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 Version 0.3
 #include <ahoal/author_notes.h>
 #include <mega_crossover/std_disclaimer.h>
 #include <alternate_universe/std_disclaimer.h>
 #include <ranma/std_disclaimer.h>

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     Setsuna marveled as she stepped out of the portal and into her own world in the exactly the same place she had left it. She knew through her Time-sense that from her World's standpoint, she had only been gone for a second. She marveled because, as far as she could tell, her father had not used any intermediate steps in their journey from his Universe back to her own. They had traveled from one point to another point, without crossing anything inbetween. The level of skill, knowledge, and power of such a feat boggled her mind. She knew her father was powerful, more powerful than any of the Serenitys had been, but to Travel without an intermediate step.... She didn't think it was even a possibility.

     She, herself, had started here in a deserted lot behind the apartment complex she and the other Outer Senshi lived in. She, then, opened a pathway from where she stood to the Time Gate. From the Time Gate, she made a general pathway into her Father's Universe that didn't terminate. Once she reached the part of the pathway that was "physical" within her Father's Universe, she then made a pathway to a similar deserted parking lot somewhere in the area she thought she knew where he lived. She was off by a number of kilometers that she had to walk.

     She also felt the magical protection Ranma had set up for the terminal site. She knew that she could only feel them because she was inside the protective sphere. The intricacy of the shield that would protect them from any physical or magical attack would also shield them from prying eyes.

     "Looks just like Tokyo to me," Akane's voice cut into Setsuna's thoughts.

     "It is Tokyo," Setsuna replied calmly. She pushed aside her thoughts on Ranma's greater skills for another day.

     "Tokyo of a different Universe, actually," onna-Ranma added. "There's some similarities and some differences..."

     "Such as?" Akane asked curiously.

     Ranma thought a moment and replied, "Such as Furinkan High School doesn't exist here, Nerima's High School is called 'Hatsuyuki.' It has different architecture and different faculty members. The Kunos don't exist in this Universe. Neither do the Saotomes, Hibikis, or Chinese Amazons for that matter."

     "But," Akane began but onna-Ranma interrupted with, "But... the Tendos exists here, the Sailor Senshi do, although they don't in *our* Universe. And the Kuonjis exist, but Ukyou's counterpart was born male..."

     A thought entered Akane's mind when Ranma said that her family existed here, //Maybe my Mother is alive here...//

     "Since you had a counterpart here, Sailor Charon," onna-Ranma continued. "You have to be careful...

     "There's a 'disguise' spell woven into each Sailor Senshi's powers, but theirs is really simple, mostly to protect their civilian identities. I made your 'disguise' spell a lot more complicated... In fact, to be safe, you should just stick with 'Charon' as your name. And don't mention more than you need to... There are people who can hear anything -- if its spoken out loud."

     "Nani?" Akane asked.

     "So you won't endanger your family. The Sailor Senshi have a lot of enemies... some who wasn't hesitate to attack our families if they knew our secrets," Setsuna responded. "Happosai doesn't exist here... So there's no 'Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu' here as well."

     "Nani?" Akane asked confused. She couldn't picture her father without the Tendo School of Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu.

     "He teaches Kendo," Setsuna replied. "He's a pretty good instructor. Your family's Dojo has taken first and second place in all Kendo matches for the last five years that they've entered."

     "As long as you stay in Senshi form," onna-Ranma stated. "We won't complicate things..."

     Both Setsuna and Akane looked at onna-Ranma as she trailed off. Seeing their looks, onna-Ranma blushed and said, "Here I'm talking about not complicating thing... and I'm holding your Time-staff... What will you do if..."

     Onna-Ranma took the staff in both hands, held it parallel to the ground, and closed her eyes. A blue-ish glow spread over the staff from onna-Ranma's hands to the outer tips. The glow grew until it became too bright to look upon.

     A few moments later, the glow died down. Setsuna and Akane saw onna-Ranma holding three staffs, the original Sailor Pluto's Time Staff in her right hand, a simple staff that looked to be made of wood with a blue crystal sphere on top of it that floated before her, and a smaller duplicate of the Time-staff in her left hand. She returned the Time Staff to Setsuna and handed the duplicate, smaller Time Staff to Akane. She then grabbed the simple wooden staff in her right hand and used it like a walking stick. The blue sphere seemed to pulse with a heart beat.

     "We need to find the Sailor Senshi," onna-Ranma stated as she started to walk off.

= - = - = - =

     The Sailor Senshi, at that moment, were meeting at Rei's temple. Everyone was present, minus Setsuna. When Rei noticed this, she asked, "Where's Pluto?"

     Haruka looked at Michiru, who shrugged, and said, "She said something about getting help...."

     "Help?" Usagi repeated in puzzlement. "From who?"

     "Who*m*" Ami corrected Usagi. "It's 'from whom.'"

     "Whichever," Minako replied. "Who else is there? There's the nine of us... Tuxedo Kamen... and that's it."

     Haruka just shrugged and answered, "That's what she said..."

