Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ A Big Help ❯ The Cosmic Senshi Make an Entrance ( Chapter 16 )

A Big Help

A Ranma one half/Sailor Moon crossover fanfic

By Michael A. Ivins

 

Mykon and Jora are my original creation so please nobody use them without permission. The rest of these characters are the property of their creators, publishers anime production companies, etc. I write this for fun and make no profit off it.

 

Chapter 16

The Cosmic Senshi Make an Entrance

 

It was Sunday night. Nearly two weeks had passed since the fight with the monster at the shopping district. The commotion with the hero worship at school had died down. Nabiki had sold out of her calendars and had to get more. Thanks to the fact that Mykon had supplied the calendars for free with no printing or other costs, every yen was pure profit. The middle Tendo daughter had made enough from the sales that she had enough to easily take care of the household budget for years and was now starting to think about using the surplus to invest.

 

Mykon had supplied Nabiki with more pictures of the Nerima 5 with dozens of copies of each and now nearly every student at Furinkan had a picture of one or more of the group in their locker. Ranma, Ryoga and Akane found the whole thing a little embarrassing. On the other hand business was booming at the Nekohanten. Shampoo and Mousse had been forced to hire an extra waitress so they could concentrate on running the kitchen.

 

Ranma and Akane were watching television that evening. They had planned to go to bed right after the movie they were watching had ended. In truth they were getting a little bored with the movie as the ending looked completely predictable.

 

Suddenly a giant figure materialized behind them. Before they even had time to jump in startlement Jora told them, “There is another monster attack. Ryoga is already on his way from his house and Mykon is getting Shampoo and Mousse from the Nekohanten.”

 

“Where?” Ranma demanded.

 

In their minds a map appeared. A point glowed to indicate the Tendo Dojo and there was another glowing point about a kilometer distant. The giant woman seemed to think about it for a moment. “Meet me outside.”

 

She vanished. Ranma transformed back to male but, since she had been wearing unisex clothing, didn't bother to change clothes. When they got outside Jora was there, waiting. The giant handed Ranma the sheathed Dragon's Claw sword. When Ranma gave her a questioning look she only said, “You may need this.”

 

The brown haired giant said, “We are still forbidden to participate in the fight, but we can help in another way. In the time it takes to roof hop, people could die.” With that she bent down and two startled teen found large, powerful arms pulling them into the giant's sides. The next thing they knew they seemed to be flying with the rooftops of Nerima far below.

 

In their minds the telepathic “voice” of Jora told them, “This is the same idea as roof hopping but with a much longer leap.”

 

When they came in for a landing on a rooftop it was soft, not the thud Ranma had been expecting. The pigtailed martial artist accused, “You were flying, not jumping.”

 

Being totally businesslike, the giant woman told them, “We'll talk about it later. There's a monster to fight, over there.”

 

Ranma looked down. This creature was very different from the one they'd fought two weeks ago. The body of the creature was like that of some giant cat, but not any recognizable big cat like a lion or tiger. It was some odd blending of several feline body types. While feline in shape, the skin of the creature was scaled like a reptile. The head was reptilian with long sharp teeth. At the shoulder it was nearly eight feet tall.

 

This creature had one thing not found on any earthly feline of any size. On each shoulder there was a glowing patch and from these sprouted what appeared to be tentacular arms. Ranma could sense that the arms were formed out of some kind of energy. It was not ki, but he couldn't figure out what. He decided that it didn't matter.

 

When the rest of fighters arrived, by unspoken agreement they dispersed to attack from multiple angles. As they approached the monster was holding a woman with its tentacles. When it sensed the approach of an enemy, the cat creature used its razor sharp teeth to viciously rip out its victim's throat, then casually tossed the limp and bleeding body of its victim aside. The woman's body lay twitching as her life's blood poured from her wound.

 

Hoping that what they had done before could work again, all of the martial artists hurled ki attacks. This is where they got their first shock. The creature dodged some of the attacks and leapt over the rest. This creature was fast. It was obvious they were not going to take this one out the way they did the last one.

 

This turned out to be an accurate prediction. They kept firing off ki blasts and using physical attacks, but that turned out to be dangerous. The creature dodged the ki attacks and getting in close enough to strike it physically was almost a guarantee of getting clawed.

 

Ryoga did manage to get in a lucky shot. He had seen one of his fellow warriors fire off a ki blast and aimed his own blast for where he thought the creature would dodge. The creature appeared to actually feel the hit. Ranma realized that on this creature toughness had been sacrificed for speed. A line from a movie came to his mind. “If it bleeds we can kill it.”

 

He needed something that would do more damage than his hands or feet. He pulled the Dragon's Claw sword from stuff space. Using his ki to boost his speed to its highest, he attacked. To the people watching he seemed to disappear. With that attack he managed to score a hit on the monster's flank. He had been too focused on delivering the strike and was knocked back by a massive paw. He was able to use his ki to shield himself a little. He didn't get the slash of the claws but the impact of the paw still hurt.

