Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Princess of the Moon ❯ Chapter 04 ( Chapter 4 )

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

Notes - This is the second version of this chapter, if anyone has the
original floating around, please burn it and replace it. I posted Princess
04 and Replacement 05 to soon and ended up posting a couple of chapters I
started to hate. So I rewrote both chapters. I hope this version is a lot
better than that crap I sent out earlier, the more I looked at them the
more I wanted to do something different with them or correct them.

On this fic I have received a number of complaints that told me that I have
some dates, names, and times wrong. I have corrected these and will be
reposting the newer chapters along with this one. Most of the changes are
minor word rearrangements and such or a paragraph here and there, but they
should fix a number of things that people have been telling me about. ^^

**********

Princess of the Moon

Chapter 04

By C. Rose

(c)2001

**********

"What are you doing here Rei?" Usagi gripes.

She had seen this add on TV for this contest to give away two tickets to
the Love Cruise and since she had lost out to Ranma several days ago and
she was going to get these, then she could ask Andrew to come with her. She
hopped in line and waited for several minutes, but eventually made it to
the counter and saw a large bowl full of red beads. The sign said there was
a gold bead in there somewhere, but she didn't see it. She grabbed the
handle that spun the bowl and groaned as a red bead popped out. Then she
turned to walk away when she spotted Rei watching her, a strange look on
her face.

"What's it to you Meatball Head." She had heard Mamoru call Usagi that at
the carnival and liked the sound of it instantly. "I want those tickets!"

"But you don't even have a boyfriend!"

They argue back and forth for several minutes, but Rei eventually gets
bored and hops in line as she sticks her tongue out at Usagi. Several
minutes later she makes it to the counter and she smiles shyly as she
concentrates and spins the handle...and out pops the gold bead. She jumps
for joy. "Alright!"

"WE HAVE A WINNER!!"

"She used that strange power of hers to cheat." Usagi mutters, mad that her
friend would cheat in that way. Still, she had to take someone, and they
were friends. "Rei who are you going to take, Grandpa?"

"You aren't touching these tickets Usagi." Rei says in a huff.

"But Rei?! The Scouts should stick together..."

Rei growls and spots Ami heading their way and smiles. "Your right Usagi,
we should. Ami!"

"Huh?" Usagi gets out just as Rei runs off.

"Ami come here, I've got good news!" Rei yells.

"What is Rei?" Ami starts, but Rei grabs her and drags her off to a nearby
cafe. They grab a table and Rei explains about the tickets. Usagi sneaks up
to the bushes outside the window where they are sitting and listens in as
best she can.

"Aren't you going to invite Usagi? She really wants to go on that cruise."
Ami says.

"No, she's been acting like a real brat lately." Rei snaps.

"But...I would feel guilty if I went and she didn't."

"Don't worry about it, we can pick her up a nice...souvenir or something,
like a hat." Rei says.

"Okay, I'll go." Ami says, the cruise did sound like a good idea and a lot
of fun. Rei and Ami run off making plans, the cruise left in a few days and
it didn't leave them much time to get ready. Usagi hears this and starts to
get really mad, she got up and hid before they could see her face as she
tried to control her anger. She backed into an alley to figure out why her
friends were doing this to her, it just didn't make sense that both of them
would be out to hurt her.

"Usagi!" Luna yelled as she ran up.

"Hi Luna." Usagi said, sounding mad and depressed.

"Usagi, I managed to get in contact with the princess."

"That's nice Luna."

"Usagi, didn't you hear what I just said!" Luna yelled.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Luna." Usagi muttered, her mind on other things. She
looked up as Luna's words finally registered, to bad she hadn't been paying
attention. Ranma's red haired visage was less than an inch from hers and
smiling like she was thinking dirty thoughts. Usagi screamed and jumped
five feet in the air and landed with a crash, her ass in the air and her
skirt flared just so.

Ranma just blinked and wondered what it was with this girl and showing off
her panties like that, heck, all girls for that matter. She did have a nice
round, firm, ass though, Ranma had to admit and being a girl full time gave
her ample time to see these things. She grinned down at Usagi and helped
her to her feet, the girl was blushing so red that heat was wafting off of
her. "Hi Usagi, I met your cat."

"L-Luna?"

"Yep, talks a mile a minute too, couldn't get her to shut up for
anything..." Ranma yelped as said cat took a swipe at her ankle with claws
extended. She edged away and giggled nervously, reminding herself not to
tease the talking cats.

"Ranma!" Chorused Luna and Ito.

Usagi noticed the red cat at Ranma's feet and gasped. "Ohhhh, Luna is she
like you?"

"Yes Usagi, this is Ito, Ranma's adviser."

"Hello Ito!" Usagi yelled and kneeled down to pet her. Ito may have been a
farie cat, arrogant, and intelligent, but she was also a shameless cat and
loved to be petted. She rumbled into a loud purr and rubbed herself up
against Usagi, smirking at Luna.

"What's wrong Usagi, you looked a little peeved a little while ago and that
isn't an emotion that you use much." Ranma asked.

"Ami and Rei are going on that Love Cruise, without me."

"What's so important about that Cruise?"

"We do have some things to talk about you two." Luna interrupted, but Ranma
and Usagi just ignored her.

"You won those tickets at school, now you can take any boy you want with
you. I wanted that...is something wrong?" Usagi asked, Ranma had gone a
little pale when she mentioned boys.

"Um...heheheh...no...nothings wrong, I've just had a few bad experiences
with boys in the past...yeah." Ranma lied, badly.

Ito rolled her eyes and wondered if Ranma would ever accept her new form,
sure it had only been a few months, but being female was better than
anything else, wasn't it?

"Oh you poor thing." Usagi's heart melted as she wrapped Ranma in a hug.
"Don't let the past hurt you like that, things will get better." Why had
Ranma tensed up like this?

"I-it's nothing to w-worry about Usagi." Ranma tried, trying to stop the
strange feelings she was getting. Ito and Luna just giggled at her. "Do you
want to go on that cruise that badly?"

Usagi stepped back and gave Ranma a look that said they would talk later,
then nodded. "I wanted to take Andrew from the arcade or even one of my
friends if he wasn't available, like Naru."

"W-well you can have one of mine if you want it, Usagi."

"Hey, you two...we.......have....." Luna tied again, getting madder by the
minute.

"What, but those are for you and your boyfriend?"

"Like I want anything to do with a boyfriend Usagi, your my friend, here
you can have one of mine. I hadn't really planned on going, but if you do
I'll go to." Ranma said and choked up again as Usagi squealed and hugged
her again. She blushed when she realized that Usagi was really pressing up
against her.

"ThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThan kyou!!" Usagi
screamed as she jumped up and down, still hugging Ranma.

"Your welcome Usagi." Ranma said as she blushed.

"But you will have to do me one little favor." Usagi said suddenly.

"What's that?"

Usagi rubbed the back of her head and laughed nervously, blushing a little.
"Your going to have to help me get up early so that we get to the ship as
soon as possible."

Luna sighed and gave up, nodding her head and giving Ito a cat shrug. "She
is totally hopeless in that area."

"What's so hard about that?"

"Um...heheheh...it's really hard to wake me up, it's why I'm late for
school every morning."

"Okay Usagi, I think I can do that." Ranma said with a smirk, she'd used to
have the same problem a couple years ago, but his father had found a way to
cure him of his laziness. She grined and sized up Usagi's potential and
was surprised to find that she had tons, all of it wild and unfocused.