     Makoto shivered and said, "If Pluto thinks we need help..."

     "What are we facing?" Artemis finished.

     "We, Artemis?" Minako asked archly. "I didn't see you almost shishkabobbed by that... that...."

     "Chronodroid," Ami stated. "Pluto called it a 'Chronodroid.'"

     "According to Setsuna," Haruka stated. "This 'Chronodroid' was only slightly 'in-phase' with our Time-frame."

     "Which is why some of the parts seemed to 'disappear' and 're-appear,'" Ami replied.

     "So she was familiar with this 'Chronodroid,'" Minako said sourly. "She could have warned us..."

     "Hey, Setsuna was as surprised to see it as we were," Haruka stated to defend her missing friend.

     "In fact," Ami stated in a soft voice that carried. "The 'droid seemed to fixate on her..."

     "Considering she was the one to defeat it," Minako began. "Hey! How did she defeat it? My memory is fuzzy -- I remember a flash -- then the 'droid was in pieces..."

     Everyone looked at each other and shrugged.

     "All I remember is that Pluto touched me and told me to use a 'Mars Firebird Strike,'" Rei replied.

     "But that didn't work before," Makoto stated.

     "Well... I remember Setsuna touching me and saying I should use a 'Deep Submerge' when she said too," Michiru answered.

     "When did you release your attacks," Luna inquired.

     "When Pluto/Setsuna said," Rei/Michiru replied at the same time.

     Ami's eyes went wide and she exclaimed, "That's it!"

     "What's it?" Hotaru asked.

     "Pluto must have placed Mars and Neptune slightly out of phase with the Present, like the 'droid was, and the 'flash' was Mars and Neptune's attacks striking the 'droid at the same time," Ami stated.

     Everyone thought about it until Usagi said, "My head hurts..."

     "Of course it does," Rei stated in a matter of fact voice. "That's because you're an Odango atama..." Rei stuck her tongue out at Usagi for emphasis.

     "Rei! Why are you being so mean to me?" Usagi cried.

     "Like you understand this Time stuff any better," Minako responded to Rei.

     "Rei! Usagi!" Luna called to stop their fighting. "We need to plan... If there's one of these 'Chronodroids' --"

     "There are more where that one came from," Sailor Pluto stated as she and two others entered.

     Everyone tensed up upon seeing that Pluto had company, but relaxed when they saw the others were Sailor Senshi too... Although who they were...

     "Who are the two newbies, Pluto?" asked Minako in her 'I'm an experienced professional and I don't like amateurs getting in the way and complicating things' voice.

     The tall redhead sighed and replied to Minako, "Nice to see you again, Commander Venus. My! How you've grown..."

     Turning to Usagi, the redhead said, "I'm Sailor Pluto, your hind-ness." Gesturing at the other new comer, she said, "This is my assistant, Sailor Charon."

     Haruka whispered to Michiru and Hotaru, "Ever hear of an assistant for a Senshi? Let alone for Pluto?"

     Both shook their heads negatively.

     "But... But she's Sailor Pluto," Minako stated as she pointed towards Setsuna.

     Setsuna looked startled and muttered, "Nani? You all thought I had this job forever? Ranko's my predecessor... and a better Pluto than I'll ever be..."

     "Don't sell yourself short, Set-chan," Ranko, Elder Sailor Pluto, replied in a smile. "You're doing an excellent job."

     The other Outer Senshi looked nervous at Ranko's shorting of Pluto's name, they know that there were two ways to get on Setsuna's bad side... One of them was to use a 'nickname' in place of her full name. But instead of the expected angry look, Setsuna just blushed. The Outer Senshi's opinion of this Elder Pluto went up a notch if she could get Setsuna to blush.

     After a few moments of silence, Luna asked the Sailor Pluto she knew, "Sailor Pluto, our Sailor Pluto, believes you, Sailor Pluto, can help us, can you?"

     Usagi looked towards Ranko, said, 'She's Sailor Pluto,' then towards Setsuna, and repeated, 'But she's Sailor Pluto,' and back again, until she whispered to Mamoru, who was next to her, "This is so confusing..."

     Mamoru could only nod his head.

     "I can try," Ranko replied happily.

     A big sweat drop appeared on everyone's faces.

     "Mercury, can I see your computer?" Elder Sailor Pluto asked.

     Ami shrugged and replied, "Sure...."

     "Thanks," Elder Sailor Pluto said.

     Elder Pluto took the Mercury computer, pressed a number of buttons, and then set it face-open on the floor and took a number of steps back.

     A hologram of the 'droid that the Senshi had fought that morning appeared above the Mercury computer. The hologram was scaled to half the actual size of the 'droid. In addition to the hologram, there were text labels and analysis displayed as well.

     "Computer, full scale," Elder Pluto stated.

     As the hologram expanded to full size, all the Senshi's eyes grew wide. Mercury's eyes were the biggest. The Inner Senshi looked to Ami in amazement. Ami looked at Luna and Setsuna, who shrugged.

     "Computer, run Tactical Analysis, Option Pluto Six," Elder Pluto said after the hologram finished growing.

