with a small black bow at the top of her head.
The girls body suit seemed to be made out of a reddish black wet leather
design that made her attractive body even more gorgeous to look at.

"Are you alright?" Asked Ranma as she stood above the half naked Akiko.

"Oh sure." Akiko said as she stood up and adjusted her clothing. "I've
had this happen to me a few times in the past, so it's become somewhat
boring really. I mean those guys didn't even doing anything of interest, it
was boring and not really very original or stimulating." Akiko shrugged and
dusted her skirt off.

"Um...sure..." Ranma said, she looked a little confused. "Would you like
me to help you home?"

"No thanks." Akiko said as she went over to where the guys had piled their
closed and stole their wallets. "Those guys owe me some new clothes and
need to replace the groceries that they destroyed when they grabbed me."
Akiko said as she stripped every last bill out of the three wallets and
started to start counting it out. "Look at this, cheep bastards, this isn't
enough to cover what they ripped or destroyed."

Ranma edged away from the strange girl and resisted the urge to sweatdrop,
she waved goodbye and with a couple of large jumps was soon running across
the rooftops of the Juban district. As she ran, Ranma's thoughts turned to
the green haired Sailor Scout that had called herself the Guardian of Time.
Because of her, Ranma knew that the next few days and possibly weeks were
going to be very interesting if she survived them. Sure she had taken on
Jedite and a couple of his goons and beaten him somewhat easily, but she
also knew that he was an intelligent being and would adapt to her skill in
any way that was needed to defeat her. As a martial artist and a student of
that idiot Genma Saotome, she knew that the upcoming fights were going to be
more dangerous than ever and that she couldn't afford to underestimate
Jedite. No matter how bad a fighter he was, he must have done something to
have earned his current place as head of the invaders troops.

The same could be said for her heat father, he was a thief, a glutton, a
liar, and a whole slew of other questionable titles. Still the old fart was
possibly one of the top 50 fighters in the entire world no matter how
cowardly and stupid he was. Ranma figured that she would place Jedite in the
same category as her retarded father, he would adapt and learn whatever was
necessary to defeat her and accomplish his mission. Of course, she also
thought she might be giving Jedite a little too much intelligence, but it
was better to overestimate his skill than to underestimate it. A little
while later, after running at a near sprinting pace for over an hour, Ranma
reached the park that was only a few blocks away from the shrine that she
was staying at. She wasn't even tired when she landed in the middle of the
park and looked around, but the park was surprisingly empty. Ranma wasn't
sure how to detransform, but after several minutes of thinking about it she
concentrated and managed to pull all of her newfound power into her body.

Her uniform flared with a bright red light and then vanished within her,
Ranma noticed almost instantly that if she concentrated she could feel the
power boiling just below the surface of her Ki. The two powers seemed to be
mixing together and working in concert with each other, and the more she
concentrated the quicker they seemed to merge together. Walking over to a
nearby tree, Ranma sits down and begins to meditate in the way that Cologne
had taught her back when she had visited their village. The old bat had
been very impressed with her level of training and skill and had inducted
her as an honorary Amazon. She hadn't really wanted to go along with
Cologne's idea because she didn't agree with a good number of the strange
laws that they practiced. It had only been through sheer luck that she
hadn't gotten into trouble with any of the Amazons before then. Shampoo had
been a different matter, but she didn't want to dwell on that very much.

Ranma performed the mental techniques that Cologne had suggested and
quickly entered a meditative trance. From there she spent the next two
hours going over all of the events that had taken place in the last 24
hours, she did not like what she was seeing at all. She also had the
distinct impression that she had been tricked in some way, but she just
couldn't put her finger on exactly how it was accomplished. Her swim back to
the islands had been surprisingly boring considering how far out she had
been, it reminded her of her first swim from Japan to China and he idiot's
idea of training during the swim. The Saotome School of Martial Arts had
several techniques that allowed them to fight while underwater, she recalled
having to perform them while hovering in the water about thirty feet below
the surface with the old man sitting on his raft up above and eating dinner.
If that hadn't been enough, she found that he wanted her to do this several
times a day in shark infested waters. Panda no Baka!

Cologne had taught her this one move called the Shark Fist, it was
particularly interesting technique that allowed a fighter to hold her hand
in such a way as to throw a punch that sent out a shark shaped blast of
water at her opponent. She had been wanting to test the technique out on
the old man ever since she learned it, but fighting in the water was
actually a very rare occurrence so she doubted that would ever happen. As
she continued to meditate another question came into her head and this one
she still couldn't fully grasp.