Usagi hugged her, again, and squealed in delight. This was possibly the
weirdest girl Ranma had ever encountered. She kept her grin firmly in place
and tired to think of a way to get her to calm down. Usagi was now bouncing
around like her namesake, a rabbit, and had bits of her anatomy that were
moving in ways that made Ranma feel funny. Whatever it was Ranma liked the
way it felt, completely missing the fact that her nipples had just hardened
noticeably. Looking for a way out of this mess, Ranma decided that it would
be a good idea to grab something to eat.

Her stomach growled, loudly, and caused Usagi to stop her bouncing around
and to make her laugh. Ranma just blushed and giggled along with her.
"Would you like to go and grab something to eat Usagi?"

"Sure, the arcade is nearby, we can eat there and discus what we want to do
while on the Cruise."

"That sounds like a lot of fun and a good idea."

They ran off, Usagi absentmindedly dragging Ranma along by her hand.
Ranma's hand was tingling and she didn't understand why, she was also
feeling a little warm all of a sudden. These thought and other more Hentai
thoughts flashed through her mind, so she can be excused for forgetting
about the two cats that had been watching the whole conversation with
interest. Up to and including Ranma's odd reactions to Usagi's open nature.

"From the looks of that, I would say the Ranma's Princess instincts are
still working about normal." Luna said.

"What do you mean?"

"Hmmm...oh...back in the Silver Millennium most of the princesses were what
are called Bisexual now a days."

"Oh, um...Luna, Ranma has absolutely no interest in men. I'd be willing to
bet my life on it, she is girls only."

"Why do you say that?" Asked a surprised Luna.

"Just a hunch." Ito said, trying not to smirk.

**********

It was the next day and Ranma was running across the roof's of houses for
the mile run from the temple to Usagi's house, she easily jumped across
intersections and ran over the street lights as if out for a daily jog or
something. Most of the drivers that saw this could only gape and run into
the car in front of them. Why? Well Ranma has no sense of modesty and was
running in her school uniform, a skirt and blouse combo, that meant
panties, that meant the men in the cars were looking up her dress as she
sailed past. Distracting them enough that they ran into the car in front of
them, needless to say that by the time Ranma arrived at Usagi's house she
had caused the fifth largest traffic jam in the Jubaan district that year.
Emergency workers were not sure what to do with the thirty or so perverts
that were wandering around mumbling about white silk panties. Ranma figured
if she had to wear them, the school frowned upon her wearing her gym shorts
under her skirt, she would wear the best and most comfortable and that
meant silk and satin panties, all black, red, or white. She had just
stopped by the school to let them know that she and Usagi would be out of
classes for the next two days while they were on the Cruise, they insisted
that they be in uniform anytime they were on school grounds. It was weird
rule, but Ranma had been wearing skirts off and on for weeks now. She had
found that instead of being freaked out by them or developing a loathing to
them she had grown uncaring. It was a dress, big deal, she had more
important things to worry about, like breakfast, which she had skipped to
get to the school on time.

She launched off the wall outside Usagi's house and landed in the front
yard by the door, her skirt flaring up to show off her perfectly toned
legs. Kenji, just walking out of the house gets an eye full and falls into
a drooling faint. Ranma ignores him as she steps around another pervert and
knocks on the door, her thought were still on what happened during her run,
she couldn't figure out what the fuss was for, she was just out running and
hving a little fun so there was no reason for all those guys to crash
their cars. Usagi's mother opens the door and smiles at Ranma.

"Hello Ranma, Usagi said you would be by today to help her get up and ready
for that cruise she has a ticket for."

"Yeah, she wanted to go really bad and I had this extra ticket..."

"You gave her that ticket, she never mentioned that, just that she was
desperate to go on that silly thing."

"I agree with you on the silly part, but Rei and Ami are going as well and
Usagi wants to be with them." Ranma bit down on her tongue to keep from
mentioning that Usagi might be looking for revenge against Rei, but that
was Usagi's business.

"Their going too? Do you know who they are taking as dates?"

"Sorry Mrs. Tsukino, I have no idea."

"Oh well, head up to her room and see if you can rouse the dead. She could
sleep through a nuclear blast and only complain about turning the radio
down."

"She's that bad?"

"Oh yes, probably much worse than what you have heard."

"You know that sounds like something I went through a couple years ago
myself, but I got over it."

"Do you know what happened to make you that way?"

"Oh sure, I thought I was coming down with some kind of sleeping sickness
so I went to see a doctor about it." Ranma started, deciding she didn't
need to know about the fight she'd had with her father, the chase across
every roof in the city they had been at the time, the cops, the explosions
and falling into a warehouse full of kidnappers holding a number of doctors
for ransom from a local hospital. "The Doc I talked to said it sounded like
an adolescent growth spurt, the body burned ten times more energy, balance
was screw...eh hehe...messed up, and I had to eat more food in a day than
even my father and he can pack it away like you wouldn't believe."

"A growth spurt? That may be why Usagi is so clumsy too, what a fascinating
idea and one I never considered before. How did your father ever manage to
wake you up if you were always falling asleep?"

Ranma had a quick flash of Genma tossing 'him' off the roof of a four story
building, jumping after him with fists and feet flying. "We usually sparred
in the mornings, he kind of trained it out of me over a period of months."

"That won't work for Usagi I'm afraid."

"Nope, I wasn't even considering it, instead I was thinking of pop's other
method."

"Other method?"

Ranma grinned and pulled a bucket of water from nowhere, sloshing a little
on the ground. "Alternative method."

Mrs. Tsukino giggled and pointed up the stairs. "First door on the right."
She turned to shut the door and spotted her husband out cold on the lawn,
he was drooling like he had the first time she showed him her underwear.
She glowered and stalked out to give him a little lesson...

Ranma breezed forward like the panther on the prowl, grinning like an
idiot, and made her way silently up the stairs. She frowned as a young boy
walked out of his room across the hall from Usagi's and gaped at her, she
silenced him with a finger to her lips and pointed to the bucket and
Usagi's door. It took a second but the kid turned red and had to grab his
mouth as he nearly exploded in laughter, he ran back into his room and
grabbed his pillow off the bed.

Usagi's door was unlocked and Ranma moved into the room to see Usagi curled
around her pillow, drooling onto the mattress, she giggled in her sleep. It
was one of the cutest things Ranma had ever seen, she had to bite her
tongue to keep from touching the blonde. Ranma had never seen pajamas like
Usagi's either, a white and red combo covered with little pictures of
rabbits. Ranma walked over to the bed and spotted a sleeping Luna splayed
out on the foot of the bed, she was giving off these light snores. Ranma
tapped her on the head and grinned as she hissed and fell off the bed. She
glared up at him until she spotted the bucket Ranma was holding.

"You wouldn't?" Luna hissed.

"I would." Ranma said calmly.

"She isn't going to be happy!"

"Heh!" Ranma said and swirled the water in the bucket. "Usagi, time to get
up just like you requested!" Ranma said loudly.

Usagi snuggled against her pillow. "mph...imsa."

Ranma shrugged and decided to give her one more chance to wake up before
she used the bucket, she grabbed the side of the mattress and lifted it,
spilling Usagi on the floor with a thump. She still didn't wake up! Ranma
shrugged again and tapped Usagi on her head, it had no effect what so ever.
Ranma shrugged and upended the bucket over Usagi's head and hopped back out
into the hall.

Usagi screamed and flailed around as she suddenly found herself soaked to
the bone, it brought the whole house running. Shingo, Mrs. Tsukino, and
Ranma all laughed as Usagi finally settled down and pieced together what
had happened. She glared at Ranma, who was peaking around the door, her
long red hair nearly touching the floor. Usagi burst into a large red
battle aura and stumbled to her feet. "RRRRRRRAAAAAAAANNNNNNMMMMMAAAAAA!!!"