     The hologram took on an added element and began to move. Various parts became transparent with different colors as the text displays changed from Silver Millennium script to modern Japanese.

     "A Chronodroid," Elder Pluto stated evenly. "I thought they were all in Storage..."

     "You seem to know a lot about them," Minako said evenly. "Care to tell us about them?"

     "Simple, you probably know them better as the C-Droids..." Elder Pluto replied. "Although, we used them from time to time... They are... or rather were... original used by the Lomian."

     "C-Droids? The *Lomian*?" Usagi asked puzzled. "Who are they?"

     The other Senshi were just as puzzled as their princess.

     "Don't you guys know any History?" Elder Pluto asked with a sigh. She looked towards the Outer Senshi seeing their equally puzzled looks she asked, "Especially, you... Don't you know your *own* History?"

     "Huh?" was the Senshi's only reply.

     Elder Pluto sighed, issued some verbal commands to the Mercury computer, and began telling everyone the history of the Outer Worlds. She explained that before Queen Serenity ruled, her father, King Serenity, did. And in the seven hundred seventy sixth year of King Serenity's reign, the Lomians invaded. She explained that because of the Lomians natural abilities, the C-Droids, and the fact that back then there were only four Senshi, the Lomian were able to over-run the outer worlds, Jupiter, and Mars, with relative ease.

     Elder Pluto continued how the Lomians had a natural ability to see into the Future, thus they were able to plan for any move the Kingdom planned even before the Kingdom planned it. She stated since she was actually from outside their universe, she was immune to their sight. Using her immunity, the Kingdom was able to create magic spells to protect the four Senshi. Together, they were able to defeat the Lomians. After their defeat, the Kingdom learned that the Lomians had been controlled by an evil entity named, Zankoku. After freeing the Lomians, they were welcomed in the Kingdom and they settled the outer worlds.

     As Ranma talked, Akane couldn't help thinking that his... her version of the 'History', differed from Setsuna's. She also knew that it was her older sister, Nab-- Violet, who ordered the invasion of the Moon Kingdom and its worlds, after Nab-- Violet killed their older sister, Kas-- Cyan. There was no 'Zankoku'... just her power-hungry older sister who been corrupted by... by... something that Akane couldn't remember, but it was not some evil entity who name meant 'cruel.'

     Setsuna added that it was after the Lomian Incident, that the Space-Time Gate was created by her father and a team of Kingdom and Lomian scientists. With the creation of the Space-Time Gate, the post of Sailor Pluto was created and Elder Pluto who stood before them was the very first Sailor Pluto.

     Elder Pluto just frowned at Younger Pluto's adding that tidbit... Setsuna just smiled as the Senshi went 'ohh' and 'ahh.' Just as Younger Pluto was going to add something else, Elder Pluto bopped her on her head and gave her a look. Akane hid a grin as she realized that Ranma was acting a little bit like Cologne did when he said something he shouldn't.

     The one identified as Sailor Mercury started to ask a question, her computer interuptted her with "Targets, located. Three C-Droids, Class Warrior, Five C-Droids, Class Scout, and Nine Scout Droids, Class Three detected at grid reference five six by three oh five by niner two eight cross oh eight by oh one by oh four."

     "Acknowledged," Elder Pluto replied to the computer. Gesturing towards everyone, she said, "Shall we go?"

     As an afterthought, Elder Pluto added towards the one identified as Sailor Moon, "with your permission, your Highness...."

     Sailor Moon could only nod her head in confusion.

     Turning towards, Younger Pluto, Elder Pluto said with a bow, "Care to do the honors?"

     Setsuna blushed as the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen looked at her questioning. She stammers that she can't, that she was out of practice...

     Elder Pluto muttered, "That's not good, Set-chan."

     "Okay," she stated as she raised her staff. "Pluto Express... next stop... Gold Dragon Mount Park."

= - = - = - =

     The park was located on top of a large hill, a small mountain, or according to legend, the park was set atop a sleeping, gold dragon that centuries of earth and wind had covered up.

     There were various people running out of the park in a panic as the Sailor Senshi, Tuxedo Kamen, Elder Pluto, and Sailor Charon arrived via Elder Pluto's teleportation. A quick look showed that the three Warrior Class C-Droids, huge humanoid figures with tough, metallic armor, were in the center of the park flanked by the five Scout Class C-Droids, who were ball and stick figures. Both C-Droid classes had parts that were out-of-phase with the Here and Now. The nine Scout Droids were half-meter spheres with eight legs each that moved around like spiders. All seventeen droids were aware of the Senshi's arrival in matter of moments.

     Both Plutos gave out instructions on how to fight the C-Droids, who were the greater threat since they could detect an attack before that attack was launched. Basically, one had to plan out one's strategy several moves in advance like chess.

     During the fight, Sailor Charon discovered that she had the power to 'ferry' a person or a thing from one point to another, without crossing the space between the two points. She used this power to rescue the slower Senshi from danger. She and Tuxedo Kamen spent a lot of time rescuing Sailor Moon.