What exactly was it about her transformation into a girl that made the
Sailor Scouts think she was a Princess? Sure, that lady had tried to explain
to her, but for all she had said it still didn't make a whole hell of a lot
of sense. There was just no way that she could be a Princess since she had
been born as a man and raised as one. Every day of her life her father had
beat into her head that the girls were weak and useless. That opinion had
been altered drastically over last few months, but certain ways of thinking
were almost instinctual for her and getting around the fact that she had
once been a man was simply impossible for her to forget.

Ranma stood and stretched, even after two hours of meditating she still
hadn't seen a single soul within the park. It was a little strange even to
her, but figured that since she couldn't hear people screaming in terror or
sense any kind of dark presence nearby with her new powers, it must have been
something else. The walk out of the park and down the street to the shrine
stairs took her about ten minutes and another three to run up the stairs at
full speed and taking them three the time. She stopped at the top and took
a few minutes to relax before hitting inside, but stopped with her foot just
inside the door when her danger sense when off and alerted her to a presence
nearby that was watching her very intently.

"Who's out there?!" Ranma asked loudly.

"I was wondering when you would notice me." Said a distinctly female
voice.

"You've been watching me for all of thirty seconds, I've been on high alert
all afternoon and I would have noticed you no matter how much you try to
conceal your presence." Ranma snapped.

The voice cackled several seconds before subsiding into quiet giggles.
"You're right, I just wanted to see how you would react and to see if the
information I received about you was entirely accurate. From what I've seen
so far you are far more powerful than you look."

"Please come out where I can see you." Ranma said as she looked at the
bush where the voice was coming from.

"I'll warn you ahead of time, I'm a fairy cat." Said the cat as its
stepped out of the bushes and padded its way over to where Ranma was
standing. "You may call me Ito."

She froze at the mere mention of the word cat and started to shiver as it
stepped out and walked over to her. The fear of cats may have been taken
care of, but the basic reaction to a cat was still very much ingrained into
Ranma's mind. Ranma found that it took every ounce of her control to keep
from running at the first glimpse of the large feline. It certainly wasn't
of any particular breed that she recognized because of its red fur, but it
certainly could not have ever been mistaken for a common house cat. Ito was
a very large cat that could have easily been mistaken for a small bobcat, it
had bright red fur and a crescent moon symbol upon its forehead.

"Hello Ito, I take it that your that cat the green haired lady told me
about?"

Ito sweatdropped. "Green haired lady?"

"The only thing she called herself was a Time Lord or something, never
actually gave me her name."

"She is Setsuna, Sailor Pluto, and the Guardian of Time. NOT a Time Lord!"
Ito said arroganly.

"Whatever." Ranma returned with a smirk.

"Lady Pluto is to be honored for her sacrifices and her power!"

Ranma blinked. "Who is Lady Pluto?"

"Growl...Sailor Pluto is also the last living Princess of the Kingdom of
Pluto. She is royalty in every way of the word."

"Lots of strange titles for some green haired chick." Ranma muttered under
her breath.

"Green haired chick!" Ito snapped, her red fur standing on end.

"So tell me about yourself Ito." Ranma asked suddenly.

"Grrrr...I am to be your adviser, companion, and guardian if anything goes
wrong."

"Why?"

"All Royalty is given the option of having a Farie Cat as an adviser, it is
an honor and a privlege."

"So your like a talking pet?"

"What?!!"

"Oh I know, I need to get you a scratching post, some cat food, a collar,
tags, shots...etc, etc..." Ranma said ditz like, her eyes sparkling.

Ito was starting to get mad and was putting off an aura of anger, she
didn't see Ranma hide her smirk as she continued to list the things she
would have to have done to have a pet. She sweat dropped and hissed in fury
as Ranma listed giving her a flea bath, and popped her claws when she
mentioned house training. Ito pounced on Ranma's ankle in righteous fury,
or tired to. Ranma eeped and vanished as if teleported, Ito sailed through
the after image of Ranma and slammed into the side of a tree with a loud
thump. She slid the ground painfully, thinking that the first rule of all
Fairy Cats had been broken fairly easily. Never hurt or attack one's
companion, Ito groaned and added an amendment, unless they deserved it.
Ranma peaked at Ito from her position in the tree branches and giggled, her
fear of cats was truly gone. She hadn't been scared in the least little
bit, just reacting as she always did around a cat and even that would be
gone in a little while. She hopped down and hesitantly picked up the red
fur ball as she fought off her flee reaction to a cat. This was going to take
some time, she concluded.

Ranma hopped down and picked up the large red cat and wondered what she was
going to fo with it. She cradled it as she carried it back to the shrine, so
was lost in thought when she finished climbing the stairs. Which normally
wouldn't have mattered, but she was still fighting her instincts when
dealing with a cat.