"Eeeppp!" Ranma said with a grin and headed for the stairs with Usagi
flying right after her with a growl.

They were soon in the front yard and Ranma was giggling loudly as she
bounced all over the yard with Usagi trying to catch her on the ground
snarling in anger. It was one of the few times anyone had ever seen Usagi
actually mad at anyone, still, Ranma's little joke did deserve a little
violence and everyone was getting a good laugh out of it. Shingo
especially.

"Come back here Ranma!"

"Come on Odango, can't you take a joke?!"

Usagi snarled and nearly caught Ranma by the ankle, but Ranma just twisted
away and bounced off the fence and did a spinning flip over her head and
using two fingers on top of Usagi's head as a pivot point. This continued
for several minutes and Ranma was impressed with Usagi's stamina, she had
been going full out for the whole time and was still breathing normally.
Eventually Mrs. Tsukino took pity on Usagi and called her inside, Usagi
gave a snarl and stomped inside, her long ponytails rising up indignantly.

"Come on Usagi, can't you take a joke?"

"I'm soaking wet!"

"But you wouldn't wake up!"

"Aghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!" Usagi's voice came back, Ranma winced and grinned at
Usagi's mother who was trying very hard to not laugh at her daughter.

"That wasn't a very nice thing to do Ranma."

"Maybe, but is was a lot of fun." She countered.

"Would you like to have breakfast with us?"

Breakfast was an education for the whole Tsukino family and Ikuko silently
declared that she would be more prepared the next time Ranma showed up to
eat, that is if she allowed the girl to ever come back. She was as bad as
Usagi and had a stomach just as deep. Of course the eating contest by the
two was an eye opener, especially when Ranma and Usagi started stealing
each other's food, right off each others plates. Then they had started
taking from the rest of the family, then the table, then what was left on
the stove, then they had the nerve to switch to the refrigerator. By that
time they had totally forgotten about the rest of them, so Ikuko grabbed
them and tossed them out the front door with Usagi's packed bags for the
trip. It gave her a warm and fuzzy feeling when the four bags bounced off
Ranma's head. One slammed door and the two teen were on their own.

They staggered to their feet, Usagi stomping off out of the yard with a
growl that surprised Ranma. She was confused at first, then thought she
might have actually been mad at her. That actually came as a surprise, what
had she done to piss the girl off? Sure the water was a little out there
and just maybe could have been used a little differently, but it was all in
good fun. "Usagi wait up!"

"Humph!!" Came back and Ranma grabbed the bags and ran to catch up.

"What's wrong?"

"Like you don't know!"

"I was just playing Usagi, I used to do that all the time with pops and he
never complained or got mad."

"You poured water on me!"

"So, I used to get flung out third story windows while I wasasleep. What's
a little water."

"Do I look like your father?!" Usagi snapped out, her pony tails raising
indignantly, again.

"Hell no, your a thousand time more good looking than the panda."

Usagi, who was used to fighting with Rei and going at like this for half an
hour or more blinked as her anger seemed to just vanish. She started to
blush and faltered enough to let Ranma catch up with her. No one had ever
given her a complement quite like that one before, she didn't know what to
think of it.

"I really didn't think the water would make you that mad Usagi."

"Um..."

"And you did ask me to wake you up."

"Well..."

"I even tried rolling you off the bed to the floor and you just kept right
on snoring away."

"I DON'T SNORE!!" Usagi yelled out, her fogged mind snapping back.

Ranma blinked and looked at her curiously, then he smirked and looked
around and Usagi 'eeped' when she noticed they were surrounded by dozens of
couples heading for the docks. They were all looking at her and Usagi
realized that she was still wearing her bunny pajamas, with the rabbits.
She screeched loud enough to make even more people notice her and broke the
sound barrier as she grabbed one of the suit cases and ran to a nearby
public bathhouse. Ranma blinked and grinned as soon as the blonde was out
of sight. She couldn't believe just how cute that girl turned when she was
mad, she developed these little dimples and lost all focus for a second.
Even that weird hair do looked cute when it lifted up as if by magic when
her battle aura was actually visible when she got really mad. That girl had
tons of potential too.

In the bathroom Usagi was bright red as she quickly changed into a sun
dress and tossed on some make up. She was still steamed, there was this
desire to grab a large object and bash Ranma over the head with it. Then
there was this other thing that was beginning to bother her, Ranma was
treating her just like Mamoru did, insults and all. On some levels she was
hurt by Ranma's words, but she couldn't pin down just what was up with that
girl. She hadn't really wanted the tickets and yet had taken the time to
win a pair. Had she expected to lose or had she been planning something, it
just didn't make sense to her. Then there was the other thing her mind kept
skirting around, Ranma's dislike of the boys at school.

Even Umino hadn't been able to pin down a history on Ranma and it was
driving him mad. There was supposed to be a boy named Ranma, but he didn't
have any sisters or family that could have explained a female Ranma. There
was the half baked idea that the female Ranma was in fact the male one, but
that was impossible. She and nearly twenty other girls had seen Ranma naked
in the showers after PE and she had a body to die for. No fat, sculpted
muscles that made her look fantastic, was a 'natural' red head, she had the
right equipment for a girl both above and below. There was no way she could
be the boy that had her same name.

Usagi was beginning to believe that one rumor she had heard was true
though, that Ranma was a lesbian. She flirted shyly with most of the girls
she had been introduced to and liked to play jokes that would end up with a
girl showing off various pieces of their bodies, wet t-shirts, falling so
that one's panties were exposed and such. Then there was that mysterious
smile that she developed when she thought no one was looking, as if she was
privy to a joke that only she understood. That smile was what had captured
Usagi's imagination lately, what it meant was beyond her, but figuring it
out was going to be fun if she was right.

Usagi finished with her lipstick and stepped back to check herself out,
smiled and packed the offending pajamas in the case, slipped into her inch
high heels, and walked out of the bathhouse's locker restroom looking
confident and alluring. She stepped outside and spotted Ranma just as she
looked her way and spotted her as well. The girl seemed to pale for a
second, then turned a little pink as she blushd, it made Usagi give a
mental nod. Ranma had to be a lesbian or a Bi, nothing else made sense, but
even she may have not been aware of it because she wasn't very blatant
about her attractions. Usagi, though fourteen, noticed something else as
well about Ranma. The girl was naive about anything dealing with girls and
boys, it may have been the reason why she was so shy at times and so
forward at others. She was glad she had decided to wear the heels, that
made her feel more grown up in some ways.

"Ranma, are you going to wear that school uniform on the cruise?"

"Naw, just until we get to our cabin, then I was planning to change into my
swimsuit and heading to the pool."

"First thing?"

"Yeah."

"We probably won't be heading out until later this afternoon and we will
have to mingle among the crowd to get a better idea of what all we can do
while aboard."

Ranma shrugged as she tried to regain control of her mind as perverted
thoughts assailed her from all angles. She still had a male mind after all
these months and Usagi was a very good looking girl no matter how weird her
hair style was. The girl actually looked older than Ranma now and that was
a little scary, the make up was noticeable, but it seemed to only make a
woman out of a cute teenager. Ranma swallowed and looked at how interesting
her feet were for a second. Shaking herself, Ranma pointed to the line for
the boarding passengers.

"Let's get in line and you can continue to fill me in on what else one can
do while on board a ship like this."

"Alright Ranma, by the way have you seen Rei or Ami?"

