Untitled
by
Shaule Sachs

Version 0.2

Author notes:
(1) Timeline(s):

(2) Notation:


[Nerima]

     Dreams.
     Everyone has them. Some are pleasant while some are not. Ranma Saotome would like to think that, but he never had a pleasant one. That's not to say that his dreams were all dark and terrifying. Although a few were, most were simply confusing, vague, and dim. At best, he could only remember bits and pieces from his dreams that didn't make any sense. Every once in a while, after a very 'powerful' dream, Ranma would awake up feeling the need to scream, but he had learned early in his life not too. His father thought that dreams were useless and a waste time that should be spent on martial arts. That's not to say that all of those unvoiced screams were screams of terror. No, Ranma, at times, knew that those unvoiced screams were of frustration, anger, sadness, lost, or some other emotion left over from his dream.
     While Ranma, himself, didn't know when these dreams actually started, since the Neko-Ken training, they grew more frequent. He had tried upon various occasions to talk to his father about them, like anything less not related to the martial arts, Genma Saotome thought that they were meaningless and a sign of weakness. Thus, did young Ranma learn that he was only wasting his time trying to talk with his father. It was because of his father's actions that Ranma kept everything inside himself.

     It was the worst day in Ranma's life. Worse, it started before dawn. It seemed that Shampoo and Cologne had found a crystal that with Dawn's Early Light, would basket a couple in pure love... or something like that. It didn't work, although, not for trying on Shampoo's part. Things pretty much went down hill from there. If it wasn't Shampoo trying to date him, it was Ukyou, or, if he was in his curse form, it was Kuno-sempai trying to date her, or it was Ryouga, Mousse, or Akane who was trying to beat him up.
     Finally after a tough day, Ranma had hoped to relax, but oh no... His mother and Kasumi decided to throw a party and Kasumi invited *everyone* to it. Thus instead of much needed rest, he got more of the same. Until a monster showed up. The monster was tall, female, and canine in appearance.
     Even Happosai and Cologne couldn't effect the monster. In fact, each ki-attack against the monster, only made it stronger! Ranma, somehow, knew this before everyone else realized it. Ranma knew that the monster, actually a 'youma,' absorbed a person's ki, thus ki-attacks or ki-enhanced punches were useless against the youma to the point that they actually strength the youma. Once Ranma pointed that out to the others, they were limited to boulder-throwing, a bokken, a metal spatula, and a pair of bonbori. Things were not looking good until everyone, including the youma, noticed something strange happening to Ranma...
     Ranma was at the center of a vortex of wind and lightning. The very ground beneath his feet seemed to ripple like an ocean wave. Ranma's hair somehow had gotten undone and was floating behind him. Everyone present, including the youma, could feel the power radiating from Ranma. Everyone looked in awe as a mass beam of energy leapt from Ranma's outstretched hand to strike the youma in the chest. The energy spread out of the contact point to cover the youma's entire body. The youma let out a scream as it crumbled to dust. Ranma smiled.
     "But ki-attacks weren't hurting that thing," Nabiki protested.
     "That wasn't ki," Cologne answered in a small voice. As she looked at the others' faces, she realized that she was the only one who saw a transparent lady floating above and behind Ranma. The transparent lady looked a lot like onna-Ranma, especially, since the woman had red hair, and like Nodoka, only infinitely older, wiser, and more powerful. Who the woman could be, she didn't know.
     "Then what was it?" Ukyou asked.
     Cologne shrugged and looked at Happosai who was still staring at Ranma. It was then that everyone realized that Ranma-kun's hair had turned red like onna-Ranma's. They also noticed that Ranma-kun seemed taller, almost Kuno-sempai's height as well as Ranma's blue eyes seemed red like the color of blood.
     As much as she hated to admit it, Cologne was scared of Ranma. And as she looked at the others, they were scared too, only Nodoka lacked fear in her eyes. Instead, Nodoka's eyes held puzzlement as if she had forgotten something.
     Kuno-sempai, upon seeing Ranma's 'demonic' looks, attacked him. Or rather, Kuno rushed at him with his bokken up raised. He only got a meter within of Ranma, at which point, Kuno screamed and fell over. Kuno's bokken was shredded and Kuno, himself, was bleeding from numerous wounds all over his body. Seeing this, Akane cried out and tried to mallet Ranma, but she got the same as Kuno. Seeing this, Ukyou and Shampoo fainted. Thus, both Ryouga and Mousse attacked him, only to end up unconscious and covered in cuts and bruises.
     Throughout defending himself, Ranma had the same smile as he had when he struck down the youma. Seeing this, Cologne quietly picked up Shampoo's unconscious body and left. Genma and Kasumi helped Ryouga into the house while Soun and Nabiki helped Akane in. All that was left in the yard was an unconscious Mousse, Ranma, and Nodoka. As soon as everyone else was away, Ranma clasped. Nodoka picked Ranma up as she said, "Oh, Ranma..."
     Nodoka carried her son home.