"Hello Miss. Ranma!"

Ranma screamed and jumped to the top of the shrine, gasping for air she
turned and saw that Rei's grandfather had walked out of the shrine. He was
rolling on the ground laughing at her.

"Hello yourself." Ranma said, icily calm.

"What are you doing here?"

"You did offer me a place to stay didn't you?"

"I don't mean that, most everyone in town is over at the new carnival that
opened up yesterday."

"This is the first I've heard of it, is that why the park is empty today?"

"Yep, your the first good looking girl I've seen since yesterday." The old
man sighed as if the world was coming to an end.

Ranma glared at him. "Why did everyone go to this place?"

"Free food."

"Free food? You don't say, sounds like a place I have to check out." Ranma
said and turned and ran down the stairs in a cloud of dust.

Gramps shrugged as he stood back up and smiled, he stood there pretending
to look at a non-existent watch. He was counting under his breath and
looked up at where Ranma had vanished a few seconds before, to see the
energetic red head bounce back up the stairs. "3-2-1..."

"Hey old man, where is this place?" Ranma yelled from the top of the
stairs, rubbing the back of her head and giggling nervously.

"At the edge of the district, about ten miles from here."

"Thanks!" Ranma yelled and bounced off into the trees.

**********

The place was called Dream Land, it had to be the stupidest name she had
ever heard in her life. Ranma gagged a little at the sight of the park
itself, it was all castles, romantic rides, and cute animals. Just a few of
the things she avoided if she could get away with it, but the alure of free
food was just to tempting to pass up. She was about to make her way across
the giant parking lot when she heard something weird.

"Mommy, mommy! Why is that girl on top of that bus, she's cute, can I go up
there too, pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!" Said this
little boy down below.

Ranma groaned and sweatdropped as she realized she had been standing on top
of a tour bus full of guests for the park. There were several family's that
had just disembarked and were gaping at her in an annoying way. Then it got
worse, all the commotion attracted the bus driver and he stepped into view
and glared up at her. Ranma tried to look as innocent as she could, eyes
wide, sparkling, and a little giggling could work wonders she'd found.

"Hey you, on top of the bus, you owe me some money. I don't let anyone
freeload on my bus!" Yelled the driver as he climbed up on the bus, not
fooled in the least.

"Drat!" Ranma yelled as she launched off the bus, to the top of a nearby
car, and to another bus that was just driving by. She landed and waved good
by to ranting driver of the other bus and grinned, this time she would get
off before it stopped. Ten minutes later Ranma stepped into the park, she
had almost decided not to go when she found out just how much a ticket cost
to get in, she was nearly broke. Luckily there had been a young guy working
the line she chose, he had given her a discount when she smiled at him and
blinked her eyes. Boy's were idiots, she had found out pretty quickly
during her trip across China after ditching her father.

The park was even worse inside, though she did see some things she liked as
she wandered around. There were these robotic animals running around with
little kids on them, their parents in the back round laughing at them. A
lady dressed up as a robotic princess of some kind or another was controlling
the animals with a control disguised as an apple. For some reason the scene
gave her the creeps so she avoided the unnatural thing easily. She could feel
the princess thing watching her as she walked away from the sickening cute
scene. Ranma continued to explore around the park for an hour or so before
she found the free food, it was candies and cakes at a nearby castle. She
shuddered and wondered why something like this was so...damned cute. Still,
she suppressed her gag reflex and headed inside just as they were closing
the doors, slipping in just behind a blonde girl with the oddest hair style.
She had a friend with her that looked a little familiar, but Ranma blinked
as she realized that she had encountered the girl at the temple the day she
came by to drop off those scrolls...two or three days ago.

"Are you here for the free candy too?" Usagi asked the red head that had
slipped in with them.

"Yep, I can never pass up free sweets." Ranma said with a grin. She had
found out early that she had sweet tooth in this new body, things like candy
and suckers were great, chocolate was to die for, and she could eat ice
cream by the barrel full.

Usagi giggled and nodded. "I can believe that! I'm Usagi Tsukino and this
is my friend Rei Hino."

"We've met." Rei said.

"Ranma Saotome, martial arts extraordinaire."

"Ohhhh! Martial Arts, that is so cool!" Usagi said, she looked as spaced as
she sounded too.

Rei rolled her eyes, but after what she witnessed when the girl had toasted
Jedite with her bare hands, she was willing to believe it.

Ranma giggled at the girl's facial expression. "Yep, I'm the best there is
too."

"So what kind of candies and junk food do you think were going to find
here?"

