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Black Moon and Silence
Chapter 5 - Decisions
Decisions are funny things. Take for instance Hotaru Tomoe who had not worn her locket in at least a year or more.
The same morning that Ranma and her allies were being attacked Hotaru woke up, showered and started to dress. As she was dressing her eye caught the locket. The diamond in the center of the heart was not facing towards her and she took a moment to right its position.
As she righted the locket she decided that instead of just putting it right she would wear it and so she put it around her neck. This simple decision on whether or not she would wear a simple locket possibly saved the world.
“Why not?”
“Trust me as your personal guardian I think it would be very bad for you if you did.” The evil entity was in the meantime wondering how and when Souichi placed such a thing and how she would end that fool’s miserable existence.
While Mistress 9 was envisioning Souichi Tomoe’s in all manner of horrible deaths Hotaru picked up the paper. The black haired girl then read the note it was simple direct and to the point it said, “Daughter you are in danger, go to a temple and remove the demon that infests your body before it is too late.”
Hotaru read the words again the text was cramped and she could tell it had been written in haste. Indeed, she could almost feel the desperation of her father as he wrote those lines to her. So, she immediately stopped heading towards school and turned towards the nearest shrine.
By that time Mistress 9 was in an absolute panic. The contents of that note would utterly ruin her plans and so she spoke to her host saying, “Wait, Hotaru it’s a trick, just a silly joke. Go home and ask your father he’ll tell you the real truth.”
Hotaru shook her head and thought about that, but then remembered the last time Mistress 9 had spoken to her and said, “No, your advice was bad advice last time. I think this note might be real.”
Mistress 9’s mental voice dripped with honey as she said, “Come now, you don’t honestly think that do you. Just think I’ve been here with you ever since the accident. I healed you and am trying to help you be well.”
The girl wavered for a moment then continued towards the shrine saying, “If you are correct then the priest at the shrine will agree.”
Mistress 9 tried a new tactic saying, “You don’t understand, the priest won’t believe you and will send you to a mental hospital. Everyone will say that Hotaru the freak finally showed her true nature. You don’t want that do you?”
That made Hotaru angry and the young girl said, “I’m not a freak! Ranma-san and Kaede-san think I’m neat and so does the rest of the Juuban gymnastics team. You’re not like them at all you’re saying mean things just to get me to do what you want, but I won’t I’m going to the shrine and you won’t stop me.”
Hotaru walked on towards the Hino shrine and Mistress 9 tried everything she could, but she was not quite powerful enough at the moment. If the girl would just slip control just a little that would be enough. Mistress 9 thought about that and the anger Hotaru had just shown. Nine thought that perhaps that anger could be used against the girl. “She’s dead you know?”
Hotaru tried to ignore it and walked on, but Mistress 9 continued, “Ranma is dead and so is Kaede. Miya and Aiko are also dead. You killed them.”
Hotaru was at the steps of the shrine and said, “No, I didn’t kill anyone. They were my friends I wouldn’t have ever even tried to hurt them.”
The young girl started to climb up the steps trying to ignore the voice, but it kept going on and on telling her she had killed her only friends. Her weakness overcame her and she knelt on a step halfway up crying, “No, stop I couldn’t have! Why are you doing this to me?”
Mistress 9 just said, “Because it is true. After Kaolinite gave you that potion last night I took over your body and I ordered their death. With your own lips you killed them!”
Mistress 9 had felt the gap could almost taste control over the girl, but suddenly Hotaru shouted her transformation phrase and transformed. That transformation ruined all of Mistress 9’s progress, but still she was there and she was ready to fight on, ready to try and take over the moment a weakness was felt.
Saturn walked the rest of the way up the stairs and into the shrine with determination not to lose control again. Unfortunately for her she had chosen a shrine where that determination would be tested to its absolute limits.
Haruka woke up in her civilian guise and quickly transformed to Sailor Uranus as she looked for the girl who had knocked her unconscious. With no such person in sight and strange surroundings she frowned, then she thought again trying to remember exactly who had attacked her and why. She remembered being in her Senshi form and fighting someone for some reason…
Suddenly she remembered it had been Angerona the Senshi of Nemesis and she had been protecting Saturn and that girl Ivy from her justice. Those two, girls she had seen them in their civilian forms as well. She smiled at that and quickly walked out of the room only to stumble into Michiru.
The blue haired girl looked at her with a bit of confusion and said, “Oh excuse me do I know you?”
Uranus goggled at that statement and after making sure no one was nearby she said, “It’s me Haruka, you know that Michiru.”
Michiru looked at her with a perplexed gaze and said, “Haruka?”
Uranus nodded and said, “Yes. That’s right.”
Michiru seemed to think about that for a moment and then said, “Isn’t Haruka a train that goes between Kansai Airport, Tennoji Station, and Kyoto Station?”
Before that Haruka had thought that Michiru might have been teasing, but after that statement it was a different story. She glanced around and transformed from Uranus to her civilian form. Then she grabbed Michiru and said, “Now do you recognize me?”
When she was grabbed Michiru screamed and slapped Haruka across the face. Haruka released her grip and Michiru retreated. She bumped into an elderly Shinto Priest and almost fell, but the man held her and said, “What seems to be the problem young lady?”