     The next day was awkward. Ranma woke up this only a dim memory of the previous night and a splitting headache. When he made his way to the bathroom, which too a greater effort than usual, he looked into mirror and screamed.
     Hearing her son screaming, Nodoka rushed into the bathroom and saw Ranma-kun splashing himself with hot water that was scolding him. She had to force Ranma away from the sink, which was difficult since Ranma was now slightly taller than his mother. While holding him in her embrace, she gently asked, "What's a matter, dear?"
     "I can't change back!" Ranma stated hysterically.
     "Change back?" Nodoka asked in wonder. "Why? You're a man am--"
     "Nani!" Ranma screamed and then checked himself as if he couldn't believe it. Ranma had over the year that he had the curse associated red hair since his 'female side' and his normal black hair with his 'male side.' So when he saw the red hair on the top of his head, he assumed, wrongly in this case, that he was female and, worse, hot water wasn't change him back to normal. The hot water didn't change him back because he was already male... a man with red hair.
     "But," Ranma began until he noticed his reflection in the mirror fully. It was only then that Ranma discovered that his eye color had changed from blue to red. At the moment, the red in his eyes were the same color as a rose.
     After calming him down a bit, Nodoka told him what had happened with the monster last night since he, himself, didn't remember. Nodoka couldn't explain it either. It was only at this point that Ranma realized that they were at the Saotome house, not the Tendo home, where he had been staying the pass year or so.
     That morning, Ranma discovered the 'only good' that came out of the 'incident,' as he and his mother were calling it, was that whatever had changed his hair and eye color had also removed his curse.
     School was very awkward. Everyone avoided looking at his eyes and they kept their distance from him. Even Akane was scared of him and won't talk to him. That Akane was scared of him, hurt him greatly. So when Nodoka suggested that they move away from Nerima, he agreed.

     One week to the day that the 'incident' occurred, Ranma and Nodoka had moved to Juuban. Nodoka even signed Ranma up for Mugen Gakuen High School. He would start school the following Monday, which was a few days away. Until then, Ranma spent time scouting the area, finding the markets, the arcades, the food courts, and, of course, the ice cream parlor. Although, he no longer had his curse, he still enjoyed ice cream even if it was "unmanly." Not that his mother still talked about that as much as she used to.
     Monday rolled around and Ranma spent his first day at his new school. The students of Mugen Gakuen High were highly tolerate of his red eyes... Of course, the fact that other student, an upper-class-woman Setsuna Meiou, also had red eyes helped. Classes were more organized with better trained teachers than Furinkan High.
     The school day passed quickly and Ranma even paid a few friends to talk to. One of his new friends, who was in the same homeroom as he, was a green haired girl called 'Michiru Kaiou,' who played beautiful music during lunch. It was also during lunch that he meet her boyfriend the turquoise-eyed, blonde boy named 'Haruka Ten'ou,' who tried to challenge him to everything. Haruka wasn't much a true challenge to him after dealing with everything in Nerima. Although he did challenge himself to use Haruka as a benchmark as to not show off his true abilities like he did at Furinkan. 