 

Shampoo couldn't move as fast as Ranma, but she could move pretty fast. While the creature was able evade most of her strikes, the Amazon girl did hit one of the tentacles with her Bonborri. Unfortunately, the creature didn't seem hurt at all. Ranma reasoned that if the tentacles were some kind of energy projection, they might not be vulnerable to attack at all. He yelled, “If you can, try to hit the shoulders where the tentacles come out.”

 

The all gave a nod of assent. Striking those glowing patches was easier to talk about than it was to do. The creature was so fast and agile.

 

The thought occurred to Ranma that he maybe he could do even more damage. By infusing ki into a wooden bokken, Kuno was able to do almost as much damage as he could with a steel sword. How much more damage could be done with a ki-infused steel sword? Ranma concentrated and infused pure ki into the blade of Dragon's Claw. Ranma couldn't help a stray thought to the effect that he needed to be faster.

 

Something began to happen. The magic blade drank up the ki he pushed into it like a sponge. Indeed, once he started, there was little need to push the energy it seemed to pull more. When he felt resistance to the ki flow he assumed it had taken all it could and stopped. He soon found that the effect was not what he had believed.

 

The sword had stopped absorbing energy because it seemed now to be generating energy of its own. It wasn't ki, but something completely different. The length of the blade was glowing with a violet light that started soft but brightened quickly until it was nearly blinding. For a moment it felt like the light was hot and the heat was penetrating every cell of his body.

 

When the heat subsided he returned his attention to the battle and boggled. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. The monster and his fellow warriors should be moving faster than normal people could see them. Now they were moving as if swimming through molasses.

 

Did the sword do something? It was still glowing. Ranma took a step forward. It was not as bad as it appeared for his fellow warriors but still felt like he was moving through water. He couldn't move as fast as he wanted, but had the distinct feeling that it was way faster than anyone else.

 

With a little effort he was able to pump up his ki to where he felt like he was moving almost normally but it felt like it was fighting against a wind. He could work with this and moved forward and engaged the creature. He could feel that the creature was aware of him, but unable to muster the speed to stop him. Ranma then moved in the most efficient way he could and, with a single slash, cut off the cat creature's head.

 

The act of severing his foe's head seemed to break the spell the sword had cast. He returned to normal time. The force of his swing spun him around and he ended up falling on his butt.

 

To the rest of the fighters all they saw was when the sword flashed like a photo strobe unit and Ranma vanished. The next thing they could see was creature on the ground, body twitching, the head lying about a meter away and a pool of purplish blood forming. Ranma was on his butt on the ground with a somewhat bemused expression on his face.

 

The other fighters gathered around and demanded to know what had happened.

 

Ranma looked at the sword in his hand. “The monks who gave me this said it would manifest other powers when I needed them. When I pushed some ki into the blade I was thinking I needed to be faster. The sword made me so fast you guys looked almost like you were fixed in place.”

 

Mousse, who hadn't been there to see Jora hand Ranma the sword, said, “I'm glad you brought it, but I thought you said you weren't using that sword.”

 

He shrugged. “Jora told me I might need it.”

 

Akane commented, “I guess she was right.”

 

From behind the warriors here was a flash of white light. The martial artists spun and dropped into defensive stances. They were ready to face what might be a new threat, only to find the flash had come from the camera of a newspaper reporter. Ranma groaned, “I don't want to deal with them right now.”

 

A policeman came up to the group of fighters. Ranma recognized the man as the commander who had been at the previous monster fight. The policeman bowed, his expression grim. “Saotome, it seems we owe thanks to you and your group once again. We were not as fortunate this time. Three have already died and two more are not expected to live through the night. We do not have an accurate count on how many wounded but it appears to be more than twenty.”

 

Ranma returned the bow. “This creature was much faster than the one we fought two weeks ago. We came as quickly as we could, but I'm afraid it wasn't fast enough. Give me the names of the fallen and I will write letters to their families to apologize for our failure.”

 

The police commander was impressed. Not many people this boy's age would be so thoughtful and responsible. The police commander said, “There is no need for you to do that. It's our job. You came faster than we could get here. We will be in touch with their families and will convey your regrets. I only wish there were some way of finding the ones responsible for this and punish them.”

 

The words “I will punish you,” echoed through Ranma's mind. If only he… she could access the power of Sailor Galaxy. Then maybe there was a chance that he could do something toward bringing the perpetrator of this outrage to justice. He told the police commander, “I'm afraid it's the Senshi who will have to track them down. We aren't really equipped to do more than fight the monsters that come to our district. I just wish there was more that we could do.” He didn't want to mention Mykon and Jora.

 

Not wanting to embarrass the young warriors, the police commander didn't tell them that he thought they were heroes. “You have done enough,” answered the policeman. “Do any of you need medical attention?”

 

Ranma glanced around at the others. All shook their heads. “Thank you, but no. We're kind of banged up, but we've had as bad before.”

 

The police commander glanced over to the reporters who were being held back by his officers. More cars were pulling up along with vans of TV news crews. The policeman offered, “If you wish we can run interference for you with the press.”

 

Ranma again looked at the others. They nodded. “That would be appreciated.”

 

“Did you need a ride home?”