The blue haired girl pointed at the blond and said, “She transformed from some strange fuku into that regular outfit and then she grabbed me. I guess I panicked.”
The priest looked to Haruka and said, “I am Mr. Hino the priest in charge of this shrine and my grand daughter left the two of you here saying that you needed a place to stay, but I won’t have you accosting people do you hear?”
Haruka put up her hands and said, “It’s not like that. I was just trying to explain our relationship with her. I was trying to get her to recognize me.”
“Hmm…” The older gentleman looked from Haruka to Michiru and said, “Well do you know this woman?”
Michiru shook her head and said, “No, I’m sorry I don’t think I know her or anyone else named Honda.”
“That’s Haruka.” The annoyed blond said.
Michiru thought for a moment and then said, “Wait, I know you’re the famous artist who created Crusher Joe and Dirty Pair right? Well I don’t have my portfolio with me, but I could get it. I wonder where you found out about my work.”
An angry Haruka said, “I’m not Haruka Takachiho. My Name is Haruka Tenoh.”
“Oh, sorry about that,” She looked to the priest who had a smile plastered on his face from watching the scene and said to him, “Well I guess I’ll be going then. Thank you for letting me stay at your shrine.”
She walked past the priest and towards the shrine. There she was staring to pay her respects when Haruka stepped in front of her and said, “What about me, what am I supposed to do now?”
Michiru looked at her with confusion evident on her face and said, “I’m sorry do I know you?”
“Haruka, my name is Haruka!”
“I didn’t think the Ninja Clan in Flame or Recca was real. How interesting, but I need to be going now.”
Michiru started to walk around Haruka who couldn’t take it anymore and grabbed her and fumed at her saying, “No, this is not normal. You need to snap out of it!”
The priest walked over and said, “Perhaps she is right Miss Michiru. It is strange for someone to forget a name even after being introduced. It could be that something is affecting you.”
Haruka released Michiru and said, “See Rei’s grandfather is right. You should listen to him.”
The blue haired girl looked a bit pensive, but nodded her head and said, “Alright, go ahead Hino-san.”
He nodded and said, “I will make a sacred fire.”
He began his preparations, but was interrupted by the shout of, “Saturn Crystal Power!” and a few moments after that a young girl wearing a sailor fuku, a purple skirt, and a red bow on her chest came into the shrine carrying a large glaive.
Haruka saw this and said her own transformation phrase making her into Sailor Uranus, the she immediately attacked shouting, “World Shaking!”
Luckily for Saturn she had enough time to hold up her glaive and create a Silence Wall before the devastating attack reached her. The Hino shrine around her was not quite as lucky and some of the floor was ripped apart by the attack.
Uranus started to attack again, but was interrupted by Michiru who grabbed her arm and said, “Hey you! What are you doing to that girl? Why did you just attack her?”
Uranus stared at her and said, “She must be destroyed, she is the bringer if Silence, she is in league with Team Nemesis, and she may destroy the world.”
Michiru looked at Saturn and said, “Miss umm...”
“Saturn” The girl behind the Silence Wall offered.
“Right, Miss Saturn are you planning to destroy the world?”
Saturn shook her head and Mister Hino walked towards her saying, “I see, well that settles it then,” He looked over at Uranus and angrily said, “You have been nothing but trouble, I'm sure my granddaughter had her heart in the right place, but I must ask you to leave this shrine.”
The blond sailor girl glanced at him and said, “I will not leave until the bringer of silence is destroyed!” She pushed Michiru away and paying little heed to the priest near Saturn she attacked. Blasts of power hit the Silence Wall with powerful force and while they did not affect the wall much or anything inside it, those blasts did destroy more of the shrine around the defensive structure.
The aging priest was not behind a magical barrier and so he was pelted with debris and sent to the ground. As he fell down another blast hit the Silence Wall and rubble covered him. Michiru had been watching the scene and made a decision. She didn't know the young girl who was being attacked and something in her mind was whispering something about Silence and destruction. It is possible that if the priest had not been injured she would have done nothing, but as it was she steeled her courage and ran to Uranus, then grabbed her again shouting, “Please stop, your attacks will kill the priest!”
Uranus stared at Michiru and said, “I'm sorry my love, but sacrifices must be made for the greater good. If you were yourself you would understand.”
Michiru held onto Uranus hand and while Angerona's botched Xi Fa Xiang Gao was still affecting her memory of who Uranus was she felt some connection with the girl, but despite that connection and a vague thought that perhaps Saturn might be evil her Japanese heritage and upbringing pricked her conscience and she was determined that she would not allow Uranus to kill a Shinto priest.
Michiru held Uranus' hand with one of her own while her other hand unconsciously grabbed into her pocket and pulled out a transformation pen. Uranus saw that action, felt the blue haired girl tugging on her hand, and knew that if she allowed it Michiru would transform into Neptune. A tear of harsh regret ran down Uranus cheek as she held Michiru's hand gently for a moment, then tightened her grip and used that hand to literally pick the blue haired girl up and throw her into a wall.