 = - = - = - = - = - =

[Juuban]

     It was a nice afternoon at the Hikawa Shrine in the Minato Ward of Tokyo. Five girls, all strangers only a few weeks ago, sat around a tray of food, and yet, there was an understanding and warmth between them as if they all had been close friends all their lives. The closest to the food was the blonde girl named Usagi Tsukino. The world knew the blonde girl only as 'Sailor Moon,' who appeared a few months ago.
     To Usagi's right and behind her, the raven-headed girl, Rei Hino, sat looking in shock as Usagi ate the food as if it was the last food on Earth and it would disappear in seconds. The fact that Rei could, and would, from her position protect Usagi's back from any and all threats wasn't a conscious thought on her part, it was something that came naturally to her and felt right. Since she joined Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury in their fight of love and justice, she had been known as 'Sailor Mars.'
     To Usagi's left and behind, the other blonde girl, Minako Aino, sat with a look of puzzlement on her face. For the last fifteen minutes Minako had been trying to get a one of the crepes from the food tray, but all her attempts had been foiled by Usagi. How such a girl, whom she only met face to face only a few weeks ago, could be such a klutz on the battlefield could defeat her, Sailor V, with several months more experience in the field battling the Dark Kingdom and criminals was beyond her understanding. Of course, she was also puzzled why the media hadn't figured out that although she now went by her 'full' name, Sailor Venus, that she was still Sailor V. V for Venus, how hard as that? Like Rei, she had unconscious taken upon herself to act as Usagi's bodyguard.
     To Minako's left and sitting on the other side of the tray was Makoto Kino, cook and creator of the food on the tray. She had a bemused look on her face. While she was happy that Usagi enjoyed her food, she would have preferred that Usagi used some table manners. Although she had the least experience of the group, and the third girl to join with Usagi in her fight against the Dark Kingdom, she greatly enjoyed being 'Sailor Jupiter' and pitting herself and her skills to the test.
     To Makoto's left and Rei's right, completing the quasi-circle around the tray of food, was Ami Mizuno, who was better known to the World-at-Large as 'Sailor Mercury.' Unlike the other girls who were either watching Usagi or the tray, she was looking at the read-outs on her Mercury Computer. Occasionally, and to the surprise of the other girls, she would absent-mindedly grab a crepe from the tray and pop it into her mouth. True, she had been friends with Usagi the longest of those present, but still...
     Deciding that enough was enough, Rei made the comment to Usagi that if she didn't stop eating all those fattening foods, she become a blimp soon. Which caused Usagi to scream back at Rei that she wasn't fat. The two started calling each other names which lasted until the two ran out of breath.
     Once the preliminaries were out of the way, Luna, a little black cat with a golden crescent moon mark on her forehead with the power of speech and advisor to Usagi, began the meeting. She asked Ami if her scan of the area was finished. To which Ami nodded her head as she reached into her school bag, pulled out a large map of Tokyo, and set it out fully in the area between the Senshi. Seeing that from her position on the floor she couldn't read the map, she moved up to Usagi's right shoulder where she could.
     Artemis, Minako's advisor and a little white cat with a golden crescent moon mark on his forehead, copied Luna's idea but climbed up Minako instead. As he looked at the map from Minako's shoulder he noted the various X's, O's, squares, and numbers, so he asked, "What does it mean?"
     "The X's are youmas," Ami explained. "The O's are demons have appeared and the squares represent readings that don't conform to either youma or demon energy patterns. The numbers represent the ratios of power-levels, comparing the reading to the first youma I scanned, using a baseline of that relatively weak youma as a Five and a normal human as One."
     The map was littered with squares all over the map, some were coupled with an O, while others were isolated. However, majority of the squares were concentrated in Nerima and it was those squares that had the greatest values. The O's were sprinkled all over the map with the two highest valued O's were in Nerima and almost no O's in the Juuban, while on the other hand, there was a concentration of X's in Juuban with only one X's in Nerima and nowhere else.