     Ten minutes into the fight, Sailor Mercury and Jupiter, with Younger Pluto's help, were able to trick two Scout C-Droids into destroying each other. To everyone's dismay, three more Warrior Class C-Droids took their place.

     "Dead Scream," Elder Pluto called her attack in a calm, low voice and directed it towards destroying two of the three original Warrior Class C-Droids that were pinning Sailors Neptune and Uranus down. The two Warrior Class C-Droids where replaced by five Scout Class C-Droids, which being smaller, were harder to hit.

     Elder Pluto examined both Uranus and Neptune for injuries. Finding none, she looked around and said "We're dealing with the symptoms, when we NEED to be dealing with the disease itself!!"

= - = - = - =

     Sighing, Elder Pluto raised her staff and shouted, "Dark Dome --"

     And the Universe paused, allowing several shocked Senshi to look at Elder Pluto in shock as she finished her attack with, "ENCAPSULATE!!!"

     And the park, what was left of it after the Senshi and the C-Droids attacks, was enclosed in a dark dome of unknown energy. To those within the dome, the bright sunlight that passed through the dome gave everything a grey, washed out look. Then two more surprising things happened, first the various C-Droids no longer were partially out-phased but whole, and Elder Pluto turned into a blue phantom and vanished.

     Younger Pluto froze, looked at the empty place where Elder Pluto stood not a moment before, and cried out, "That's impossible!"

     Fortunately for Younger Pluto, Sailor Charon was able to ferry her out of harm's way. Once Pluto was out of the way, she shouted at everyone, "We still have some Droids to smash, people!"

     Enclosed in Elder Pluto's dome, the C-Droids seemed to have lost their extra-temporal abilities and were reduced to being simple droids like the scout droids. It took only a few moments, under these conditions, for the Senshi to destroy all the droids. Especially since those destroyed, were not replaced.

= - = - = - =

     A point of blue light appeared in the darkness. The point quickly grew into a line, which grew into a plane, which expanded into a blue humanoid, transparent form of male Ranma. His clothes made of a blue fog covered him leaving only his head and hands uncovered. The blue fog had the look of a military uniform. The blue fog around his feet took on the appearance of military boots. After a moment's thought, he solidified himself and his clothes.

     Ranma extended his hand out, palm up and a small ball of ki formed slightly above the palm. The ball floated slightly ahead and above Ranma and casted a bluish light around him. He saw that a reception hall with a large door was to his left, which Ranma walked towards. As he approached the door, he became transparent again and walked through the door into a hallway. The hallway was decorated with various three-dimensional art works that made up parts of the hallway itself. After a few moments, he came upon another set of doors.

     Ranma let the ki-ball dissipate, turned transparent again, and walked through the doors. On the other side, he solidified again and saw a bright lit room. The room was the former throne-room of the Lomians. On each side of the throne-room, there were benches for applicants and observers to seat themselves. At the far end of the throne-room, the throne of the Lomians stood. It was a simple chair with a high back, arm rests, and bright colored cushions. The throne, itself however, was black.

     Standing on the cushions was a young woman, who was reaching towards a huge stone carved eye that was set in the wall behind and above the throne. The young woman had green hair that fell past her knees and was wearing light green pants, a light green shirt with a dark green vest over it, and dark green boots.

     Ranma sighed and said, "The Eye will not serve you, Forest."

     Forest, the woman in green, spun around too quickly and fell off the throne landing on her butt with an, "Ouch."

     Forest quickly got up, unconsciously rubbed her sore ass, and shot a look of pure hatred at Ranma as she hissed, "Chronossss! How can you still be alive?"

     Ranma shook his head sadly and repeated, "The Eye will not serve you."

     "Oh?" Forest inquired. "And why not?"

     "Simple. You're not of the Blood," was his response.

     "Nani?" Forest began and then laughed out loud. She added, "Oh, Chronos... I see Time has finally got up to you, you *old* senile *human*. You're what? Somewhere around three and half thousand years old?"

     Forest paused a moment, made a dramatic pose for thinking, then continued, "You know, they say it's the memories that first leave you humans in your old age... Otherwise, you'd know that I, I -- Forest, am the daughter of Princess Indigo, daughter of Her Majesty Violet!"

     With a nod, Ranma replied, "Yes, I know who you are... I changed a number of your diapers... What you don't know is that Indigo was sterile. Her mother, Violet, didn't wish to have any other competition for the throne. Princess Indigo couldn't have any children."

     "NANI!!!" Forest screamed.

     With a sad smile, Ranma replied, "Lousy way to find out you're adopted, ne? If you remember, the Eye of Agamotto would opened up a sliver when any of the Blood entered the throne-room..."

     For the first time, Forest realized that Ranma was correct, she had always accompanied her 'mother' into the throne-room and the Eye always opened up a sliver when her mother was in the throne-room. But now, the Eye was completely closed. With this realization, Forest screamed, "NOOOOO!"

     Still screaming, Forest launched herself at Ranma with an energy sword in her right hand. Just as she came into striking distance, she said, "Die, Chronos!"