Saturn saw the blue haired girl slam into the wall and realized that it was up to her now. Only she could stop the girl from attacking her, only she could prevent the Priest’s death. If she did nothing she could possibly save herself for a short time, but only if she acted could she preserve other people’s lives. With that in mind she dropped her wall and leveled her glaive at Uranus and as she did so Mistress 9 said, “See, you are a killer. Do it, show your true nature.”
Saturn held the glaive out and paused for a moment, then saw Uranus beginning her attack and her inner confusion allowed Mistress 9 to take control. The glaive descended and she shouted, “Silence Glaive Surprise!”
The glaive was pointing directly at Uranus and Hotaru mentally gasped in horror at the devastation that would cause, then she pulled as hard as she could and wrenched control of her body back from Mistress 9. The silence was just beginning to come and so she angled the weapon up more and desperately shouted, “Minor Note!”
Instead of Silence a low almost subsonic note came from the glaive and it went out and met the World Shaking and utterly consumed that attack, then it moved on and went out towards Uranus hitting her just below the collarbone and removing everything above it in a perfect semicircle of subsonic destruction. The attack continued past Uranus and into the shrine wall making a perfect circle and exiting out into the sky where it reached out high into the sky, destroyed a lone bird or two, and then it was gone.
Uranus' body slumped to the ground, but no blood poured from the horrible wound the subsonic attack had acted almost like an extreme heat cauterizing as it destroyed. The final thump made Saturn cringe and then the tears came. As she cried Mistress 9 was there telling her again and again that she was a killer. Telling her to embrace the darkness, give in to the power that it offered and forget about her tears. She was sorely tempted by the offer, but a low moan from Michiru changed her mind.
She walked over to the blue haired girl and helped her up. Michiru yelped in pain and Saturn saw that her arm was hanging at an unnatural angle and blood was streaming from a nasty head wound. She touched the girl with a hand and released her healing power. The arm righted itself and the wound on Michiru's head healed itself. Saturn fell to her knees in exhaustion.
Michiru gasped in wonder and then looked over at Uranus body, she blanched at that sight and tears of sadness came to her eyes unbidden. As she was wiping the tears away she saw that Saturn had fallen to her knees after the healing and so she helped the other girl up saying, “I don't know who that was, but I feel very sad about her death for some reason. Still I don’t think that I can blame you. You saved our lives...”
Michiru hesitated at saying any more, and then she heard a low moan coming from the rubble and said, “The priest!”
She quickly walked over to the rubble and started moving it. Saturn was right behind her and the two uncovered Mr. Hino's recovering body. The elderly gentleman allowed the girls to help him up. As he got his feet under him a slight bit of lechery came to his voice as he said, “This shrine has seen better days, but at least I have such pretty girls to help me.”
Saturn looked at him with sadness then pointed to Uranus and said, “I'm sorry, but I have spilled blood in your shrine.”
He looked at the body with a somber expression and said, “We will have to notify the authorities and I will have to perform a purification.”
He sighed and approached the body saying, “I do not understand why she was so angry and seemingly so confused. Perhaps it was the doing of the creatures that Team Nemesis has been fighting.”
He looked to Saturn and said, “Are you one of them?”
Saturn looked at him and then broke down into tears as she thought of more destruction that had been done by her body. Mistress 9 reveled in the girl's tears and attacked with more venom saying, “You killed them all. None will survive the day just like Uranus over there they will be rotting meat. Give in surrender and you will feel no more remorse, just the joys that Pharaoh 90 can bring us when he comes!”
Hotaru mentally shouted, “Shut Up!” again and again. Then she took a chance and touched one hand to the other and concentrated on her healing powers. A glow suffused her and Mistress 9's voice quieted to a whisper, but it was too much for her and she slumped to the ground unconscious.
Hotaru collapsed leaving the priest’s question unanswered. As she collapsed she lost her transformation and Michiru caught her. Then the blue haired girl noticed a small trickle of blood coming from Hotaru’s nose and said, “Maybe we should bring her to the hospital?”
The priest nodded and said, “Yes, I will call an ambulance and the police.”
He quickly went off to do that leaving Michiru sitting there. The blue haired girl set Hotaru softly down and walked over to Uuranus' body. She touched the body gently and as she did so a sword seemed to fall out of it. She looked at the sword for a moment and then she touched it.
When Michiru touched the sword everything suddenly came back to her in a whirl. She remembered that she and Haruka had been really sweet on each other and that the relationship had been really heating up between them. Then one day a girl with green hair, “Pluto” she said to herself, “Her name was Pluto.”
After speaking Michiru continued to think about what had happened talking to Haruka’s dead body and Hotaru’s live one saying, “Pluto gave us those pens and said something to us and then I transformed.”
The blue haired girl remembered that she had been trying to touch that pen when Uranus threw her into the wall. She took it out again and glanced at it saying, “This thing changed me, but into what?”
Staring at the pen she said, “I remember now that it or Pluto I guess wanted me to remember being Neptune and I did. All of it, I remembered being an elite servant of Queen Serenity and how her orders were so important to the survival of every being in the solar system. It was a glorious and lovely place and somehow I lost myself. I became the girl who once lived in a beautiful moon kingdom and would do anything to make it come again.”