"Probably the usual stuff..." Ranma said, but trailed off as the hallway
was beginning to fill with smoke. "...what's going on?"

"Huh?" Asked Usagi as she just started to notice the smoke.

"I sense danger here!" Rei said, looking around franticly.

"I do to, but nothing to bad." Ranma said, she could feel something evil
nearby, but it was pathetically weak.

"What do you mean my that?! It's practically dripping off the walls!" Rei
yelled in Ranma's ear.

Ranma winced and backed off, this girl had a real problem with being nice
it seemed. She lashed out at whoever seemed to be a good target for her
temper, even at the temple she had yelled at her for startling her that way.
It seemed she wasn't all that nice of a person, well, Ranma decided not to
go that far. Maybe she had a good reason for being so...

"Hey Usagi, why is your friend such a grouch?" Ranma asked loud enough for
all of them to hear, she grinned innocently.

"WHAT?!!" Rei yelled.

Usagi blinked as she was distracted from the smoke filling the hallway.
"For as long as I've known her, I thing she just likes to be mad at people."
Usagi said helpfully.

"USAGI!!" Rei yelled, her friends pig tails trailing away behind her from
the power of the yell.

"Well she is a good friend too, though she tends to get a little vocal."

"I noticed that the other day too when she yelled at me for running up the
temple steps." Ranma said, watching Rei out of the corner of her eye.

Rei growled. "You nearly ran me down!"

"I missed you by a mile when I flipped over you."

"You nearly took my head off with that stunt!"

"Oh please, I haven't messed up a flip like that since I was eight years
old and that was because the old fart had greased the rocks I was using to
practice on." Ranma stated and folded her arms across her chest and nodded
superiorly.

"W-why y-y-you arrogant piece of sh..." Rei turned red and her battle aura
started to form up when she was interrupted by the appearance of the robotic
princess.

"Hah, like your any better Miss. Temper Tantrum." Ranma yelled right back.

"Ex-cuse Me, but I-I would like t-o..."

"Shut up!" Ranma and Rei yell out and punched the thing, in the face, at
the same time.

With a deafening clang the would be robotic princess is hit with enough
force to dent it's metal body, it fly's back and crashes though a wall. It's
body is cracked and shattered where Rei and Ranma had hit it and it's
illusion flickers on and off, going from super cute princess to this really
ugly brown and green mockery of the princess. It would have been really
scary if it hadn't been imbedded in a wall with the occasional spark going
off.

"Now look what you did you tomboy!" Ranma yelled.

"I'm not the one that hit it so hard idiot!" Rei countered.

"Picky, picky!"

"Y-you...you...you..." Rei growled and punched Ranma in the face, only to
see her smile suddenly and cock her head to the side so that her fist misses
by mere millimeters.

"That all you got?" Ranma asks with a smirk.

"Wow!" Usagi says, her eyes wide.

"H-how did you do that?" Rei gasps.

"Just reflex really, ten years on the road with my old man learning the Art
and you could do it to."

"Ten years..."

"Yep, you've got potential at this you know, just the right amount of anger
and violence. This was a lot of fun Rei, we have to do it again sometime. I
haven't had a decent argument since I ditched the old man a few months ago."
Ranma said with a beautiful smile.

Rei blinked in confusion.

"Let's go and grab some of that candy." Ranma said, turning to go back down
the hall. Usagi right on her heels.

"You aren't going anywhere." Says the princess as she climbs back to her
feet shakily. She opens her mouth and this red mist gushes out and quickly
fills the hall, it starts to make all of them a little dizzy. Ranma had
tensed at the sound of her voice and spun around just in time to get a face
full of the red mist, she staggers down the hall a ways and leans against
the closed doors to the main hall.

Ranma shakes her head and tires to clear it of the strange hallucinogenic
effect it seems to have. Down the hall she hears the girls and realizes that
she had accidentally left them behind. She staggers back up the hall just as
there is this red and white flash of light that temporarily blinds her, but
her senses suddenly pick up two very power full sources of power that seen
oddly familiar. This needs looking into, Ranma thinks and concentrate and
uses her Ki to clear her mind.

For a few seconds it seems to be working and she sees this odd mockery of
the robotic princess floating above the floor holding a glowing apple, but
her mind can't hold the image and she finds herself in this meadow. She sees
some movement off in the distance and sees one of the Scouts she had met the
other day when she fought Jedite, Sailor Mars. She didn't recognize the
other one, but assumed it was the one that had been asleep on the roof,
Sailor Moon. The princess was handing this wreath of flowers to Moon when
Mars yelled and grabbed it out of the princess' hand, yelped and snatched her
hand back. Ranma gasped as the wreath turned into a snake as it hit the
ground and turned to stone.