 

Ranma smiled, rubbing his thigh. “This time I won't turn down the offer. We're farther from home and I got hit on my leg during the fight. It's probably going to hurt like hell by morning.”

 

Ranma let himself be led to one of the waiting police cars. Akane got in with him while Mousse and Shampoo got into one of the other cars. Ryoga got into a third car. Shortly they were back at home. They bathed and went to bed shortly after that.

 

Ranma-chan experienced one of those moments of disorientation. Without any feeling of transition or memory of how she got there she found herself running down a hallway. Why was she running? There was an emergency; she was needed! She was dressed in a Sailor fuku again.

 

In short order the red haired senshi came to a pair of doors. Two men bearing weapons were standing guard but they stood aside and stiffly saluted the running princess. The girl barely slowed down as she pushed through the doors. On the way through she acknowledged the guards with a nod.

 

The room she entered was huge with hundreds of people working in it. In her mind she identified that this was the Fleet Operations Center (also called Fleet Ops or the War Room.) There were rows of monitoring, tactical and communications stations all facing toward a wall on which were mounted several large display screens. On each of those screens tactical displays showed the disposition of fleets and other military assets.

 

Ranma-Chan hurried to the raised platform at the rear of the room and walked up to the officer who was there. The rank insignia proclaimed him to be of high rank. Ranma's earlier incarnation seemed to recognize the man. “General, what's the situation?”

 

The general snapped off a precise salute then explained, “The Jindrax Horde is attacking.”

 

Ranma frowned when she heard that. “I already heard about that. I thought the Planet Senshi were handling it.”

 

“I'm sorry, princess… I mean Sailor Galaxy. The attack we sent the Senshi out there to deal with was a diversion.”

“What!”

 

He pressed a control on his console on the most central of the displays and a red light blinked. “They attacked here and our conventional forces couldn't get there fast enough. The planet Senshi could teleport in so they went on ahead. From the moment they reported their arrival on the scene our communications have been jammed.”

 

He said, “It was shortly after that that we detected a force 100 times larger that was approaching here.” Another red light blinked on the display.

 

The general continued, “They've already taken out all of the conventional forces we could send.”

 

“Why wasn't I called immediately?”

 

“Apologies, Sailor Galaxy. You have been called now. The two alien giants were available and they were told of the situation. Since they have fought alongside the Senshi before, we felt they deserved to be notified. They teleported out and from the energy readings we are getting from the area it seems certain they are engaging the Jindrax in battle.”

 

Galaxy had mixed feelings. On the one hand it was good to get the help, but she was angry as well. It was her job to defend the kingdom, the giants weren't even citizens of the Moon Kingdom. They were just volunteers. “DAMN! This isn't their fight. They've helped out in the past but this is too big even for them.”

 

Her voice had the snap of command, “Coordinates!”

 

The general pointed to a set of numbers on a screen on his console. “These coordinates will place you 20 kilometers from the largest concentration of enemy ships. That should be enough of a standoff that you can assess the situation and chose your strategy.”

 

Ranma-Chan wasted no more time on conversation. In moments she was floating free in deep space. Before she could even extend her senses to build her tactical grid she saw the flash of an explosion. This was followed very soon after by two more. Then there was one really big explosion and nothing more after that.

 

Ranma scanned for signs of the enemy ships. Her tactical scan showed her no enemy ships still intact. There was wreckage, debris and expanding clouds of gasses from ships that had been vaporized. She continued to scan but everything looked dead.

 

Wait… There was something there. She detected two faint energy signatures. Sailor Galaxy teleported to the closest of them.

 

Floating freely in space was the body of a woman. If she had been standing up she would be just under 13 feet in height. It was difficult to tell what she had been wearing as there was nothing left of it but tattered rags. The body revealed was covered with wounds that would have killed a human. The woman's right arm was missing from the elbow down. Only the faint energy reading stood as a continuing testament that life remained in the battered form.

 

After her survey of the giant, Sailor Galaxy offered a salute before she muttered softly, “Please don't give up. I want the chance to meet you and thank you for what you did.”

 

Ranma-Chan grabbed the giant by the ankle and teleported to the second faint energy signature. There she found the figure of a man just slightly taller than the woman. The man was in just as bad of shape as the woman except that his left leg below the knee was missing. Still, his energy was a little stronger.

 

She looked closer and realized something. Both giants were gathering energy, probably in an effort to heal the damage to their bodies. Her assessment of the effort was that the energy they were taking in was enough to keep them alive but no more than that. She needed to get them back where they could be given proper medical attention.

 

While Sailor Galaxy had never met the giants, Ranma-Chan recognized them easily.

 

Ranma tapped her headset, activating it. “Fleet Ops, this is Sailor Galaxy.”

 

“Sailor Galaxy, Report.”

 

Ranma-chan explained, “I missed the battle. When I got there I saw the last few explosions and then nothing. The giants have destroyed every ship from Horde's fleet.”

 

Over her headset, she could hear the sound of a relieved sigh. The comm officer just said, “That's good news.”

 

She ordered, “Have the Medical Bay standing by. The giants are still alive but just barely. They are badly wounded and both of them may need prosthetic limbs.”