She looked down at Uranus again holding the sword in her hand and saying, “We attacked two school girls because of what they might possibly do. We were willing to kill people if their heart crystal had part of this Holy Grail in them. That was wrong.”
Michiru cried and said, “It was wrong and by trying to live in the past, by forgetting our lives in this day and age we killed the dream that Serenity stood for to begin with. We were chasing a dream of yesterday when we should have been looking to a bright tomorrow.”
Michiru stood up with the sword in her hand, then felt a tug at her own chest and brought the sword close to herself. As she did so a mirror fell out of her chest and onto the ground. She smiled at it and then transformed.
Neptune walked over to Hotaru, picked her up and said, “I forgive you. Your friend Angerona started the process, but you, you saved me. I think you would have saved Haruka too if you could have and now I need to repay my debt.”
Neptune started to walk off with Hotaru in her arms when she saw the Priest standing at the door. She glanced at him and said, “How long have you been there?”
He shrugged and said, “Long enough to know that you are doing the right thing. Now go.”
Neptune nodded and despite the sirens in the distance coming towards the house, she ran. Her speed was very high and she took Hotaru’s form past the ambulances and past the police cars and then into the hospital. The young girl was admitted and Neptune waited in a small room hoping that the young black haired girl would survive.
Vesta nodded and after they were in a secluded area they all transformed continued walking in silence towards the restaurant. Miya’s sister Miko seemed to follow the group almost like a puppy. When they arrived at the restaurant they put Ranma into her bed and Cologne in hers and then went in another room to talk.
Nabiki was the first to speak saying, “Look, I’m no good at the mushy stuff and I need to get in touch with the rest of the people that I have in our business branch. I’ll get the whole story from Neko-Chan later and make sure that the appropriate things are done for everyone.”
The other girls in the room stared at Nabiki for a moment, and then Neherenia said, “Go do what you must. We understand.”
Nabiki nodded and with an expression of ice started to walk out of the room. Neherenia stopped her saying, “Perhaps you should call someone to help you with this work?”
“Who would I trust that can help me with this?”
Neherenia shrugged and said, “Cologne or myself could help you, but neither of us is interested. Think on it as you walk to your office, think about who you might trust that would be able to bring order from chaos. Then, when you have found that person call them on the communicator and ask for their help.”
Nabiki walked out the door thinking about what Neherenia had said. Inside the room the rest of the girls were silent. Ranma sat there uncomfortably as the moments ticked on and then said, “I don’t get it. The old ghoul and the cat girl just tired themselves out right? Why is everyone so depressed about it?”
Miya stood up and stomped toward the Saotome boy. She looked him in the face and said, “Look Saotome, I barely know you and mostly I want to keep it that way, but you’re supposed to be a good fighter,” she said this last statement with clear sarcasm.
Ranma butted in saying, “Hey, I’m the best.”
Miya rolled her eyes and continued, “I haven’t seen you fight much in practice with us or otherwise, so I’ll just have to take your word for it, but no matter how good you are you still don’t know anything about us, so let me fill you in!”
Ranma was cowed by the girl as she got right into his face and practically shouted, “My sister is dead, my parents are dead, and one of my best friends is dead. In addition to that two of my other good friends might as well be dead because of what Sailor Moon did to them. I would think YOU might understand how that feels! Still at least your two friends are alive!”
She backed down a bit and got quiet as she said, “Here we are working with Ranma-san because we are one of the last lines of defense against this stuff. Do you think the police could handle these Daimons or the Droids or the rest of these things?”
Ranma shrugged and Miya said, “By the time they get there the damage would be done. Heck, even now I bet one or two of those witches are out trying to gather heart crystals and we do just not know about it. Hell! If it wasn’t for us and Ranma-san Tokyo would be utterly destroyed by Wiseman by now and who knows what they would have had to do to try and stop him after that.”
She stared at Ranma who didn’t quite seem concerned enough and said, “Just what do you think Nabiki is doing for us right now? Why do you think she just left despite the grief we’re all feeling?”
Ranma looked confused and said, “Uh…I thought she was just using this Nemesis thingy to make money…”
At that point Kaede and Neherenia got up and were standing next to Miya as the girl just looked at him with anger burning in her eyes, then she just said, “You’re hopeless,” and stormed out of the room. The other three girls followed behind her leaving Ranma in the room with Miko.
He looked at the girl who was an identical twin of Miya. She was still seated and was just looking at a wall as if it were quite interesting. He said, “What about you? Don’t you want to yell at me too?”
The girl looked at Ranma with a smile that didn’t really reach her cheeks and said, “What would yelling at you solve?”
“I dunno maybe you should ask them.”
The girl stood up and walked out of the room saying, “Very well I will.”
Ranma sat there for a few moments, then he stood up and left saying to no one in particular, “Ah hell I don’t need to be part of this stuff. I’m leaving.”
In Neherenia’s room the three girls ended up hugging each other and consoling each other on their losses that day. Miya never really got a chance to ask her question. She was made part of the healing process and as the others hugged her she hugged them back. When she felt that loving warmth from the others it made her feel something other than just contentment for the very first time that day.
Another voice responded saying, “Crap! Well, wait there and keep your stick ready. I’m coming okay Tanaka?”