"No, but we are several hours early so they may show up later. Rei was
still getting ready when I left this morning."

"Oh, well lets go and get settled."

The ship was quite beautiful and over filled with people, everywhere they
went there were more guests and activities. Even heading down to their
rooms, Ranma and Usagi encountered several of the crew. They were helping
guests with excess baggage and such, it was quite a sight. Several of the
guests were already quite drunk or drinking, Ranma ignored them, she just
wanted to their room and change into her more comfortable clothing.

**********

Meanwhile in another part of the ship the co-Captain's of the cruise,
Jedite and Titus are looking over a large device that they used to convert
the entire ship to their use. It had been child's play to take over the
ship and it would be even more simple to dispose of it once they were done
with it. Jedite was pacing back and forth, his arrogance evident in his
every step. "An excellent plan Titus, I hadn't expected this kind of turn
out. We will take huge amounts of energy here!"

Titus was one of the few Youma that had advanced enough to attain a kind of
human personality over the years, that had earned her the title of a High
Youma. Only one in a hundred Youma could attain the true intelligence and
freedom Titus had earned, she had done it through skill and a little luck.
She was quite beautiful in her uniform and exuded a kind of sexuality that
drew the eye from across the room. "Yes Jedite, there is no way those
Scouts can bother us all the way out on the ocean and we can dispose of the
evidence easily after were done. A win/win situation."

"Indeed Titus, this is a plan that can not fail!" Jedite crows.

The door to the room opens and a crew member looks inside. "Sir, all the
guests are boarded."

"Then cast off and take us out."

"Yes sir!"

"Are you sure those things aren't going to give us away?" Titus asks.

"Their just low level Youma, they are to weak to cause to much damage and
make great servants and cannon fodder if needed. Oh yeah, I have a little
something I want you to do to. There was a red headed girl that boarded
earlier..."

"I remember her, she stood out like a sore thumb when she and that blonde
haired girl came aboard."

"Yes, I want you to watch that red head."

"Sure, but why?"

"She is the one I fought the a few weeks back, I want to make it a point to
islate her and kill her."

Titus' eyes narrow and she nodded. "Yes sir, I understand."

"Excellent." Jedite said and walked off.

Several minutes later the ship casts off and the they slowly make their way
out to sea. Most of the guests are used to traveling like this, but a few
like Rei and Ami are having problems as they walk down the hallway. They
are barely able to keep their balance as the ship sways to and fro. Ami is
in a green formal dress and Rei in a red one, they make quite the sight as
they move around. Rei loves the attention, but Ami is to shy to even accept
it.

"Rei, have you noticed that were the only ones here without dates?" Ami
asks.

"Yeah, a date would have been cool, but I'm happy to be with you as well
Ami, were friends after all."

"Thanks Rei!"

Rei gets this look on her face and grins, she tastes it again and giggles.
"Hey Ami, lets flirt with some of the crew guys and get someone to take a
picture of it."

"Why?"

"To get Usagi jealous of course!"

"You two need to make up, this fighting is just stupid." Ami snaps and
pulls out a book to read as they walk. She suddenly had no problems with
the way the ship is moving, to bad Rei can't say the same.

**********

Usagi twirls around her room and smile happily, she was here and it was
just perfect. Well not perfect, she had Ranma here instead of Motoki at the
arcade, but it was still good. She tossed her bags on bed and heard
something she didn't want to hear. The sound of someone saying "Ouch..."

"What was that?" Ranma asked.

"I don't know, it came from one of the bags."

Usagi grabbed her makeup case and flipped the hard cover open and jumped
half way across the room as Luna and Ito tumbled out onto the bed. Both of
them cursing up a storm. "That was uncalled for Young Lady!" Ito yelled as
she fell off the bed and landed on her head.

"What were the two of you thinking, just leaving like that, there are
monsters running around Tokyo you know. We have protect the citizens from
them, or had you forgotten?!" Luna yelled out. She hadn't fallen off the
bed, but rolled end over end until she fell across the pillows.

"Where here to relax a little and have a little fun, pick up some guys,
make out a little, have fun!" Usagi said.

Ranma just about fell off her chair at that, but managed to stay in place
and silently deny it. She glared down at Ito, but found that she was
glaring right back with a smirk across her little kitty face. The red cat
rolled to her feet and stretched out to nearly double her length and
unsheathed her claws. "You should have thought this trip out a little more
Princess, there are lives at stake here and your running around playing
dress up?"

"Hey, I don't play dress up!" Ranma yelled.

Ito hissed and pounced at Ranma, but she Eeeeeeped!! and attached herself
to the cabin's ceiling. The red cat sailed through the space where Ranma
had been and slammed head first into the chair, knocking it over. Ito
rolled over and jumped at Ranma as she hung from the ceiling, she missed by
a foot or two, but Ranma was just out of reach.

"Get down here and take your punishment!"

"No way!"

"I'll get you yet Ranma!"

"Not on your best day, cat." Ranma stuck her tongue out at Ito.

"DIE!!!"

Meanwhile across the room, Usagi was getting the third degree from Luna.
"Well?"

"Why are you here?"

"Um..." Usagi began, then had an idea. "Where here to check out the cruise,
it seemed a little odd to me."

"Likely story Usagi, you just wanted another chance to goof off!"

"It's true, there's something odd with this cruise, I just don't know
what."

"Then why did you bring so many of your good clothes and makeup Usagi?"
Luna snapped.

"Undercover work!"

"Right." Massive amounts of sarcasm were evident in Luna's voice.

Usagi stomped and glared at the cat, she may have been lying, but she
wasn't about to admit it to the cat now. She pulled out her transformation
pen and held it up high, commanding it to turn her into a photographer. One
light show later and she was ready to work the ship over. "See, I will find
out what is wrong!" Usagi said in a huff, grabbed Luna, stuffed her into
the makeup case again and stomped out of the room.

"I'll be back later Ranma!" She called out just before she left the room.

"Good luck Usagi!" Ranma yelled as she waved back, Eeeeeeeeped, and fell to
the floor just as the red fur ball attacked in all it's fury. The following
fight is to gruesome to detail and only those with hearty constitutions
could stomach it anyway. As for Ranma, she is soon laid out on the bed
amidst all the baggage, her clothing shredded completely.

A little while later Usagi is in the ship's souvenir stood looking around
the area. She is catching some stares as she is tiptoeing around isles,
staring at everyone in a suspicious way. The rack of sunglasses at the back
of the store catch her eyes and she seems to materialize in front of them.
The man behind the counter grins at an easy sale and hops over to help the
young lady out. His eyes glint when he looks at all the merchandise in the
little store, every bit of it will drain one's energy and give it to Master
Jedite, but only he and the crew know this.

Usagi on the other hand could care less, the sun glasses are the coolest
things she has ever seen. "These are so Kawaii!" She squeals and starts put
each set on and looking at her self in the mirror. The disguise pen had
done a number on her looks, that was for sure. Where before she had been a
cute teenager, she was now a more mature looking woman with short blonde
hair. She didn't know what to make of the change, but knew that no one
would recognize her like this.

She grabbed the most 'spy' looking sunglasses she could find and paid for
them. Little did she know that her mere presence had disrupted all the
energy stealing items in the store. The sales drone wouldn't even notice
until it was too late to fix things and by that time he would be toast.
After that Usagi made her way through the various areas of the ship, danced
with one of the crew in the ball room, played a few games while on deck,
then joined a tour that was showing off various portions of the ship.