 

The Comm officer at Ops said, “Acknowledged. The Planet Senshi are finally back. Saturn may be able to heal them.”

 

Ranma-chan replied, “I certainly hope so. These beings have done a great service for the Moon Kingdom and it would be really nice if they were alive to be honored for it.”

 

Sailor Galaxy grabbed the giant man by his remaining ankle and teleported back to base with both giants in tow.

 

In her room in the Tendo home Ranma-Chan sat up with tears dripping down her face. Her friends… Even knowing that the events she had just “dreamed” about happened thousands of years before and they were OK now, it still hurt to see them in such a state. Mykon and Jora had always seemed indestructible, just a step down from Kami-sama.

 

“Meow?” Concern was evident in the cat's tone.

 

Ranma-chan picked up the cat and set her on her lap. “I'm all right Mia. I just had another of those dreams… or I guess I should call them memories.”

 

Ranma gave the cat a complete description of the memory. “I knew Mykon and Jora were old but that had to have been like ten thousand years ago. Princess Ranna had never met them, but I recognized them.”

 

She picked up the cat and hugged her before putting her back down. “The baka panda never let me make any friends. For ten years Mykon and Jora were the only friends I had. It hurt to see them so badly injured, so mangled. They almost died in that battle. “

 

She shook her head. “I shouldn't let it get to me now. They are both fine now. I really have to talk to them about this.”

 

In the pocket universe where the base of Torbin Metrone was located, the self-styled villain was not happy with the result of the latest battle in Nerima Ward. He had reviewed the recording made by the probe he had sent along with the Bio-weapon.

 

His adviser, Narang was standing in front of him. The leader said, “I thought today's Bio-weapon would take care of the martial artists. It was so much faster than the first one as well as stronger and smarter.”

 

Narang replied, “I believe that the sword used by the boy with the pigtail was endowed with magical powers.”

 

Metrone straightened from the slump he'd been in. “Oh?”

 

The little man explained. “I noticed in the recording that the sheath the sword was kept in was smaller than the actual length of the blade. It would either take magic or dimensional transcendental technology to accomplish such a thing. I think it was the action of that magic that produced that flash of purple light. It accelerated the young man to the point where he was moving at a speed that even the Bio-weapon couldn't match.”

 

“Hmm. Perhaps if we ever send another Bio-weapon to that district we should make sure the `weapon is instructed to kill that pigtailed boy first.”

 

Narang nodded in agreement. “That might be the wisest course. In both cases it was that one young man who struck the decisive blow. The others might have been able to succeed without him, but it would have been with considerably more effort. I think it likely that without that one boy, one or more the others might have been overcome and killed.”

 

Metrone's expression looked grim for a moment. “I had expected the Senshi. They were already there and had a reputation. They have fought numerous foes and I was expecting them to be a problem. I didn't expect the martial artists to step up to the kind of challenge we have been throwing at the area.”

 

After considering it for a time he said, “I think for the present we should concentrate on the other areas of Tokyo. We will have the Senshi opposing us and over time we will continue to improve and strengthen the Bio-weapons we send. Once we have created creatures strong enough to destroy the Senshi we will kill all of them. At that point a Bio-weapon strong enough to kill the Senshi should have no trouble with those martial artists. Yes, for now we will stay out of Nerima Ward.”

 

Narang bowed and said, “Very good, My Lord Metrone.

 

Six weeks later on a Friday afternoon in a high rise building in New York City there was a suite of offices for the company Cosmic Sailor Inc. In a large office two people were working hard on computer keyboards. Their work came to a halt when they heard a knock on a door that they had not expected to hear one from. The door was to the office's private restroom.

 

The person knocking didn't wait for acknowledgement from the office but opened the door. In the doorway there stood a pretty teenaged girl with black hair. She wore a mallet strapped to her back. She also had goddess marks on her face.

 

Skuld looked at the two people in the room and commented, “Wow, I've never seen the two of you this size before.”

 

“Skuld?” Mykon smiled broadly.”It's good to see you. What's going on that you couldn't come in the front door?”

 

The young goddess bowed and explained, “I'm acting as messenger today. You are summoned to the office of Kami-Sama. He apologizes that it took so long but he has been busy. He's got something important to tell you. Can you come right now?”

 

The two aliens looked at each other. “After making us wait for two months he wants us to come immediately? Oh, well. I guess we can't keep the Allmighty waiting.”

 

Mykon pushed a button on his intercom. “Sandy, something has come up that needs both my wife and I to attend to. Please cancel our appointments for the rest of the day and put all calls to voicemail.”

 

“Yes, Mr. Connors.”

 

The aliens who were human sized for the moment got up from the desk and walked up to the young goddess. Jora directed, “Picture in your mind where you want to go.” A moment later they disappeared.

 

The trio teleported to the outer office of Kami-Sama. They were standing in front of a set of huge doors. As soon as they arrived, Mykon and Jora resumed their normal giant size.

 

The doors swung open and Skuld told them, “I can't go in with you. Have fun.”