“No problem Hoshi.”
Pluto moved and then heard Tanaka say, “Freeze! Don’t Move! If you move I will have to hit you!”
It was still dark and she wanted to see so she brushed dirt from her eyes, then felt a sharp pain as a stick hit her on the head and sent her to the ground. She looked up from the ground and saw a middle aged officer with brown hair pointing his police stick at her and saying, “I meant it. Move again and I’ll have to knock you out.”
Pluto cursed to herself as she realized that her Garnet Rod was not in her hands and that she could not teleport back to the gates without it. So, she smiled at the man and said, “You didn’t happen to see a rod with a garnet on the top did you? I seem to have misplaced it.”
Tanaka shook his head and motioned to a person behind her. Then she felt someone sit on her back and powerful hands were grabbing her arms. She jerked and threw the person off her and was rewarded with a powerful strike to her head by Tanaka. She saw stars, but ignored them, growled, and stood up quickly. As she stood he hit her again and the stars came back with a vengeance, but she was able to send a leg out and kicked him hard, sending him to the ground a few meters away from her.
Unfortunately for Pluto this action did not go unobserved by the two other officers who were at the scene and she was tackled by them. She went down, but her magically enhanced strength allowed her to get back up and throw the men from her. As she did that she realized that she was now surrounded by four officers wielding their police sticks and she did not have her garnet rod, still she could perform her magical attacks, they just wouldn’t be as powerful.
The officers quickly advanced on her and she hit one of the men with a Dead Scream and he went down. She blocked the two others, but once again Tanaka’s stick hit her in the back of her head. She growled, turned towards him and fired an attack in his direction. She lashed out with a kick at the same time and slammed one of the others in the solar plexus sending him to the ground wheezing.
The last officer attacked again and she easily disarmed him then sent him to the ground as well. The officer who had been kicked in the solar plexus was recovering and she stepped behind him and put his head in a lock as she said, “Now, Hoshi was it? Why don’t you tell me if you found a Rod with a garnet on the top of it hmm?”
Hoshi struggled to breathe, but stoically said nothing. The three other officers were starting to get up and come closer when Pluto looked at them saying, “Let’s just make this quick shall we? You tell me if you have seen a Rod with a garnet on top of it and then I will go.”
Sirens could be heard approaching in the distance and Tanaka looked at her with anger in his eyes as he said, “You won’t get away with this. Reinforcements are coming right now and Team Nemesis has been officially made part of the Tokyo Police force. Whoever you are and whatever your plans are you will be stopped.”
Pluto sighed and while she spoke she scanned the area to for her rod. “You have chosen the side of evil, you may not realize it, but you have. Please, I ask you in the name of all that is good; please just tell me where the rod is.”
Tanaka started to approach, but as he did Pluto held Hoshi tighter and so he looked at her with deep anger and resentment as he said, “Assaulting an officer, attacking innocents without provocation. You even have the audacity to hold Hoshi hostage and still tell us that you are on the side of good?”
The sirens were very close now and Pluto still hadn’t seen her Garnet Rod in the mess around the area. She sighed a deep sigh as she determined that she would have to raid the evidence locker later, then lifted Hoshi and flung him some distance away. After that she left the area at high speed.
Ami looked at the doctor shyly and said, “Ami, my name is Ami Mizuno.”
He smiled at her and said, “Ah and I am Tofu Ono is your mother by any chance Saeko Mizuno over at the Juuban General Hospital?”
Ami nodded and Tofu smiled saying, “She has mentioned her daughter to me from time to time it’s nice to finally meet you even if the circumstances are so bad.”
At that point Shampoo came in the room and said, “Is Senshi girl okay Doctor Tofu?”
Tofu nodded and said, “The girl you brought in is fine and she doesn’t look like much of a threat to me.”
Shampoo came closer and looked at Ami closely, then said, “Is true, she not threat now, but when she wearing blue fuku there is powerful magic. She attacked tribe sister Ranma with it.”
Ami tensed at that statement, and tried to defend her actions saying, “You don’t know the whole story. She kidnapped me and my friends. Later on she attacked Black Lady er... Usa-chan and cut off her hand. She also killed Black Lady later and destroyed the Ginzuishou.”
Shampoo argued back saying, “You attack tribe sister at school and Black Lady was helping to try and destroy the planet.”
Ami looked pensive for a moment and said, “You’re right about Black lady I suppose. But I only attacked her at school because she kidnapped me.”
The violet haired Amazon then said, “She kidnap you because she under ge..gaiu… evil spell what make her have to obey. She was planning on save you when on ship.”
“I don’t know.” Ami said, but she herself had once been under a spell that made her do Metallia’s bidding, so Shampoo’s argument was persuasive. She looked back at the girl and said, “What about the crystal though? She wasn’t under a spell when she destroyed that?”
Shampoo humphed and said, “As for silly crystal it did very bad things to Spatula girl and Pig boy. It is good that it broken”
Ami looked pensive again and said, “I saw that on the news I guess, but I thought that it was a trick...”
Shampoo shook her head and said, “No, it make Pig boy and Spatula girl act all nicey, nice and forget all about The Art,” The lavender haired girl raised her voice and said, “They forget The Art and they warriors? No way! Even special Amazon techniques not powerful enough to do that.”