By this time, it had been several hours and Luna, who was watching through
some air holes she had cut through the makeup bag, was getting angry. She
popped her claws and began to sharpen them, they were super hard and sharp
after all. As a Farie cat she had to have some special abilities and being
able to cut through most solid objects was hers. Luna noticed that they
were heading into the hold area and slashed at the back of the case.

The sudden pain in Usagi's side made her jump, startling some of the other
passengers around her. She laughed nervously and stepped into a nearby room
and opened the case. Luna poked her head out and gasped for air, glaring at
Usagi and held up one of her claws. A beam of light reflected off the top
edge of it and a 'Sheeeeen' sound seemed to fill the room.

"U-sa-gi!" Luna growled.

"What?!!" She whined.

"Your supposed to be looking for signs of the Dark Kingdom, not playing
games and having fun!"

"I'm spying, I'm blending and working the room over." Usagi said in her
best James Bond voice. Not very good for a teenage girl though.

"Usagi!" Luna hissed. 'Well at least she is trying. If she was wearing a
trench coat and fedora and tiptoeing everywhere I would have to make her
pay.' Luna though.

**********

Elsewhere a blonde haired girl snuck down an alley and adjusted her trench
coat and glasses. She sneezed and looked around fearfully, the white cat at
her feet shook it's head and cursed under his breath. She looked up and
saw several men on the roof and proved herself to be the worlds best spy.

"Thar he blows!" The blonde said to the cat.

"That's eureka , Minako!" The cat snapped.

"Oh...yeah." Minako giggled and nearly tripped over loose brick and dropped
her spy master 2000 kit. ^^

***********

There is a sound behind them and Usagi spins around to see a figure
approaching them from the back of the room. She notes absently that they
are in one of the holds, an area she wasn't supposed be. "WHAT are you
doing in here?"

"Um...I got separated from my tour group and I took a wrong turn I guess."
Usagi says as she stuffs Luna back in her case.

"That's reasonable, I suppose."

"Were are we anyway?" Usagi says as she latches onto his arm.

"In one of the storage holds." Jedite says as she wonders why he is being
so nice to the girl. As far as he can tell she is mostly normal and a
little plain, nothing to make a big deal about. 'She seems familiar too...'
he thinks.

After he shows her around some the ship personally he leads her back to the
main deck. "Miss I should be getting back on duty now, but will you join me
at the Captain's table for dinner tonight?"

Usagi squeals. "Sure!!"

Titus appears behind them and smiles at Usagi in a predatory way, but she
doesn't even notice. "Captain, your needed in the wheel house."

"Alright, I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Yes sir." Titus says and walks off.

"Until tonight then." Jedite says, tips his hat, and walks off.

Usagi is just standing there with a weird look on her face and a blush
forming on her face. "Wow..." she breathes out.

"Usagi?" Luna says.

"The Captain's table..."

"Usagi!"

"He's so cute!" Usagi squeals and bounce around the deck for a few minutes.

"USAGI!!!!!!!" Luna yells, finally getting the love struck girl's
attention.

Usagi ducks into a nearby bathroom and opens the case to let the cat out.
"What, I have to decide what to wear tonight."

"I had a horrible feeling of dark power the entire time he was with us, he
might be from the Dark Kingdom!"

"Oh yeah right!"

**********

Ranma got up and quickly changed clothes, she wanted to explore the ship
too. It would give her something to do, just to be safe she donned her
bathing suit under her clothes. Now clad in her black pants and a white
shirt, she turned around to look at Ito. Well, where Ito was hanging
actually. The cat had taken the game to far and Ranma had used her shredded
clothing to tie the cat up and hang it from the door in the bathroom. Ito
glared at her.

"Serves you right cat, you didn't have to take me leaving you behind so
personally. I figured you wouldn't want to come, we are floating in the
middle of the ocean you know. The largest source of water in the world,
something most cats hate?"

Ito glared.

"Do you want to come on deck with me or not? You can ride on my shoulder or
something."

Ito glared.

"Um...heh, um..." Ranma tried again.

Ito glared some more.

"Fine, your right and I was wrong!" Ranma said, giving into the bad feeling
that was filling her chest.

Ito rolled her eyes and glared.

"Say something cat!"

"Mph mhdk ajdlk!!" Ito said though the gag.

"Oh Um...heheheheh...sorry about that." Ranma said and took the cat down
and released her.

"Your going to pay for that!" Ito snarled, her hair standing up on end.

"Oh grow up, you attacked me and lost."

"DIE!!!!!!!!" Ito pounced again.

Ranma was on the ceiling again. "This is getting old, cat." She suddenly
dropped, landed, and flipped over the attacking cat. Ranma smirked as she
landed by the door and dashed into the hallway. The engaged cat ran after
her, but Ranma managed to get the door closed just in time to hear her hit
it head first with a resounding thump.

"Gotcha!"

She headed down the hall whistling an out of tune ditty before breaking
into a run and heading up a couple of decks. Her stomach was empty and she
needed to fill it quick, luckily the free ticket came with free food too.
That had also been a deciding factor, though one she hadn't mentioned to
Usagi. Sure it was on the ticket, but the blonde had been mooning over this
cruise for days now and she had her head stuck in the clouds. Ranma vaulted
up several flights of stairs, down a hallway, and skidded into the dinning
room.

Unfortunately Ranma also tripped over the rug and crashed to the groun
taking out most of the line of people, the host, and several of the waiters
taking food to the tables. The people in line went down like dominos, each
person taking out the person in front of them and so on. Until the final
one falls and the whole group is pilled all over the floor, this in turn
tripped the waiters who sent their food flying. The rest of the room is in
quite shock, but most shrug it off and applaud the floor show.

Across the room Rei and Ami are eating dinner and Ami is feeling just a
little embarrassed by the way Rei is acting. There is a small pile of
plates sitting on the table next to Rei as she works on yet another pork
chop in the last hour. "Rei that is your seventh Pork Chop!"

"I'm hungry!"

"Everyone is staring at us!"

"Actually their starring at Ranma, anyway the sea air makes me hungry." Rei
said, downing the last of her food.

"..."

"We don't have dates and that is why they are really staring. We are to
beautiful girls here alone, looking for love and good looking men."

"There are days I worry about you Rei." Ami mumbles.

"Huh?"

"Nothing, lets go and see if Ranma is alright."

"Sure." Rei says, eyeing the rest of Ami's food.

They walked over to the pile and helped several of the guests to their
feet, but soon found Ranma at the bottom of the pile. A crew member walked
over to see if everyone was alright and asked the rest of them to relax and
let them deal with this. Then turned and glared at Ranma as she stumbled to
her feet with Ami's help. She shook her head and wasn't able to think fast
enough when the crew member grabbed her arm and gave it a little tug. There
was an evil looking smile in his face as he motioned for one of the others
to open the doors to the room.

"Hey, what do you think your doing?" Ranma snapped.

"Getting rid of a trouble maker." The crew member said and proceeded to
toss Ranma out of the room.

It was with more than a little curiosity the Ranma wondered where they had
found a pair of metal garbage cans to toss her into. After pulling herself
out of the pile of filth, Ranma cleaned herself up as best she could and
ended up wandering around the ship and taking in the sites until she
eventually found herself lost on one of the lower decks. She wondered if
Rei and Ami were okay, but decided that they were fine since they hadn't
been kicked with her.

She spotted Usagi as she tagged along on a tour and picked up the Captain
of all people. Who would have thought the blonde teen would have had it in
her? Ranma just grinned and wondered briefly what she was supposed to do
for companionship now that she was stuck in this female form. She had no
interest in men and the mere thought sent chill down her spine. Ranma
shuddered and kicked the though to the back of her mind, tied it up, and
shot it. Repeatedly.