 

The two aliens walked in. They could see a giant desk suitable for someone hundreds of feet tall but over to one side there was what appeared to be a man seated in an overstuffed chair with a couch positioned across from him. The man was the same height as Mykon.

 

As the couple sat down the man told them, “Good to see you again. I'm sorry we didn't tell you the full truth about the probationary license.”

 

“So it was a license?”

 

Kami-Sama nodded. “I had a feeling about you two. I looked up your history, and believe me that wasn't easy. I don't know why you two don't set yourself up as divinities in your home reality, but that is your own choice.”

 

Mykon ventured, “You didn't summon us here to explain that little omission did you?”

 

The Chief Deity confirmed, “No. I asked you here to tell you that all restrictions are lifted. You are now both fully certified gods first class, special category, unlimited license. Technically Jora is a goddess while Mykon is a god(dess), since he can change sexes. Your domain is Time. You have been Lords of Time before and now you have been promoted to Goddesses of Time. Your assignment is the current monster attacks on Tokyo and any related problems. You may use any means you deem necessary including manifesting yourselves as the Cosmic Senshi.”

 

“Uh… are we going to have to work on the Goddess Relief Hotline?” Mykon wanted to know.

 

The Lord of Heaven chuckled. “Since you already have an assignment you will be spared that duty. That is unless you really want to serve in that capacity.”

 

Both of the new divinities hastily indicated they were quite satisfied with their current assignments.

 

Getting serious again, Kami-Sama told them, “I liked how you handled the Saotome Ranma case. That's basically why your status was upgraded.”

 

“Ranma's a good kid,” acknowledged Mykon. “It really seems a shame to load such a heavy lot of destinies onto one mortal. He… she is strong and can take more than nearly any other mortal I've met, but I worry that we may be pushing her to her limits.”

 

“Have faith in your friend. She is stronger than even you believe her to be.”

 

Jora said musingly, “I just hope that after the current crisis Ranma can find a little happiness. I can't think of anyone who deserves it more.”

 

In his office Lord Metrone was working at his computer on the design for the next Bio-weapon. He turned from his work at the sound of a knock from the door. He said, “Ah Narang, you said you wanted to see me.”

 

The little man bowed. “Yes, my Lord. As things have settled into something of a routine I have had a little time to work on analysis of some of the old sensor logs. I have discovered something that might be a cause for concern.”

 

The taller man frowned. “You say `might' be a cause for concern. Would you explain that?”

 

The little man nodded. “As you know, My Lord Metrone, we did a number of scans even before we sent out the first of the Bio-Weapons. It was to learn the `lay of the land' as the saying goes. On the day before we sent out the first of your creations there was an event at the home where two of the martial artists in Nerima live.”

 

“What kind of an event?”

 

The little man thought for a moment. “I don't really know. The sensor logs were not that detailed. This isn't like one of the recordings we make of the fights with the Bio-Weapons. What I do know is that in the training hall attached to the home where those martial artists live there was some kind of meeting or gathering that took place on the afternoon before the first Bio-Weapon was sent. I deduce that from the number of life signs all in one place.”

 

Metrone frowned. “How is this significant?”

 

Narang continued, “Shortly after the gathering started two massively powerful life signs seemed to just suddenly appear in the same training hall. The character of these life signs as well as the power levels were on a par with those beings that we have identified as gods.”

 

The villain looked thoughtful. “You say `on par' with those gods. Do you mean that these beings are not those same ones?”

 

“No, they weren't. One of those gods, or I should say goddesses, joined the meeting not long after the two just appeared. In this case the goddess was one of those we already knew about and apparently teleported from elsewhere in the city to get there. After a period of some hours the goddess left but the two other big life signs stayed behind.”

 

He observed, “I have checked and those same two life signs have showed up in scans of the city at the same location on repeated occasions. They are not there often enough to believe they are living there, but they may be visiting as some kind of teacher or mentor to the martial artists living there. If they are giving special training or powers to the pigtailed boy, that could be why he was so effective against our Bio-Weapons.”

 

“Are you sure these two life signs belong to gods?”

 

The little man frowned at the thought. “No, I'm not sure. While the power level is similar there are differences in the energy. I noticed something that might be significant or it might not.”

 

Metrone nodded and gestured for his advisor to continue.

 

“It is something that doesn't come up often. All things that have existed in this universe for the entire history of their existence have a similar quantum signature. In the past it has only been a theory that says beings or things from an alternate reality would have a different quantum signature.”

 

The black haired man considered that. “Are you implying that these two beings have a quantum signature from a different reality?”

 

The balding man nodded. “Exactly that. They have a quantum signature different from anything else in the universe. They appear to be aliens from an alternate reality.”

 

In a musing tone Metrone said, “Aliens from an alternate reality. Aliens with god-like powers, it would seem.”

Narang nodded again. “That was my assessment. For the present these aliens do not seem to be taking a direct hand in the events currently playing out. They may be helping out that one boy or they may not. We should do what we can to monitor their movements for now. It won't be easy because they seem to teleport all over the world and at times disappear completely from my scan capability.”