Ami thought about that for a moment and wondered if maybe the purple haired girl was right. Was she attacking Angerona for reasons that did not make logical sense? Shampoo saw that something she had said had gotten through and waited. Meanwhile Ami continued to think about exactly why she was attacking Angerona. She came up with one last reason and said, “She’s against making Crystal Tokyo become the future…”
Shampoo looked Ami curiously and said, “What Crystal Tokyo?”
Ami blushed a bit and said, “It sounds silly, but apparently I’m a reborn princess and Moon is destined to become our queen with Tuxedo Kamen at her side…”
She stopped talking as her mind raced. She wondered if it was really possible for Mamoru to recover from the beating he had received. Her own mother had said that a case like his with such severe head trauma and brain damage might not ever recover and that even if he did he would most likely be very different. As she thought about that she remembered the person she had seen in the future he had acted in a similar fashion and manner. Was it possible that the future they had seen was not inevitable? Was it possible that fighting against Crystal Tokyo wasn’t a bad thing?
While Ami was thinking Tofu walked off asking Shampoo to stay with her, make sure she got something to drink and if she fell asleep to wake her every hour or so to make sure she was okay. Shampoo nodded and said, “Will do doctor. Shampoo make sure she be safe while she thinking about what Shampoo said. Maybe this end up well and she stop attacking tribe Sister Ranma.”
Shampoo got a cup of water and gave it to Ami, and then she stood in a clear area to do some light stretching while she waited for the other girl to sort through her thoughts. The young Amazon would be there for most of the rest of the day, while Ami tried to figure out what to do next…
Neptune sat nearby and watched her wage the battle. Monitors and other hospital equipment showed her vital signs decreasing slowly but surely and the doctors were standing by wringing their hands waiting for test results that would most likely not be able tell them what was really happening.
Suddenly on of the monitors made a high pitched beep and Neptune was pushed aside as the crash cart came in and the doctors tried to resuscitate Hotaru. That was when Mistress 9 left the girl's body and quickly tried to find another host nearby.
It was not a long search, because Kodachi Kunou lay in a recovery room not that far away with bandages around her chest and numerous pains all over her body. She frowned at her morphine drip and said, “As if that would do me any good my tolerance to such is completely beyond what they are giving me and I do believe it is substandard. I will have to call a nurse again.”
As she was about to press the call button a voice in her head said, “I can help make the pain go away.”
Kodachi haughtily said, “Who are you and exactly how can you do that?”
The voice said, “I am Mistress 9 and if you agree to be my host I can assure you that you will feel no more pain and I will help you become completely healed very quickly indeed.”
Kodachi shrugged and said, “Very well, what is one more voice. Enter and be welcome Mistress 9.”
Mistress 9 allowed her essence to flow into Kodachi's body and for a moment even that evil entity was overwhelmed.
Kodachi had been mostly insane even before she had been conscripted by the Black Moon family, but that conscription had utterly destroyed any tenuous grasp the girl might have had on her sanity. After that Kodachi had briefly been subject to the Cleansing power of the Ginzuishou and so had been made into something of a human automaton with almost no real hopes and dreams and just a slight little bit of general euphoria. But, that had not been the end of things for her, because she had also had her very essence tampered with by Souichi who had taken her heart crystal and removed most of the traces of the cleansing leaving behind a dark and fragmented personality and giving her just a bit of Daimon power in the process.
It took Mistress 9's full concentration not to be swept up and destroyed by the mental chaos in Kodachi's mind. Then when she had a handle on that it took her at least twenty minutes or more to get any sort of decent bearings in the girls mind. When she finally did that she realized that she might not actually be able to take over Kodachi's body in the near future, but the good news for Mistress 9 was that she would not need to. After studying the mentally unstable girl Mistress 9 knew that she could use her delusions to entice her towards 9's bidding.
Kodachi felt a rush of euphoria from Mistress 9 and laughed in insane glee. She stopped laughing as her broken ribs ached and said, “So Nine was it? Why don't you tell me how you plan on healing me?”
The Entity in Kodachi's mind said, “We're going to steal heart crystals and consume them. Now, get up and let's see if I can't find a good heart crystal that we need.”
Kodachi got up and as she did so Nine sought out sources of power nearby. Unbeknownst to her Hotaru was just regaining her heart beat, but since she had almost died her power levels were below many of the rest of the patients in the hospital. So, there was only one large power source nearby and Nine found it saying, “Well Kodachi it seems that today is our lucky day. Just one floor up is a very large and surely tasty power source that we can use.”
Kodachi smiled at that and immediately set out on her way. It was not that long before the young black haired girl was sneaking past a desk with a sign above it that said, “Coma Ward.”
As they started to wake up a man said, “Good, nice to see you awake Miss Moon. It saves us the effort of physically carrying you down those stairs and into the arrest van.”
Moon jumped to her feet and then a thousand volts of electricity coursed through her body. She collapsed to the ground again and the man’s voice said, “I wouldn’t recommend any more of those fast moves young lady. My men are just a little jumpy after hearing what that Pluto did down at the school.”