     Ranma just side-stepped the attack and tapped Forest.

     Forest went flying into one of the walls and collapsed.

     Wondering out loud, Ranma asked, "But how did you get in here? We, Crimson, the Circle of Mages, and I sealed the old throne-room up..."

     With that statement, the 'All-Seeing' Eye of Agamotto opened. The stone lids opened revealing a natural-looking, organic white eye with a black iris. The pupil widen and a beam of light shot out of the Eye and hit Ranma in the middle of his forehead. There a peach-colored copy of the Eye appeared and Ranma froze.

     After several minutes had passed, Forest turned and saw the Eye and Ranma linked. She cried out, "No! It's me that.... No!"

     In a soft voice, Ranma said, "I See... I understand, Agamotto."

     "No," Forest cried, "Only the Blood may use the Eye!"

     Ranma smiled and answered, "I was... involved... in the 'War of the Seven Spheres'... with Steven Strange... several in fact... Agamotto owns me some favors.

     "And he's shown me that the Eye, here, can no longer be defended. So..."

     Ranma gathered his hands together, a huge ball of ki appeared, and as he sent the ball of ki into the floor, he said, "Planet Smasher!"

     There was a flash of light.

     Once the light cleared, nothing remained. Not the Eye, the throne-room, the Hallway, the Reception Room, or the Tower that held them all. Except a blue sphere with a meter radius.

     Inside the sphere, Ranma stood with sad look as he held Forest in his arms. Forest's knife could be seen in her heart.

= - = - = - =

     The Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen stood around looking at each other. Sailor Venus broke the silence and asked Sailors Pluto and Charon, "Now what?"

     Sailor Charon just shrugged.

     "Nothing," Sailor Pluto replied calmly.

     "Nothing??!?!?!" Sailors Jupiter, Mars, and Uranus screamed.

     "Nothing," Pluto repeated. "We're trapped in a 'Dark Dome.'"

     "Which is?" Mercury asked.

     "Well..." Pluto began. "A 'Dark Dome' is an enclosed space-time point -- for the lack of better term. We're cut off from our World. Sealed off from the rest of the Universe.... Everything."

     "Everything?" Sailor Moon wailed. "Even cookies? Cakes? Chocolate?!?!?"

     "Chocolate?!?!?!?" Sailors Venus, Neptune, and Saturn wondered. "Where?!?!?!?!?"

     Mercury in a calm voice asked, "If we're 'cut off from Everything' then, where's Elder Pluto?"

     Pluto blushed, stammered, and replied, "Hehehehehe.... I don't know..."

     "You don't know," all the Senshi wondered in reply.

     "We're in a completely enclosed space-time point," Pluto answered. "It should be impossible to leave a Dome... Yet, I can't find da-- Pluto here."

     "So?" Tuxedo Kamen asked.

     "We wait for hi-- her," Pluto replied. "To re-open the dome."

= - = - = - =

     After what seemed like hours, but was actually only a few moments, Elder Pluto re-appeared with a flash of blue light. She looked around quickly, then raised her staff, and said, "Dark Dome Open."

     The Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen blinked as normal sunlight appeared.

     Mercury looked around and asked Elder Pluto, "How much time has passed?"

     "As far as the World is concerned," Younger Pluto stated. "Only a few nanoseconds has passed."

     "Actually, ten nanoseconds passed," Elder Pluto corrected with a smile. "I like to keep a little lee way..."

     Venus turned to Younger Pluto asked, "Why haven't you used this 'Dark Dome' before?"

     Pluto blushed and then in a very soft, low voice said, "I can't..."

     "What was that?" Sailor Mars asked. She and others can't believe their ears.

     "I can't create Dark Domes -- timepoints -- like da... Elder Pluto can," Younger Pluto said.

     The other Senshi, minus Sailor Charon, who had a thoughtful expression on her face, starred in awe of Elder Pluto.

     Elder Pluto just shrugged and said, "I've had a lot of free time on my hands..."

= - = - = - =

     After Elder Pluto explained about the Tower of Sight that held the 'All-Seeing' Eye of Agamotto, with which the Royals of Lomian could use to see 'Everything', and that someone had learned of the Eye and used the C-Droids as a distraction while that person tried to get the Eye's power for themselves. She concluded that since the Eye couldn't be protected anymore, as it had been by magic-spells and secrecy, she destroyed the Eye and the Tower.

     With that Elder Pluto teleported all the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen back to the Hikawa Shrine where the Moon Princess decreed that they should have a victory party.

     Only Hotaru, Mamoru, and Haruka returned to their 'civilian forms.' The rest simply didn't bother and went about getting the shrine ready for a party. Which basically consisted of cooking, cleaning, and clearing a place for everyone.

     Both Venus and Charon offered to help cook, but everyone else responded with, "No," so they went out to mope.

     Thirty minutes later, everything was set and the party was underway. While she was out, Venus brought the Lunar Cats to the Shrine. Of Charon, there was no sign.