She found a wall picture that described the various areas of the ship and
how to get there. After several seconds she found a gym and grinned, it was
full of everything she needed to train and have a little fun. Ranma took
off at a run and was soon zooming through the ship, dodging crew and guests
alike. The gym was several levels up, but with her speed and new abilities
she made the run in record time. She burst through the doors and skidded to
a halt, her head taking in the entire room with huge eyes. It was nearly
forty feet long and two stories high, filled with equipment of all shapes
and sizes.

In one corner was a woman using a set of uneven bars while holding her body
in place with her hands and arms while her shapely legs were spread to the
side doing the splits. The girl was quite beautiful and had a perfect set
of curves that went right into Ranma's brain and short circuited it. The
girl had long blue hair, a toned body, and a form fitting body suit that
left no doubt that she was all female. Ranma blinked, blinked again, and
had to grab her nose as blood started to dribble out. Coughing and blushing
she spun around and started to leave, her body was doing things she had
never felt before. They were somewhat familiar, but to out of place to
recognize.

"You don't have to leave, I won't bite." Ranma turned around and saw the
girl looking at her while she was doing a hand stand, then seemed to spin
around the bar and dismounted, doing an easy flip and landing on the toes
of her feet easily. She winked at Ranma and bowed.

"That was pretty good." Ranma said.

"Humph, I'm good enough to be a pro if I wanted."

"Maybe, but I could do better." Ranma said with a smirk.

"Just who are you to say such a thing." The girl snapped.

"Ranma Mazaki."

"I"m Captain Tslinka. I know a good number of gymnasts that are at my skill
level and your name has never been mentioned."

"I'm not a gymnast, I'm a Martial Artist and those moves are all apart of
my style."

"Prove it."

Ranma shrugged and sauntered over to the beam. "Anything you want to see?"

"Just do what I did."

"Easily." Ranma took a second to remember exactly what the girl had been
doing and placed it in her mind. Then with a lazy jump she grabbed the high
bar and swung herself up and swiftly went through the entire thing in
seconds, dismounting and doing a double back flip. Ranma had to use her
will power to keep from making a fool out of herself when certain parts of
her bounced and wiggled in ways she wasn't used to. It was distracting and
a little painful, she kept this to herself and bent back to look at Tslinka
in an amazing amount of dexterity.

"Hah!"

"Not bad, you've obviously had some training, but I don't think your as
good as me."

"That's true, I'm better than you."

Tslinka glowered and stared daggers at the arrogant girl in front of her.
She had come down here to get away from those idiots on the ship and what
does she find, a jerk that thought she could possible be better than a high
ranking Youma of Queen Beryl's army. She had spent years learning how to
use her powers in ways that were unheard of and she had to put up with
this. No way. "Yeah right."

Tslinka motioned for the girl to follow her and they made their way over to
the mats. "I want you to show you some of my moves girl, these are expert
moves that only the greatest can do." She moved out on to the mat and
stretched a little, failing to see the girl pale and turn red at the same
time. She took her position and went into the hardest thing she knew, doing
rolls, jumps, and dance moves that could make judges jealous with envy, if
there had been any. She went like this for several minutes and kept her
eyes on the red head. To her amazement she didn't see the look of shock or
fear she had expected. No she saw the girl watching her in rapt attention,
her eyes never leaving her body as it moved. Tslinka didn't know how to
handle this, she was used to the Dark Kingdom rules. It was about here that
she would have been in some kind of grudge match, each of them trying to
pull each others hair out, firing blasts of energy to distract or kill
their target.

Sure this was the world they were trying to take over, but she had expected
reactions like fear, hate, and jealously. Not awe, wonder, and a glazed
emotion she didn't recognize. She landed in front of Ranma and held her
position for a few seconds. Then relaxed and watched as the girl's eyes
roamed down her body and seemed to be fascinated by something on her chest.
Tslinka, confused, looked down and saw nothing out of the ordinary. "What
is it?"

"Um..." Ranma gulped and jerked her head away.

"Huh?"

"Nothing..."

"It's your turn now, show me what you've got."

Ranma gulped and tried to decide if she could do what Tslinka had done and
decided that she could mix a number of kata together, but she would need to
have more freedom of movement and that meant she had to take her shirt off.
Like she cared about that, she took off and tossed her shirt to the floor
by Tslinka. She did a few stretches and was glad she had remembered to put
on her bating suit when she left. Once she was ready she launched into a
mobile kata that used twists ad turns, flips and kicks, and other violent
movements to take out an opponent. Then she altered the kata subtlety and
was soon moving across the mat with a grace that made Tslinka look like an
armature.

It also had her feeling funny, but she wouldn't mention that to anyone, no
way in hell. She gaped as this red headed girl put her best moves to shame
with jumps and spins she had never seen before. It was a humbling
experience and one she didn't like, she was a powerful and intelligent
Youma and this human was far better than she could ever hope to be. She
almost burst into tears, but that was swiftly replaced by a rage that
consumed her. Tslinka nearly attacked Ranma then and there, but held her
ground. The girl was doing martial arts moves to beat her and that meant
she was probably one of the best fighters in the area. Tslinka's rage
turned to cold fury, even she didn't know if she could take a girl that was
this good. Jedite or Kunzite could do it and she was probably full of all
the life energy they would need. She was the perfect target, like a well
trained battery that just had to be tamed.

"Ha, I knew I could do it!!" Ranma crowed as she jumped around happily.

"I have to admit, you are quite good, but not good enough to beat me
human." Tslinka said.

Ranma stopped dead and turned to look the girl over. "Huh?"

Tslinka stepped back and her body changed. Her body took on a watery look
to it, her hair turned even more blue and her face except for her eyes
vanished into smooth skin. There was no mouth, nose, or anything else of
interest, just eyes glowing in rage. An aura of power formed around and
fired off a stream of water. Ranma eeped and dropped the ground and rolled
out of the way. The water blasted a large dent in the steel walls of the
room and sent a shudder through the floor.

"What the heck is up with you, I just wanted to have a little fun?!"

"THIS IS FUN!!"

"Come on?! I just wanted to relax a little, not fight for my life!" Ranma
yelled. She knew this was a Youma, one of those things that she had fought
the other day, but she wasn't getting the dark feelings from this one that
she had from them. She came to her feet and took a defensive stance. "I
don't want to fight you."

"Your energy could be enough to free my Master, give it to me now!" Titus
yelled. "I am Titus, a Higher Youma and your worst nightmare human."

"Like I haven't heard that before." Ranma muttered. This situation felt
wrong to her, as if she wasn't supposed to be fighting this thing. Why she
felt this way was a mystery, but it was enough to make her hesitate just
enough to leave herself open to attack. Titus used it and sent a blast of
water into Ranma and sent her flying back into a wall with a loud thud. She
slid to the floor groaning in pain and winced as Titus hit her with more
water, sending her off the floor and into the ceiling hard crack it. That
didn't stop Ranma, but it did slow her down as she landed on her feet and
shook her head. This fight was going weird, she was second guessing herself
and didn't know why. A large part of her mind was torn and didn't want to
hurt the thing attacking her and she didn't understand why.

A small part of her had other ideas and these she agreed with since it
meant she had a chance to fight back. Ranma ignored her instincts and shot
forward to attack Waverider or Waffer or whatever it had called itself. Her
attack took the thing by surprise, unfortunately since she was made of
water the attack was useless. Ranma came in punching for all of her vital
spots, hr hands moving in a blur of speed and power. Titus ignored the
fists slamming into the surface tension of her body, it had been a long
time since she had been attacked physically. It was an advantage she had
always had, what kind of physical attack could hurt water? She flowed and
twisted her arm to send out a cascade of water that enveloped Ranma in a
jello like substance, pinning her in place.