 

Metrone said, “Track them as best you can. I think it would be a good idea to check the inventory of our stores to see if we have the equipment to build a weapon that would be capable of destroying one or both of those aliens. Even if they are not directly opposing us, we should be ready in case they do decide to interfere.”

 

“Yes, My Lord.”

 

It was a Saturday evening and the Senshi were meeting at Rei's Shrine. All of the girls look tired. Ami looked at the others. The last two months had taken a toll and it was obvious to anyone who knew these girls. Even Usagi and Rei lacked the energy to bicker with each other.

 

Ami said, “Forgive me for stating the obvious, but we are in serious trouble. For the last two months we have fought a monster every day with only the exception of the two monsters that appeared in Nerima. We can be thankful for those people the newspapers are calling the Nerima 5.”

 

The others all nodded at that. No one said it but they all thought it would be nice if the martial artists had taken on some fights outside of their ward.

 

Ami continued. “The first monster we fought was fairly easy to beat but with each new one that has come they have gotten a little tougher, a little stronger. The first ones that came through one or two of us could take out. The ones showing up now are strong enough that it takes the combined powers of our full team, both Inners and Outers, to beat them.”

 

“The only constant seems to be that they always attack at night. The problem with that is with us trying to go to school during the day and fight monsters at night, none of us are getting as much sleep as we need. We're getting tired and if things don't change soon, we are going to start making mistakes in battle. We already have made some mistakes but so far we have been able to cover for each other.”

 

“I have tried to analyze the attacks that have hit so far and there doesn't seem to be a pattern. As far as I can determine whoever is sending these monsters seems only to want random killing and destruction. Maybe the goal is to create chaos, I just don't know.”

 

Usagi turned and asked, “Setsuna, what have you been able to find out with the Time Gates?”

 

The Senshi of Time sounded angry and frustrated. “All I've been able to learn amounts to `interesting information.' I haven't been able to learn anything useful. Something in the technology being used is jamming the readings of the Gates so I can't predict anything more than the approximate time the attack will happen within the span of about a half hour. I can't pinpoint the location in advance or even the exact kind of creature. I've no trace of where the attacks are coming from, who is sending them or anything that might help to prevent or stop them.”

 

Rei said, “I've tried fire readings and had no more luck than Pluto.”

 

Usagi said, “Like you said, we're in trouble. Things are getting to a point where I would say we need help. I've even thought of going to Nerima and asking those martial artists to help in our fights.”

 

Ami nodded. “I thought of that too. The trouble is that it would only be a temporary measure. The monsters we are facing now are tougher than the ones the Nerima 5 defeated. If they joined us we might get some relief that would let some of us get some rest. But if the monsters keep getting stronger, that would only buy us a little time. I just wish we had help that would let us find the source of these attacks so we could stop them.”

 

Mokoto asked, “Could we get help from the Justice League or one of those other American superhero teams?”

 

Ami shook her head. “I spoke to Batman's assistant. All the members of the League are all busy with battles of their own. He knows the League owes us a favor after the help we gave them last year, but they can't spare anyone. If we'd called a month ago they could have sent someone over, but they are all busy now.”

 

Usagi looked thoughtful. “How about the Teen Titans?”

 

The Senshi of Mercury looked sad. “It's the same thing with them. They are all off in some alternate dimension fighting some magical demon. All I got when I called them was the answering machine at their tower. I'm afraid we're on our own.”

 

The Senshi didn't know it, but they were about to get the help they needed and it was big help.

 

Nightlife in Tokyo had almost ceased. Two months of monster attacks had properly frightened people so they tried to stay off the streets at night. No one went out for fun anymore and if they had business that required them to be out at night they got it done as quickly as possible and went back indoors right away.

 

On a street that had stores and a theater on one side and nightclubs on the other, there would normally have been crowds of people seeking entertainment. Thus it was that at 10:30 at night there were only 20 people on the sidewalks for the length of the block. The theater had closed early and all of its signage was dark. A bouncer at one of the nightclubs stepped out of the door of his club and looked around. He felt like it would be a good idea to ask his boss to let everyone go home early.

 

Suddenly there came a sound like the cracking of a whip. The bouncer's head snapped around as he looked toward the source of the sound. He was just in time to see the line of light start to expand into a gateway to some unknown world. There had been enough stories about this that he knew what it meant.

 

The night club bouncer had the presence of mind to go back inside. He went to the cashier who collected the cover charges. The bouncer ordered, “Call the police. There's one of those gateway things opening up right outside. There's going to be a monster attack on our street.”

 

The cashier wasted no time but hit the telephone's speed dial button for the police. The bouncer went back and cracked the door just a little bit to peek out.

 

Just stepping out of the portal was a creature that looked a lot like an eighteen foot tall tyrannosaurus rex. The major difference between this creature and a real T-rex was larger arms and blue coloring. The creature also had a look of greater intelligence in its eyes.

 

The monster surveyed the situation. Of the few people who had been on the street most were now either running as fast as they could or had ducked inside one or the other of the shops. To get enough victims, it would have to smash open some of the buildings.