     The two Plutos looked at each other, Younger Pluto shrugged and Elder Pluto sighed and mouthed, "I'll get her..."

     Younger Pluto nodded. A little bit later, when Usagi asked Setsuna where Elder Pluto and Charon were, she replied that Elder Pluto went to find her, but since it was getting late, they probably headed back to their home Universe. Usagi, being Usagi, only heard that they had gone home, which she figured was somewhere on the other side of Tokyo.

= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =

     Sailor Charon, better known as Akane Tendo, was mad. She was mad that Ranma thought her cooking was bad. So she stormed out of the Shrine and began to walk around. Realizing that a Sailor Senshi, even a made up one like herself, would attract too much attention, Akane released the Senshi magic back into the henshin rod that Ranma had made for her so she wouldn't interfere with her counterpart's Universe.

     Of course, as she wandered around, Akane did attract some attention. In this Universe, it wasn't common for a girl to glow a dark bloody red. While everyone who saw was curious about her, once they saw the equally dark expression on her face, everyone, Police included, left her alone.

     Eventually, Akane's wandering took her to the Nerima Ward, and then to her neighborhood where the family Dojo stood. Once just outside of the Tendo place, she debated whether or not to go see her counterpart. While Ranma and Setsuna had said something about that being a 'bad thing,' neither said why or what bad thing would happened. So she walked through the gate, into the yard, and up to the house.

     Once at the house, Akane noticed several things different from her own home. The biggest difference was the sound of students practicing coming from the Dojo, the next difference was the presence of the various potted plants along the porch and the bright colorful curtains in the windows. She knew they, back home, didn't have bright colorful curtains since Kasumi didn't have the time to wash them as often as the curtain would need. To save time and money, Kasumi had replaced their mother's curtains with simple, dark-color ones that didn't need to be washed as often.

     Originally, Akane was going to simply walk in like she would have done back home into the house, but although, she knew she had a counterpart, an 'Akane' native to this Universe, she felt like an outsider, so she knocked on the door and waited for Kasumi to let her in.

     Only it wasn't Kasumi who answered the door. While the woman looked a lot like Kasumi, she was far older. For that matter, the woman also looked a lot like Nabiki and herself, but that fact didn't get processed.

     The woman with a voice that had only been spoken to Akane in her dreams asked, "Hello, can I help you?"

     Akane could only stare as she realized that the woman was Kimiko Tendo, her mother... who died over ten years ago.

     The woman blinked her eyes and stared too. After a few moments, Kimiko asked in a troubled voice, "Akane?"

     On the verge of tears, Akane answered, "Hai, mother."

     The two women, one old and one young, hugged as tears ran down their faces mirroring each other.

     It took the sound of a car passing to break the spell of the reunion. Kimiko suggested that they go into the dining room.

     As Akane walked through the Tendo house, tears were clearly seen as everything was just like she remembered her house was when her mother was alive. Once the two reached the dining room, Kimiko sat Akane down at the table and collected everything she needed for the tea ceremony.

     As always, the tea ceremony helped calmed Kimiko down. She poured her daughter some tea, which Akane clumsily drank from, and then asked, "How?"

     In a gentle voice from behind the two Tendos, Ranma replied, "We come from a different Universe, Kimiko-miko."

     Like a whip, Kimiko turned around with her right index finger pointing at Ranma and said, "Fireball!"

     Akane gasped in surprise as a small ball of fire rocketed from her mother's out stretched hand towards Ranma, who caught it when it was at arm's reach. He then jumped over Kimiko and table, sat down, and gently handed back Kimiko's fireball.

     Both Akane and Kimiko could only stare, the fact that the fireball simply sat in Ranma's hand like a normal rubber ball did not help matters.

     Ranma simply shrugged his shoulders and closed his hand. A brief flicker of smoke escaped from his hand as he opened his hand again and said, "Koi-hime taught you well."

     "By the Vishanti, how do you know Koi-hime?" Kimiko asked quietly.

     Akane was puzzled, and for once, decided to remain quiet.

     "She taught me a few tricks," Ranma said off-handedly. He sighed and continued, "Akane and I are from a different Universe... The Sailor Senshi needed some help, so we came here."

     "A different Universe?" Kimiko repeated in wonder.

     "Hai," Ranma replied. In a sad voice, he added, "One where Kimiko Tendo died of cancer when Akane-chan was six... since then, Kasumi-chan took over most of the household chores, Nabiki-chan took over the finances, and Akane-chan's the heir to the Tendo Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu, a style created by my sensei, Happosai, that is a blending of various Ryuus and disciplines."

     Kimiko asked in a small voice, "And my husband, Soun?"

     "Father became extremely emotionally after you died," Akane replied gently.

     "After ten or so years," Ranma added for Kimiko's benefit, "he's finally recovering."

     Turning to Akane, he said, "Your counterpart, the Akane of this World is dead..."

     "Nani?" Akane gasped.

     "My Akane-chan was killed while saving a little girl's life, five years ago," Kimiko replied gently.