Then Titus used the stuff to pound the stuffing out of Ranma's body Solid
bars of water started to slam inwards to hit her in the stomach and back,
in the legs and breasts. Titus kept this up for several seconds and laughed
to herself at the effectiveness of the attack she hadn't had a chance to
test yet, it seemed to be a great success. Then she noticed something, the
red head was glowing a bright red/black that was pushing against the jello.
Then Ranma screamed and the aura flared out in an explosion of power that
blasted Titus back several feet and sent bits of the deck into deck heaven.
Ranma was hovering in the air, her hair waving back and fourth a she looked
up, her eyes closed. The eyes that opened were not Ranma's normal bright
blue, but searing green that glowed with deadly intent.

"That is enough!" Ranma yelled.

Her aura flared up even more and her aura turned a deep red color and she
glared at Titus as she pulled herself to her feet. Ranma's foot hit the
deck plating and she launched forward, her aura flaring yet again, and
slammed into the Youma with the force of a violent storm. Punches and kicks
came at her from all directions as Ranma moved so fast that she left behind
after images. Not that she noticed, she was to angry with the beating she
had been taking just because she didn't want to injure the girl she had
been competing against. Look where it had gotten her, she wondered where
all these monsters had come from and why they were so insistent on using
her as a punching bag.

Using a final move, Ranma did a back kick and ended up shoving her foot
through Titus' body. Ranma froze in shock, she hadn't meant to that. Then
Titus seemed to reform and grabbed her leg and lifted Ranma into the air
while she was frozen in place and slammed her into the floor like a hammer.
Ranma cried out in pain as she felt her arm get dislocated from the blow,
then screamed in shock as Titus tossed her into the wall.

"Die you little pest, I'll drain all your energy and add it to my own to
make myself more powerful than even Jedite ever was!" Titus yelled.

She raised her arm and snarled in anger, a dark blue aura sprang up around
her and spread out throughout the room, making the floor glow for several
seconds. Then several monsters pulled themselves up off the floor, where
they came from was a complete mystery to Ranma as she forced her eyes open.
They were humanoid, but had no distinctive markings, just a kind of rust
brown colored skin of some kind. They had no eyes, no mouth, nothing to
define them as beings.

"Go my minions, kill the red headed girl!" Titus yelled and pointed at
Ranma as she took a defensive stance and hissed in pain.

"Oh great, this all I need." Ranma muttered. Her aura sprang forth, though
it didn't have the amount of power that the one from earlier had. That had
been fueled by her fear and anger, neither of which she was feeling now.
Instead she was beginning to smirk at the odds being placed against her.
She was outnumbered, she was outclassed, and she was at a disadvantage
against this powerful Youma. This was her kind of odds.

"Bring it on lady."

The things surged forward by the dozen, there was no form or tactics in how
they attacked. They were just trying to overwhelm her with sheer numbers,
Ranma just grinned and plowed right into them using a technique she hadn't
mastered yet. The monsters were like a solid mass of some material, she
could see the lines and points she needed to use the technique and just
smirked at Titus as she closed in. Ranma's hands blurred as they lashed out
at each of the attacking things.

"Bakusai Tenketsu!!"

Boooooom!!!!

"Bakusai Tenketsu!!"

Boooooom!!!!

"Bakusai Tenketsu!!"

BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!

Titus's eyes went wide as her lower Youma started to explode as if they had
been covered in explosives. The dived to the floor as the explosions rocked
the entire deck and left holes in the floor and walls. The lower Youma
screamed in shock and sent convulsions through her as they died and were
severed from her control. She rolled away and wonderd what she had taken
on, this girl wasn't human. Human's were weak things, barely even dangerous
to be around and far to easy to kill. The perfect food and energy source
for the might Dark Kingdom, this girl was a warrior of amazing skill. No
wonder Jedite had wanted her to be watched and taken out quietly when they
boarded.

The entire area was filled with smoke and dust as it swirled through the
air, Titus froze in shock as the last of her followers were taken and
silence descended on the area. She looks into the devastation and gapes as
a bright white light seems to fill it for a second and nearly blinds her.
Then a shadow makes itself known as it walks towards her, the aura of red
power easily visible around it as it moves. The form of a Scout steps out
of the smoke and Titus knows that this is the red head she had been
fighting, those deadly green eyes were staring at her and sent a chill down
her spine.

"W-what is y-your name..." Titus gasps out.

"I don't have one yet, but you may call me what I told Blondie to call me.
I am Ranko."

"I am a Higher Youma, I will not back down." Titus said.

"At the moment I don't really care. You started this, but I am going to
finish it and put you down." Ranko says and flares her aura and melts some
of the deck plates around her and starts some of the mats on fire.

Titus gulps and nods, accepting her fate, though she would be damned if she
let this little girl take her down as if it was nothing. She flipped back
and landed, glaring at Ranko, then launched herself into the air and
through the metal ceiling of the room. Ranko snarled and followed her
through the hole she had made, landing on the next deck up. She spotted the
Youma running down the hallway and took off after her.

"Get back here coward!!" Ranko yelled.

Then there was a shudder that went though the entire ship and knocked a
good portion of the guests off there feet, even tossed a couple over board.
Ranko growled as she sensed the build up of something up on the main deck,
right where Titus was leading her. Usagi, Rei, and Ami also felt it and
gasped as they recognized it for what it was. Rei and Ami were still in the
dinning room finishing off their dinner before heading to the main ball
room. Ami had her computer out and scanning the entire ship.

"What is it Ami?" Rei asked.

"I don't know, I had the computer turned off since we were on vacation,
give me a sec."

"Hurry, I've got this weird feeling."

"Here we go...there had been a massive power surge a few decks below. I've
got readings on the Dark Kingdom energies and Silver Millennium energies
clashing a few minutes ago. I've got detections of a very powerful Youma as
well, currently moving away from the Silver Millennium target."

"What about the ship?"

"Scanning...we've come to an emergency stop. There is another massive build
up of power just a little ways from here."

Rei groaned. "Why is it that where ever we go lately, those idiots keep
showing up?"

"Come on Rei, we have to do something."

"Lets prove to Meatball Head just what we can do!" Rei said with a snarl.

Ami just shook her head and made her way out of the dinning room, she was
still a little amazed that most of the passengers hadn't turned into a
panicked mob yet. If she had spent a few minutes with her computer she
would have found a strange energy flooding the entire ship. Her and Rei
moved out into the hall just as a Titus ran by them, closely followed by a
Scout they had never met before. She was little taller than they were and
glowing with energy as she ran. She spotted Rei and Ami and yelled at them
as she flew past.

"Mercury, Mars, move your butts and give me a hand, we have to stop them
before anything major happens!!" Then she was gone and Ami and Rei were
pulling themselves up from their dual face fault into the floor.

"How did she know?"

"Worry about it later, she needs a hand!" Usagi yelled a she ran past still
disguised as a photographer. She skidded around the corner, slammed into
the wll, and followed the new Scout.

Getting up from yet another dual face plant, Rei growls and takes off after
Usagi to get some answers. Ami is a little slower to get up, but is in the
perfect position to witness the sight of the Dark Kingdom plan as it goes
into action. A wave of dark energy lights up the all the lighting fixtures
on the ship and begin to suck the humans dry. Ami, as a Scout is able to
keep from being drained, but that isn't so for the normal human's around
her. They dropped like flies and she was soon surrounded by the drained
victims of the all the guests. She gasped at the speed at which it had
happened and took off after Rei and Usagi.