By then the other girls were awake as well and Mars leapt to Moons defense. She was in the air and slamming into one of the men before he could react. She had her knees on his chest and was about to say something when she was hit and sent to the ground by three separate jolts of a thousand volts of electricity each.
The man who had been speaking said, “Please, why don’t we do this without a fight ladies? Who knows maybe you will get Judge ‘easy’ again…”
The men laughed at bit at that statement while Jupiter and Venus after seeing what had happened to Mars and Moon decided not to fight the Tokyo police officers and thus they were able to walk down the stairs while Moon and Mars were picked up and carried.
As they went down the stairs Moon slowly recovered from what felt like an elephant kicking her in the chest. By the time they were at the ground the young sailor Senshi had her wits around her and was finally noticing a new unpleasant feeling at her chest. She glanced there and saw that the man carrying her in his arms had one hand on her breast.
She looked up at him and he smiled down at her with a lecherous grin, “Nice to see you awake missy. Now you can know what a ‘real’ man feels like. Not some pompous twit in a tuxedo.”
His lechery was the final straw in a long list of grievances that day and it made Moon’s temper go into blazing overdrive. Without really thinking or any concern for the consequences she pulled out her rod and shouted, “Moon Cleansing Escalation!”
Her righteous anger surged out from her in an explosion of pure white energy. It was nothing compared to what she could have done with the Ginzuishou, but it was more than enough to utterly and completely turn the arresting officers into complacent and nearly uncaring drones. That gave Venus and Jupiter a chance to carry their friends away to safety. There in a safe spot all the girls dropped their transformations and walked away in their civilian identities.
In short she needed Kasumi and so she walked to the house came inside and walked over to her elder sister. Kasumi looked down and said, “Oh Nabiki, it’s good to see you. How are you today?”
Nabiki looked up and said, “I’m fine I guess, no….not really, but it’s not important right now.”
The elder Tendo girl looked concerned and said, “Why ever not?”
Nabiki sighed and said, “I need your help. You’re the only one I can trust with this job and I need you.”
“Oh my…”
The statement hung in the air and then Nabiki said, “Look I know what you do here seems important to you and I guess in a way it is, but I need you to help me…” Nabiki paused and then said with a sour smirk, “Well as strange as it sound I need you to help me save the world.”
Kasumi looked down at her sister and was about to laugh it off, but then she noticed that Nabiki’s smirk was gone. The girl was looking at her with a dead serious expression, so Kasumi smiled gently and said, “Nabiki what could you possibly need from me to help you save the world?”
Nabiki looked at her sister and said, “I need an assistant at Nemesis Enterprises. Someone who I can trust and who will be able to keep people calm. I need someone who knows me very well and knows what I might want done if I’m not around.”
Kasumi nodded and then said, “But, why can’t you use one of your people at Furinkan? And really, how can helping this company save the world?”
Nabiki shook her head and said, “I can trust them a lot, but not for this. I need you Kasumi. I need you to help me at the company.”
Nabiki paused and then with another sour expression said, “As for saving the world, maybe you remember that girl who attacked the Dojo? She had that large black crystal.”
Kasumi nodded and Nabiki said, “If not for Neko-Chan she would have devastated Tokyo, maybe even the world. Nemesis Enterprises is just a way to get some money to Neko-Chan and her allies in their fight to save the world.”
Kasumi sat for a moment taking in the information she had just been given. Finally after a long pause the elder Tendo girl looked down at Nabiki, hugged her, and then whispered, “Alright little sister. I’ll help you save the world.”
The two girls then walked out of the house and towards the office Nabiki had recently created to house Nemesis Enterprises.
Ranma spoke first saying, “We have had some losses today hard losses that gave us a lesson that we will never forget. Secrecy and defense, we must not ever allow our enemies to know who we are and we must make sure that everyone on the team is protected from that knowledge. Now, let us have a moment of silence for our fallen friends and those whose status is unknown.”
The silence lingered for almost ten minutes and then Ranma continued, “While we are grieving for our fallen friends our enemies were hurt as well. In addition, we don’t know what they have done to Hotaru. She may have been the first sacrifice in their attempts to kill us. I desperately hope it is not so, but we must be prepared for it.”
The rest of the girls became even more somber at that statement and then Ranma said, “Now I say we find those witches. We hunt them down and destroy all of them, their deaths may not soothe our hearts, but we will kill them and know that no other innocent person will ever suffer from their efforts again.”
A cheer went up in the room and Team Nemesis went to the Tomoe home later that night. Unfortunately, by the time they got there the witches were gone leaving almost no trace that they had ever been there at all.
At that point the team was upset and wanting to do something, anything at all and so with the full power of her feline side feeling its animal emotions and needs Ranma said, “Well they weren’t here, but we will find them and when do we will not give them any quarter or mercy. They don’t deserve it for what they have done.”
Ranma pulled out her communicator and said, “Nabiki, no sign of the Witches here do you have any information on where they might be?”
The voice on the other side said, “I’ve been working on that as well as trying to find any snippets of information on the Witches, the only thing I have so far is a rumor that some red haired lady took off with Ryouga earlier today. She was followed by Happosai, but the three of them disappeared soon after that. They aren’t at the Tomoe home right?”