     Ranma explained that this Universe's Kimiko was a sorceress/priestess, who was able to use her powers to prevent the cancer that killed Akane's mother in their world. Koi-hime was Kimiko's sensei in magic and well as the leading Miko in the world.

= - = - = - =

     "Nani?" Nabiki exclaimed upon seeing a person who looked just like her sister that she had failed to protect five years ago.

     Akane looked at her older sister's counterpart and did a double take because Nabiki was dressed like Kuno. She was wearing a light blue harama over a yellow kimono. She even had a bokken at her side. Akane was surprised to noted that Nabiki had some skill in kendo.

     "Na-chan," Kimiko explained. "This is Akane and Ranma... They're from another world..."

     "But," Nabiki began but was interuptted by Ranma, who suggested, "How about the two of you going spar?"

     Nabiki looked startled as she replied, "But, she doesn't have her own sword or equipment..."

     Akane snorted and said, "Don't need it."

     "Nani?" Nabiki exclaimed in surprise at such a statement. Deciding to show this copy of her sister a thing or two, she led Akane to the Dojo.

     As the two Tendo girls left, Kimiko looked at Ranma.

     "The Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu is about surviving any encounter," Ranma said. He shrugged as he said, "Akane's been training in Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu since she was seven, while Nabiki only started Kendo in the last five years since she wished to replace the slain Akane's place as the Dojo's Heir. Nabiki felt had she been more involved in the martial arts, like Akane, she could have saved Akane, like Akane saved Usa-- the little girl. So while Akane's got the experience, Nabiki's got the dedication...

     "For record, the little girl that Akane saved grew up to be Sailor Moon... and when things are down, Akane's sacrifice is what drives Sailor Moon on."

     Kimiko nodded and replied, "Thanks."

     After a moments thought, she asked, "How long are the two of you staying here?"

     "Well," Ranma replied. "We had planned on going straight back... but with Akane revealing herself... causing an Akane to exist where she died five years before... kind of disrupted things. It'll take a bit to get back now... Why?"

     "Could you stay for supper?" Kimiko asked.

     "Sure," Ranma answered.

= - = - = - =

     Supper that night at the Tendo home was... 'different.' Akane received the third surprise of her life when she saw that Kasumi was dressed in a leather mini-shirt, a leather halter-top, leather spiked boots, and not much else. After sparring with Nabiki, that ended in a draw, Akane wasn't surprised to see her father dressed like Nabiki was, although instead of a kimono, he wore a haori.

     At the dinner table, Akane learned that her mother was a well-known sorceress and that Kasumi was her heir to her family magic, and originally, her counterpart was the heir to father's family kendo and Nabiki caught inbetween the magic of her mother and the martial arts of her father. Now, Nabiki combines both her mother's magic with her father's kendo, thus freeing Kasumi from some of her obligations.

     Akane also learned that by interacting with her counterpart's family, she had set up an inter-dimensional 'interference' between her world and this one, so she and Ranma couldn't simply go directly home. They would have to take a 'round-about' way back which would take longer than Ranma had planned on. Fortunately, Ranma was able to send a message back telling their Kasumi and Nabiki that they were going to be 'late.'

     With that, Akane spent a pleasant evening with her mother and on the following morn, she and Ranma would leave to head back to their own Universe.

= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =

     Nabiki helped Kasumi clean up after dinner. Afterwards, she invited Kasumi to watch some television with her as they waited for Ranma and Akane to return.

     After watching some news, they decided to watch a movie. Kasumi got up to make some popcorn while Nabiki got some drinks ready. After an hour had passed, Kasumi asked, "Shouldn't Ranma and Akane be back now?"

     Nabiki blinked and said, "Oh... Didn't you hear Ranma say that he and Akane were going to be late? Somehow about needing exact fare or something..."

     Now it was Kasumi's turn to blink and she added, "Nani? I didn't hear the phone..."

     Now that she thought about Nabiki couldn't remember even picking up the phone. She shrugged and said, "It must have been when you were out, then."

     Kasumi had only gone to the kitchen, so she knew that wasn't it. Both sisters just shrugged there shoulders and continued watching the movie.

= - = - = - =

     Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock at the front door. Since she was feeling slightly uncomfortable from the looks Kasumi was giving her when she thought she wasn't looking, Nabiki decided to answer the door.

     When she opened the door, she was greeted to the sight of an old college professor, who had a briefcase in his hand, and introduced himself as Doctor Kazuki Yamashina of the Nippon Institute of Technology, Physics Department. The name sounded slightly familiar to her for some reason.

     After introductions, Doctor Yamashina asked, "May I please speak with Doctor Saotome-san? I wanted to ask him some questions about that paper he wrote for the Journal of International Physics back in '74 about 'energy flowing through n-th dimensional space interacting with quantum fluctuations on a fourth-dimensional plane.'"

     //Huh?// Nabiki thought. //*Doctor* Saotome?//

     Seeing that Nabiki had responded, he added, "I realize that Doctor Saotome-san doesn't like visitors and he's a reclusive as any other Nobel Prize winning Physicists, but he could greatly help my project out..."