**********

Titus ran up on deck and made her way over to the pool, she hadn't even
stopped running when she tapped her powers again. Twin beams of power fired
out of her eyes and hit the pool as she slowed to a stop. Behind her Ranko
ran out on deck and noticed that her enemy had stopped, she made her way
over slowly making sure to take in all of the different kind of hazards
around her.

"I will stop you." Ranko said.

"It is already to late idiot, we made our move while you were chasing me
through the ship."

"Then I will reverse whatever it was you did."

"Ha!!" Titus crowed. She had a mental link with Jedite for this operation,
they couldn't talk to each other, but they did know what the other was
doing at any one time. She brought her arms up and twin columns of water
rise up out of the pool behind her and she begins to glow with dark power
as she taps into the collected energy around the ship. "You are far to late
little girl, you may have been able to stop me before, but now I have more
power at my finger tips than even you can stand up to!"

"She has help Youma!" Mars and Moon yell as they flank Ranko.

Titus just laughs, the water behind her was beginning to alter in some
indefinable way as it rose up into the sky. Then she brought her arms down
and the columns twist and arc over their head and begin to fall. Aiming
right for Ranko. "You are dead idiots, we have won."

"Don't gloat Titus, just finish them off, NOW!!" Jedite yells as she hovers
over the fight and watches the battle.

"Of course General Jedite!"

The water columns slam into the deck just as Ranko, Mars, and Moon jump out
of the way. The water plows into the wooden deck and rips it to shards in
seconds. Ranko lands on a nearby and flared and fired. "Möko Takabisha!!!"
Titus is hit point blank and blasted into the side of the now empty pool,
shattering a good portion of the pool tile.

Moon and Mars landed on top of nearby roof and fired, not at Titus, but at
Jedite. "Fire Soul!! Moon Tiara Action!!" The attacks though surprising,
didn't catch him off guard and he had time to throw up a shield and laughed
as the power washed around him. He hovered down a little and took a closer
look at Moon and Mars and just smirked. He lashed out and fired out a blast
of energy that slammed into the deck housing they were standing on. They
had time to jump just as it went, Moon grabbed her Tiara again and threw it
in mid jump and grinned as Jedite was sliced across his arm.

"Shit!!"

Titus turned to water and flowed out of the pool and reformed herself just
as Ranko was about to reach her. Titus tapped into the stored energy again
and fired, Ranko dropped and dodged, at a loss at how to stop the Youma.
Then looks up and sees a life saver as Mercury lands behind Titus and
motions for Ranko to prepare herself. Then fills the entire deck with a
thick fog and Ranko goes into action as Mercury tossed a fire extinguisher.
Ranma grabs it out of the air and lands just as Titus is at the height of
the confusion created by Mercury's fog magic.

"What the heck is going on, where did everything go?!" Titus yelled.

Ranko landed and fired the fire extinguisher and soon had Titus hosed down
into a nearly solid mass. She wasn't capable of moving as fast anymore, the
confusion of the Mercury's attack is limited so she had to work fast. Ranko
fires out another "Möko Takabisha!!!" and Titus screams in pain.

Up above Jedite wasn't having a good time of it, his initial attack had
been executed perfectly, unfortunately the Scouts had dodged it easily.
Then he had gotten hit by Moon's attack his luck had gone down hill from
there. Now he was facing off against Mars and dodging like crazy, how she
was firing so fast was amazing in itself since her first attack had taken a
second to power up. Now she was just firing off attacks with barely a
second of time to concentrate. His shield was being pushed to its limits.

"Moon Tiara Action!!" Moon yelled and threw her attack again. It soared out
and arced right for Jedite, but he took a second to knock the thing away
like it was nothing. Though it did slash right across Jedite's hand, be he
ignored it as another of Mar's fire attacks slammed into his shield again.
Jedite and snarled and wandered where Moon was getting the power to send
her stupid tiara through his shield like it was nothing. Then he heard
something he had been dreading and expecting, Titus' scream of pain.

He spun around just in time to see through the fog as that red headed girl
fired her blast right into Titus' chest and paled as Moon's tiara, the one
he had just knocked away, sliced right through Titus' body and made her
scream one of death. Jedite gaped as he watched Titus' body turn to dust
and slowly disintegrate and vanish. She had been one of the most powerful
Youma in the last few generations and had only been a few steps below his
position and one of the one's Beryl had been watching with interest.

"This isn't good..." Jedite mumbled, just as Mars, Moon, and Ranko focused
on him totally and fired. He barely had time to bring his shield up again
and he was blasted out of the air and through what was left of a nearby
deck wall. He groans as he rolls to his feet and finds all four Scouts
standing there watching him, all of them are decidedly ticked off.

"Time to pay Jedite."

"You can't stop me, this is only the beginning of what I am going to bring
to you." Jedite snarls and starts to power up.

"There are four of us and one of you Jedite, you are going down." Ranko
says.

"It is time for you to pay for what you have done to this city Jedite."
Mars says and a red aura forms around her.

Jedite flings his arm forward and a burst of power is about to fire off his
hand when a black aura forms around him and he vanishes from sight. The
Scouts gasp and go into a defensive ring in case Jedite is trying to
confuse them, but he seems to be completely gone. Ranko relaxes and looks
around a little more carefully as Mercury pulls out her computer and scans
the ship.

"Anything Mercury?" Moon asks as she relaxes.

"About 40 percent of all the energy collected is returning to the victims.
Titus seems to have used to the other 60 percent up during the fight."

"Is everyone going to be alright?" Ranko asks.

"Yes, but if we had been any longer most of the victims would have been
hospitalized for months as they recovered from being drained. This way it
is like they had run an extended marathon."

"At least they are safe." Moon said.

"What's this...oh my." Mercury said.

"What is it?" The others asked.

The cruise ship shudders and a kind of wavering of the air covers the
entire ship for several seconds then changes before their shocked eyes.
Turning into a giant rusting heap of scrap metal that is beginning to bob
dangerously in the water. Ranko and the others just stand there and gape in
shock at the change and wonder how such a thing could have happened. This
was the first time anything like this had ever happened too, they had no
clue what to do about it. Though Mercury seemed to make a quick decision as
she typed on her little computer.

"What do we do now?" Mars asked.

"I just contacted the Coast Guard with my computer, they should be here
within the hour." Mercury said smugly.

"Will one of you explain what your doing here?" Mars asked louldly, glaring
at Moon.

"Um...heheheh..." Moon said.

Ranko de-transformed into Ranma and smirked at the shocked looks on Mars
and Mercury's faces. "I brought Usagi along when she said she had to be
here."

"Ranma?!" Mars gasped out.

"What?" She asked innocently.

"Ranma?!" Mars said again, as if Ranma was her worst enemy or something.

"I know, I know I'm your idle and you want my autograph since I'm the best
after all."

"What?! Come back here you arrogant little..."

Moon and Mercury giggled as Ranma ran past with Mars right on her tail.

Meanwhile Luna and Ito are up to their ears in various kinds of food and
snakes down in the dinning room. Surprisingly the food had been real and
was the perfect place for the two of them to have a little chat together.
Though chowing down on caviar and pate wasn't exactly a meeting of any
kind, just a good way to get some free eats. They were cats after all.
Though if a certain white cat had been there it would have been an entirely
different story.

**********

To Be Continued...