 

There were a few left on the street and the creature decided to have a little fun with them. Swiftly the creature spun around, slamming its tail into two parked cars. The force the blow sent the cars flying. The trajectory of the two vehicles would cause them to crash down onto a woman and her boyfriend.

 

The creature waited with great anticipation but something was wrong. Where was the crash, the screams of fear and pain?

 

The creature looked up and was shocked to see the cars apparently floating in the air. The monster wasn't the smartest thing in the world but even it knew that large, heavy objects like cars didn't behave that way.

 

Wait… The cars weren't floating; something was holding them. As the few spectators watched the cars moved slowly to the ground where they were set lightly on their wheels. Then two figures stepped into the light.

 

Two such large beings should have been frightening in their own right, but instead they inspired trust. The two new newcomers looked like human women, but the smaller of the two was 13 feet tall with brown hair and blue eyes. She wore an outfit that looked like someone's odd imitation of a Sailor Senshi costume.

 

The giant brown haired woman wore denim shorts in pale lavender with a bright yellow belt and a large bronze buckle with two lines that read “COS” and “-MOS.” On the back of her shorts she had a yellow bow that lacked the trailing ribbons of the regular senshi. She wore a top that had the sailor flap in the back and a bow on the front that on her looked only slightly larger than a bow tie. She had on what looked like running shoes with ankle high socks. The top came down only to just below the woman breasts, leaving her midriff bare. She wore no gloves but had on bracers that looked as if they were made of metallic bronze.

 

The other giant was 15 feet tall with luminous green eyes and platinum blonde hair. She had bronzed tan skin. Her uniform was similar but the colors were pale gray for shorts with metallic piping on the edges and bows of soft pastel green. While the brown haired giant woman was pretty, the blonde was stunningly beautiful. Her bows had metallic piping on the edges. On her belt buckle were the lines, “UNI-“ and “VERSE.”

 

Even though nearly everyone was off the street now, nearly every window on the street had people watching the scene play out.

 

The two giants did a quick round of rock-paper-scissors, ending with the blonde throwing scissors to the brunette's paper. She smiled and stepped forward. Beginning to get angry at these creatures that were ignoring it, the monster leaned forward and roared mightily toward the giant blonde woman. The woman's only reaction was to wrinkle her nose and wave a hand in front of her face. “Whoa, ugly. I've got two words for you - `breath mint'.”

 

From the sidelines the brunette chided, “Uni, be serious.”

 

Uni heard and said, “You want serious, you've got serious.'

 

The blonde giant struck a pose and announced, “Monster, you have endangered the lives of innocent civilians. In the name of the limitless Universe I WILL PUNISH YOU!”

 

The last part of that boomed out at a volume that shook the windows of the surrounding buildings. From the extended forefinger of the giant woman there lanced out a brilliant beam of blinding blue light. The dinosaur-like monster let out a scream of extreme pain as one of its arms fell with a thud to the ground. The dinosaur-like monster tried to rub at the stump with its other hand. The monster was too crazed by pain to be able to even think of attacking.

 

The beam licked out again and the other arm fell. Repeatedly the beam stabbed out until there was nothing left but a pile of steaming chunks and spreading pool of yellowish green ichor that appeared to be what the creature used for blood.

 

Uni waved her hand in front of her nose again. She said to nobody in particular, “Man this thing stinks worse when it's dead than it did alive. I'm glad I don't have to clean this mess up.”

 

“Uni!”

 

The blonde pouted cutely. “Yes, Cos.”

 

She stood straight and thrust her hands in the air, nearly swatting a traffic light in the process. She shook her head and once again boomed out, “May I have your attention, you in the buildings? I am Sailor Universe and my companion is Sailor Cosmos. Collectively we are called the Cosmic Senshi.”

 

“We regret the all of the pain and death that has resulted from these monster attacks. We're sorry that we couldn't have joined the fight sooner. We have only just been able to fight these creatures starting today. Take what comfort you can from this promise. Just as the Planet Senshi have been doing, we will expend every effort and resource to find the source of these creatures and stop the attacks. Thank you and good night.”

 

Just to make it obvious they weren't leaping, they lifted lightly into the air and flew up. When they reached an altitude higher than the roofs of the surrounding buildings they stopped in midair, then flew off to the north.

 

Five minutes later the Planet Senshi arrived. They looked around in astonishment, not knowing what to make of the fact they had missed the battle. They went over to a policeman who was interviewing witness who had come out of the buildings into the street.

 

One of the witnesses glared at the senshi. The policemen turned. “Sailor Moon?”

 

She asked, “What happened here? How was the monster destroyed?”

 

The policeman said, “I wasn't a witness myself, Miss. The reports are that two giant women who called themselves the Cosmic Senshi got here just seconds after the portal closed behind the monster. One of them did that,” pointing to the cooling pile of monster chunks, “with something that looked like a blue laser beam she shot from her finger.”

 

“Giant… senshi?”

 

“According to the witnesses that is what they called themselves.”

 

A short distance away a young woman had been seeking comfort in the arms of her boyfriend. They had been the ones who had come close to being flattened by the cars the monster had flung with its tail. She had been the one who had glared at Sailor Moon and the senshi, she struggled free of her boyfriend's embrace and strode angrily forward.