“No, just like you said when you checked with your power earlier. There’s no sign of them here and the only thing left to indicate that they might have been here is a bunch of scrap metal in a basement lab.”
Ranma sighed, then said, “Well, in the meantime our service as official Police helpers requires that we bring in the Azunama clan of Yakuza. Why don’t we see if we can find them and bring them in?”
The rest of the group nodded and Ranma said, “So Nabiki do you have any information on the Azunama clan?”
The other girl said, “Yes, since getting my new assistant things around here have been easier and I’ve been able to get a lot more information, so, yes I do Neko-Chan do you need it?”
Ranma nodded and said, “Yeah, I think we need to clean up Tokyo just a bit tonight.”
“Alright, can you pick me up and bring me along. I’d like to film some of that while my assistant finishes up making the funeral arrangements.”
Ranma looked surprised and said, “That was fast.”
“I know, but she has a way of soothing people and getting them to agree with her if you know what I mean. Everything will be ready for a public service at the school tomorrow. She even managed to get everyone the day off after the service is over.”
“Wow, I know Cologne and Neherenia told you to find an assistant, but I didn’t think it would work out so well for you so quickly. Whoever this person she’s quite the find where did you find her?”
Nabiki’s voice had a smile in it as she said, “Right in my own house.”
Ranma looked confused and said, “Akane? No way!”
Nabiki laughed and said, “No, Neko-Chan it’s my other sister.”
“Oh…” Ranma paused and then thought about it. She realized that Kasumi would indeed be perfect for soothing people’s emotions and getting them to agree with her. She smiled at the thought of the eldest Tendo girl finding another niche in the world.
Then she said, “Well that’s great, now why don’t you give me that information on the Azunama clan?”
Nabiki provided information and the girls were about to follow through on it, but before they left Ranma said, “You know what? I think we need to make sure we are dressed a bit differently from the Senshi.”
“You’re the only one who wears a fuku Neko-Chan. The rest of the Gymnasts wear leotards and a mask. I wear that yellow get up. Cologne and Shampoo wear Amazon battle dresses and hmmm. Well I don’t know what Horse Boy wears, but it sure isn’t a tuxedo.”
Ranma nodded and as they left tried to think of a new outfit for herself. By the time she had decided the team found a pocket of the Azunama clan outside a small, otherwise innocent looking, accounting office. The only difference between this office and the others surrounding it was the two large thugs standing outside in the shadows.
Angerona walked straight up to the men and said, “Hi, I know it’s late, but maybe I could get my taxes done?”
The two thugs looked at the girl. She was garbed in a flowing black garment, the sleeves were loose and billowed out to her elbows where they were detailed with a deep red edging. The neckline was open at her shoulders and encircled her entirely just above her breasts. It had a small teardrop opening at her neck that allowed a bit of cleavage to show and then it closed again hugging her torso and cinched at her waist by a deep red belt. The garment continued down to her hips where it had two slashes that allowed her legs complete freedom of movement. The outfit was completed by a golden circlet just behind her feline ears that was holding her crimson hair out of the way.
It was as if a Goddess of Rome had decided to wear black and walk around town. The two men stared at her form in open admiration and then one of them glanced to the other and said, “I can think of something we might do, but it won’t be your taxes. Right Chakahiro?”
The second thug who was apparently named Chakahiro looked to the first and then lunged forward to grab the young girl in front of them saying, “Oh yeah I can think of something too.”
His lunge was utterly stopped by a kick to the head and he was sent careening to the ground unconscious. The Other thug saw that and started to attack as well, but by the time he even started to move it was too late. Angerona was already next to him and sent a punch rocketing to his jaw that took him down.
She smiled at the downed goons and then the rest of her team came into view as they all walked into the small accounting office. Inside they found a set of stairs that led down to a basement area. There they surprised a large number of men who were working to package a large quantity of Crack Cocaine.
A few of the men pulled out guns and began to fire one the group, but before they fired Neherenia had been chanting and by the time they pulled the triggers a dark shield seemed to protect each of the girls from harm.
After that the men began to attack en-mass Angerona and her team were waiting for just that eventuality and responded to their attack with the full weight of their martial skills and experience.
The battle was over before it had even begun. A few minutes after Team Nemesis had entered the building every single Yakuza thug was either unconscious or groaning on the floor in pain. Angerona herself was standing next to one of the men who had seemed to be directing the operation.
She held the man up by one hand and with the other hand she brought her claws out and proceeded to use them on a nearby wall, leaving a gaping hole. Then she smiled almost sweetly at the man and said, “So do you want to tell me where the rest of the Azunama clan is or do I have to get violent?”
Suffice it to say the man told her everything and so from that point Team Nemesis found another pocket of the Yakuza clan. There they convinced someone to tell them where another pocket was. After that one pocket after the next was found and brought down. By the end of the night the Azunama Yakuza clan was all languishing behind bars or recuperating in the hospital.
Author’s Note: This is one of the longer chapters that I have written in quite some time. I’d like to thank Dark Jackel for pre-reading assistance and curse the holiday season for giving me so many interesting things that kept me from writing as much. Then again Zack and Wiki rules!
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