     The most O's were rated as Two's, the second most common number for an O was One. The two O's in Nerima rated as Fours. There were several squares marked with threes also appeared in Nerima, although most of the others squares were marked with Two's. Majority of the X's had ratings of Five, including the one in Nerima, while the later youmas were rated as Six's and Seven's as they became more powerful. There were four X's were rated as Eight's. From their location, the Senshi and cats could figure out that those four X's represented the four Dark Generals.
     Luna was the first to spot the square marked with a nine next to the square in Nerima. When she mentioned it to the others, they gasped save Ami, who pulled the information on that square up on her computer.
     Ami explained, "Based on the timing, I'd say that the Dark Kingdom also detected the unknown energy in that region and sent a youma to investigate it. Whatever defeated the youma was what gave off the level nine reading. I haven't noticed it before or since..."
     "So what's the unknown energy, Ami-chan," Usagi asked.
     "It's *unknown*, odango atama," Rei chilled Usagi.
     "But, Ami has a guess, right, Ami-chan?" Usagi replied. She knew that Ami would figure out what the 'unknown energy' was since she knew that Ami loved to solve puzzles.
     "Well..." Ami began nervously.
     Usagi smiled encouragingly.
     "I could be wrong," Ami stated. "Actually, I hope I'm wrong..."
     "Nani," all the girls replied in surprise.
     Calmly, Usagi asked, "Why?"
     "I don't like the implications," Ami said.
     "What implications?" Minako remarked.
     "So what are the unknown energy?" Makoto replied.
     Taking a deep breathe, Ami explained, "According to what's in my Computer's database, those in Silver Millennium believed that there were three 'energies' in the Universe. The first is the Energy of the Soul or Spirit which we call Mysticism or Elemental Magic, which is what Demon Hunters, Demons, and we use. The second one is refer to as the Energy of the Mind or Psi, which can be used to help direct the first type or the third. And finally, there is the Energy of the Body, or ki, which could be harnesses through exercise and meditation to increase one's physical abilities or project it outwards as an attack.
     "If I assume that Demons and Demon Hunters use mystical energy, I can identify some of the other squares as mystical energy without Demons being present...
     "If I assume that the energy involved with known martial arts Dojos are ki, I can identify some of the other squares as someone using ki too...
     "To confirm my 'theory,' I went back to some of my older scans to see how this 'new' model works... For the most part it holds, except for that level nine square... and the Dark Generals...
     "Going back over the Dark Generals' scans, especially Jadeite's since we have the most data on him, based on this model, it would seem that the Dark Generals aren't limited to Magic like we are. They seem to use all three 'energies.' In fact, if I filter out the 'interference' from the youmas, the Generals' Magic is very similar to ours, implying some kind of connection between us. Whatever the connection, *our* Powers are solely based on Magic. If the Generals can use either elemental energies or ki, they could conceivably over-power us even if we are matched magic-wise.
     "And getting back to the level nine square's energy pattern that started all this, whoever it was, that person's pattern showed a combination of ki, magic, and elemental forces on a *greater* scale than the Generals can... But the pattern wasn't as focused as the Generals, so I would have to say that whoever gave off that energy is new to it."
     "We need to investigate this," Minako stated. Both Artemis and Luna nodded their heads in agreement.
     "How long ago was the reading recorded," Rei asked.
     "Last week," Ami replied.
     The rest of the meeting dealt with planning out how they would check out Nerima. Their plan was to go to Nerima as themselves, find a secure spot to transform, and then scout around until the saw or felt something. And that's what they did.

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