Mars looks at her fingers as they turn to stone, it is obvious that she is
in shock, but Ranma has other ideas. They need help, but stops before she
even moves as Mars curses the princess and holds out her stone covered arm,
her eyes close and she suddenly bursts into a fire like aura and mumbling
the Shinto chant used to focus their concentration in meditation. To her
amazed and relieved eyes, Mars' arm turns back to normal and she sighs in
relief.

"Your alright!" Moon yells.

"We need to get out of this..." Mars snarls back.

Ranma looked around the area, but couldn't find any sign of Usagi or Rei
anywhere in sight. She was beginning to worry about them when something
occurred to her and she took a closer look at the Scouts. At first Ranma was
amazed when her mind refused to even detail the faces of the girls, but she
used all her will power to see what she needed to see. The crescent moon
flared to life on her forehead again and suddenly she could see Usagi and Rei,
plain as day, dressed up as Sailor Scouts. Ranma nearly fell on her butt in
shock, she did gape in total confusion though and missed the princess
transform into her Youma form.

"I'm your dream dolly, do you want to play?" Says the Youma.

Mars brings up her hands to fire off a blast when Moon runs forward and
pulls off her Tiara. The Youma opens it's doll like mouth and fires out more
red mist, completely enveloping the two scouts. Ranma gasps as the the
Scouts take on this slack jawed look for a second, their eyes light up and
Ranma is relieved that they shook off what ever was affecting them. Then to
her amusement, the two girl's suddenly grab a couple of brooms from nowhere,
straddle them and begin to hop around like a couple of little kids riding
horses.

'Now I can put them completely under my power.' Thinks the Youma as it
raises it's apple.

Ducking behind a nearby tree, Ranma is about to transform when she spots
two things that make her hesitate. The first is this total moron in a full
tuxedo, top hat, and a mask that just ran into the room from somewhere. He
reaches into his cape and Ranma tenses, but he pulls out a red rose and she
shakes her head at the stupidity of this idiot. She hated his fashion sence,
and now she had to save him from his own stupidity. He suddenly threw the
rose and to Ranma's surprise she could pick up the magical enchantment as it
was thrown like a hand held throwing spike. The damned thing actually flyies
out and knocks the apple out of the Youma's hand, it's enough to
actually impress Ranma for all of half a second. Then the idiot opens his
mouth and spouts off this drivel to encourage the girls.

"Don't let her get into your dreams Scouts!" Tuxedo Mask yells and runs
off. For some reason this actually helps the girl's get their focus back and
they turn to confront the Youma again. Ranma face faults as the illusion
falls to reveal the Scouts riding the brooms. They both turn red, drop the
brooms, and jump back in embarrassment.

The second thing Ranma notices is this blue haired girl staggering down the
hall form the main room where the free food was supposed to be. She stops
and pulls this pen out of nowhere and holds it up. Ranma's eyes narrow as
she yells "Mercury Power, Make-Up!" and transforms into Sailor Mercury.
Ranma didn't know her name, but she had a feeling she would know it soon
enough. Mercury runs past Ranma's hiding place and the Scouts confront the
Youma. Ranma witnesses Mercury lay down a fog bank while Mars and Moon
combine this frisky attack and blow the monster away.

That had been something Ranma hadn't been expecting, the attack must have
tripled in power when they combined like that, she realized. Then the
monster turned to dust and castle faded away around them, it must have been
part of the monsters powers or something. She slipped away in the confusion
that followed and was surprised to find Usagi, Rei, and a blue haired girl
all standing off to the side and watching the police go over the now empty
lot where the castle had been. Ambulances had been called to take care of
the thirty or so victims of the attack.

"Usagi!" Ranma called.

The girl screamed and jumped five feet in the air, flailed around, and
landed on Rei. This took the girl down and she tripped Ami and they all went
down in a pile. Ami's skirt rode up as she was pulled down Ranma got a
pretty good look at her blue panties when she landed on top of Rei. Ranma
blinked several times before falling over laughing, the great Sailor Scouts
were a bunch of untrained, clumsy girls.

"Stop laughing!" Rei yelled.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Usagi cried.

Ami just blushed and pulled her skirt down as far as it would go.

"BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

To Be Continued...

**********

Note - Now were getting somewhere, the next story will be the love cruise
episode and is going to be nothing like the original and what I'm planning
to with Titus is just plain evil. Comments on this chapter are wanted, I
especially want to know if you like the way things are going or not. I want
feed back on this one, I plan on doing the next episode, but after that it
is up in the air because I don't know if this should be continued past that.
So please email me and let me know....