     Numbly Nabiki replied, "There's no Doctor Saotome, here... Just Genma and Ranma Saotome."

     Doctor Yamashina's head started bobbing so much that Nabiki was afraid it would fall off as he said, "Yep... I was right! Doctor Ranma Saotome! The man's a genius... regardless of whatever his true age is... You know there's a betting pool on how old Doctor Saotome really is. Actually, I think most poeple wonder that too... Those fools in the Mathematics Department think he's around three or four thousand years old, as if that was possible. Me... I'd place him around sixty-five or so... Those ignoramus in Liberal Arts actually claim to have found his birth certificate... a forgery, obviously, since it says he was born in '69, but I studied under him in '61... so....

     "Anyway, if he could but help... point me in the right direction..."

     Nabiki's head felt like spinning, yet she she calmly stated, "Ranma-kun on a date Akane-chan..."

     "A *date* with his *wife*?" Doctor Yamashina wondered. "Akane Saotome is harder to find then Doctor Saotome is.... A date... How romantic! In that case, I'll try again at some later date..."

     With that Doctor Yamashina walked away.

     Nabiki could only shook her head and head back to the living room.

     Once back, Kasumi asked, "Who was at the door?"

     "A 'Doctor Yamashina,'" Nabiki replied.

     "Doctor Yamashina?" Kasumi repeated. "Isn't he that physicists working on some kind of anti-gravity device that was in the news yesterday? What did he want?"

     "Ranma's help," Nabiki answered.

     "Ranma's help?" Kasumi asked in confusion. "How can Ranma help? He hasn't even finished High School yet..."

     "Yamashina-san called him, 'Doctor Saotome,'" Nabiki added. "He knew about Akane... although he called her his wife, not fiancee... Said something about Ranma writing a published scientific paper in '74..."

     "But Ranma would have been only 5 years old then," Kasumi pointed out. Kasumi, herself, was born in '66, Nabiki in '68, and Akane was born the same year as Ranma, since they were in the same class, right? Genma won't place Ranma in the same class as Akane, if Ranma wasn't the same age as Akane, would he? What would Genma gain by having Ranma to be in the same class as his fiancee, where she could help him with school work and something other than martial arts in common...

     Nabiki just shrugged her shoulders and sat down to watch the movie.

= - = - = - =

     As the credits rolled, then was a knock at the door.

     Nabiki turned to her older sister and said, "Oneechan, you're turn."

     Kasumi sighed and walked to the door. When she opened it, she was greeted to the sight of the largest breasts she had ever seen. Kasumi stepped back and looked up into a very beautiful face of the gaijin woman she had never before seen. The woman was about a full head taller than she and had the darkest black hair and the bluest eyes. The woman wore a simple blue silk kimono which couldn't conceal the fact that the woman had the largest mammary glands that Kasumi had ever seen, much larger than onna-Ranma's. She absently noted that the woman wore arm bracelets on both arms, a book of some kind was in her left hand, and she had sandals on her feet. She stepped back and realized that the woman had very muscular yet feminine figure. She wondered if this woman could be stronger than Ryouga.

     The woman smiled, looked at her book, and back at Kasumi as she said, "My name is Diana."

     Diana smiled at Kasumi, looked at her book again, and said to Kasumi, "I'm looking for Rai--" She paused then corrected, "for Ranma-san."

     "Ranma-kun?" Kasumi asked. "You're looking for Ranma?"

     Diana looked at her book quickly and as she nodded her head, she replied, "Hai, Ranma..."

     Diana smiled at Kasumi.

     Kasumi smiled at Diana.

     Kasumi said, "Ranma-kun's not here... He's out with Akane-chan."

     Diana looked at her book, flipped a few pages, then responded, "Out? Out where?"

     Kasumi just shrugged her shoulders. Some gesters were universal.

     After flipping some more pages, Diana asked, "When Ranma be back?"

     "Oh, he should be back tomorrow," Kasumi answered happily.

     Diana sighed and replied, "Thanks... Coming back tomorrow."

     As she walked away, Diana said in her native Greek, <<"Ranma, you can't hide from me, an Amazon Princess always gets what she wants. The Prophecy will be fulfilled...">>

     Kasumi looked at the departing woman. She had wondered what the woman had said, but she didn't understand the woman's language except she did hear Ranma's name being mentioned. She also saw the blush on the woman's face as she closed the gate.

     Once Kasumi was back in the living room, Nabiki asked who was at the door. To which Kasumi replied, "Some gaijin woman looking for Ranma-kun."

     "I hope she's not another fiancee for Ranma," Nabiki wondered out loud.

     Nabiki's statement was followed by the sounds of thunder, lightning, and a roaring wind. She thought she heard three voices cursing, two in the same language and the other in a different language.

     Kasumi just said, "Sounds like the storm is getting worse."

[=== End of Part 7 ===]

[=== Begin of Definition ===]

hatsuyuki

first snow (of season)

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Last Updated: Tue Dec 23 18:53:11 CST 2003
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