 

Sailor Moon was astonished when the angry young woman hotly demanded, “WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU? If we'd waited for you and your senshi, my `Toshi and I would be dead now!”

 

With a stricken expression, Sailor Moon tried to defend herself and her team, “We got here as fast as we could.”

 

With fists clenched the woman responded, “Well it wasn't fast enough! Maybe you should turn the job of protecting Tokyo over to some real heroes. Thanks to the Cosmic Senshi only the monster died here. How many have died because you didn't get there fast enough? Heroes, feh!” She spat on the ground at Sailor Moon's feet, then stalked off.

 

A young man (presumably `her Toshi') said, “Please forgive her, she didn't mean it. She idolized you Senshi. She's just upset.” He turned and hurried after his girlfriend.

 

Ranma and Akane had gotten in the habit of watching the late news before going to bed. They wanted to get information on the latest monster attack and learn how the senshi were faring. Having fought monsters themselves, they were now looking at the senshi as fellow warriors in the same campaign.

 

The logo for the news program flashed on the screen and the anchorman said in the pre-show teaser, “The latest in the two-month long series of monster attacks ended differently this evening. Details after these messages.”

 

Akane almost growled. “I hate how they do that.”

 

Ranma grunted assent.

 

After the commercial the anchorman came back on and gave a location. “At 10:35 PM a creature that looked like something out of the American movie “Jurassic Park” appeared out of one of the now almost familiar gateways. One of the first things the creature did was to use its powerful tail to hurl two cars in the direction of two people who had been passing on the street. It was at this point that things departed from the grimly familiar pattern.”

 

“The two cars that had been sent flying were caught in midair by two giant women who were at that time floating in the air. When they finally came into the illumination of the streetlights after gently setting down the cars, the saviors were revealed as a 13 foot brown haired woman and a 15 foot platinum blonde who were dressed in a variant of the Sailor senshi uniform. One of them fired what looked like a blue laser beam from her index finger and left nothing but a pile of cut up pieces of the monster. The fight was brief and seemed easy for the woman who was joking about the monster's odor during the fight.”

 

“The blonde woman proclaimed that she was Sailor Universe and her companion was named Sailor Cosmos and they were collectively known as the Cosmic Senshi. She then said they were working on finding the source of the attacks. After making that declaration the two heroes flew away.”

 

Ranma hit the button on the remote. He looked at Akane and asked, “15 foot tall platinum blonde, 13 foot brunette? Does that sound like anyone we know?”

 

Akane had a thoughtful expression on her face. “Do you suppose this has something to do with why they haven't been around much?”

 

“Maybe… I wish they would come by so we could ask them.”

 

On the planet in the pocket universe, Lord Metrone was angry. He was storming about his office swearing sulfurous oaths and smashing things. This continued for perhaps fifteen minutes. Finally soothed by the therapy of smashing breakable objects he calmed enough to speak to Narang who had been waiting outside in the hall.

 

“Cosmic Senshi, feh! Who do they think they're fooling? Those damn godlings just had to interfere.”

 

Narang sighed. “My lord forgive me for bringing up an old argument. If we had killed the Senshi right away there is a good chance these aliens wouldn't be bothering us now.”

 

The evil mastermind heaved a sigh, “Yes, it is an old argument. If it makes you feel any happier I will agree that you were right.”

 

In calm, measured tones the little man replied, “My happiness is not really the issue. The important question is what do we do about this?”

 

Metrone idly wondered how the man always remained calm regardless of the severity of the crisis. He said, “If these beings are as powerful as your sensor logs suggest, I'm not sure what we can do. I confess that I'm tempted to just stop the current operation until I can figure out an alternate plan. Maybe we should stop attacking Japan and try somewhere else.”

 

Narang considered that a moment. “That might be an option to think about. I think North America would be a bad choice because the Justice League and other superhero groups not to mention independent super heroes. I think what might be the best course of action for the moment is to continue on as we have been while we evaluate our options and decide what to do.”

 

The villain was not happy with that answer but had to acknowledge that it did make sense. “Hmm. I suppose you're right. A change in our pattern might alert them that we know about them. It's just not fair!”

 

“What's not fair?”

 

Metrone explained, “Just a little while longer and I would have crushed the Senshi. Now we have super powered aliens with a romantic notion of the fight for love and Justice cosplaying the senshi. As easily as that one beat my Bio-weapon, it's obvious both of them have more power than both the regular Senshi teams put together.”

 

Narang nodded. “I guess that the level of priority on that weapon to fight these aliens has increased.”

 

Metrone frowned. “Thank you for pointing out the obvious. I only hope that I can get a working weapon ready before they can track us back here.”

 

As calmly as ever, the little man replied, “Yes. At least we know they don't yet have the means to track us to this base. If they did, we'd already be dead or captured.”

 

The self-styled evil mastermind sighed. “That's a depressing thought to contemplate.”

 

 

Author's Note: Sorry to take so long to update. I've been working on another story (another Ranma/AMG/Sailor Moon crossover) and got sort of involved.