I don't own anything but the plot and anything that I create. There, I said it. Now, on with the story.
Arrival
Ranma wandered the streets of Juuban, almost aimlessly. He was looking for a place to live, but he had no idea where to start. He had sold all of his family's assets back in Nerima, so he had no problems with cash. As he passed by the Juuban High, he felt a strange sensation flow through his body, almost like a pull. He quickly attuned his ki senses to his surroundings and started searching for the cause of the pull. He turned towards the school just as the bell rang and students started pouring out shortly after. He waited until they had all left to go onto the school grounds. He followed the feeling as it led him deeper into the school until he found a classroom with a few young girls in it, along with some boys. It appeared that they were doing detention, though reluctantly. Ranma allowed a smirk to form as he remembered all too well his 'detentions' with Hinako. These kids were getting off easy.
Ranma's eyes widened as his senses were drawn to a girl with the oddest hairstyle he had ever seen. She had her blond hair drawn up into two balls on top of her head, with the rest hanging down as pony-tails. He had found her, just as he had promised all those millennia ago. He staggered back as memories flooded his mind.
FLASH
He was a small boy, trying in vain to keep up with the Royal Court's Sword Master. He started to cry as the mean man scoffed and declared him unworthy to learn from him.
FLASH
He was playing with his sister in the Moon Palace. She tripped but he caught her before she hit the ground.
"You are such a klutz, Serenity," he said with a laugh.
"I know, but you'll always be there to catch me, right?" she asked.
"I promise," he said seriously. "I'll always be there for you when you need me."
FLASH
He was walking to his class with the Palace Lore Master when he spotted her. She was a pale beauty dressed in a deep purple dress. She looked so lonely that he had to go and try to cheer her up. As he got closer, he realized with a start that she was the Senshi of Pluto, Setsuna. However, he was too close not to continue his course.
"You seem lonely," he said softly from behind her.
Setsuna whirled around, her hand reaching for her transformation pen. However, she relaxed when she saw that it was only her Prince, not some evil demon sent to kill everyone.
"No, my Prince. I am happy and content with my place here," she told him as she turned back to overlooking the gardens.
He cocked his head. "Why do you lie to me?" he asked simply.
Setsuna tried and failed to hide the tear that escaped her eye at his question.
"I am lonely because I am cursed to live forever as everyone I love grows old and dies, yet I remain young and alive," she sobbed.
He went up and gathered her into his arms, noting that they were almost the same height. He had grown a lot since the last time he had seen her.
FLASH
"I sense in you great potential, mortal," said a deep voice as he slept.
"Show yourself, coward. Come face the Prince of the Moon Kingdom," he shouted in challenge.
"Ha, you have a lot of guts, Prince. I like that," the voice said as the inky blackness that surrounded his dream form started to take shape.
He took a step back as he saw the shape of the speaker. It was a being he was all too familiar with, Chaos. The Temple of Order had a picture of him, depicting a great battle with Order, one that he lost.
"I know you," he shouted at the man. "You're Chaos, enemy of Order and disrupter of peace!"
Laughter was all he got in return.
"I see that the Temple of Order has brainwashed you with their beliefs," said Chaos with a chuckle. "I may have caused a few rebellions, but I am not an 'enemy of peace and a disrupter of Order', or whatever they call me."
He was confused by Chaos's demeanor. Chaos seemed almost nice, even friendly. This wasn't what the priests had always told him to expect of Chaos.
"What do you want?" he asked carefully.
"My brothers, War and Strife, are causing trouble. Trouble that will lead to the destruction of the Moon Kingdom and its entire people," Chaos told him.
"No, you…you're lying!" he exclaimed.
"Sorry, but I am telling the truth," Chaos told him softly. "Within the span of ten years, the Moon Kingdom will be no more."
He thought this over, trying to find something that he could use to deny this new information. However, in his soul, he knew Chaos was right.
"What can I do?"
FLASH
"You are herby banished from the Moon Kingdom!" exclaimed Luna, the Queen's Advisor. "If you ever come back, you will be killed on sight!"
"Why have I been banished?" he asked angrily. "For trying to warn you about Beryl? For trying to bring peace to our Kingdom?"
"You are banished because you have been tainted by Chaos, my Prince," said Pluto, stepping from behind the Queen.
"Setsuna! Why are you doing this?" he demanded.
"I'm sorry," was all she said as he was surrounded by the palace guard, men he had grown up with.
"Fine," he growled, "but before I leave, I have a gift for my sister. Serenity, I shall always be there for you when you need me most. And if I should fail, I shall follow you into the afterlife. So I swear!"
As he said that, a blinding flare of light erupted from the two of them. When it died down, the Prince was nowhere to be seen.
FLASH
He was training out beyond Pluto, on a planet called Nemesis, when he felt a tug on his soul. He focused his senses outward and was shocked by what he found. Four of the planets in the Solar System were already uninhabitable, and the others were on their way to same fate. In a little while, only Earth would be habitable. He shuddered as he felt the tug again, this time much stronger.
"Serenity needs me," he muttered, his voice weak from lack of use.
He focused his powers and teleported to the Moon. He got there just in time to see Sailor Mars be cut down, protecting her Princess. He raced towards her, hoping beyond hope to get there before the invaders did. On his way, he slashed out with his sword, cutting of the head of an invader that was about to kill an Advisor. As he did, he noticed that it was Luna, the one who had banished him in the first place. He rushed past her, throwing a spell behind him as he did, locking her in her cat form. He got to his sister just as she was knocked to the ground by a Youma, who raised its arm to deliver a death blow. However, the blow never fell as the Youma's arm was severed by his blade and then its head. He knelt beside his sister and discovered that she was bleeding severely from a head wound. He started healing her, but was interrupted by an arrow striking his back. He turned to the shooter and sent a bolt of Chaos energy at him, searing the flesh from the man's face. When he turned back to his sister, he found her life slipping away. She opened her eyes, looking straight at him.
"Brother… you came… just like you promised," she whispered.
"I'm here, sister. I'll always be here," he replied, knowing that she was dieing.
"I so happy that… I got to see you… one last time," she said as her eyes closed in the sleep that lasts forever.
"Good-bye, Serenity," he told her as a tear fell from his eye and his body flared with a bright light.
Ranma gasped as the memories stopped. He found himself laying in a hallway, just outside the room where his sister was serving her detention. He staggered to his feet, weakened by the ordeal he just went though. He took a look inside and saw that they were getting ready to leave, and he quickly left so that he could keep an eye on her. He waited outside, cloaked in the shadows that were his namesake, until she came out of the school. He watched as she immediately headed to an arcade and played just about every game in there. Ranma was shocked at the changes in his sister. She was no longer the klutzy, yet polite and smart Princess. Instead, she had become a ditzy, klutzy, and stupid girl. He couldn't believe that this was his sister, yet her aura was unmistakable. He sighed as he saw her trip for the umpteenth time since he started following her. It took all his willpower to not catch her as she fell. His annoyance turned to shock as she ran to an older man and gave him a very intimate hug. Ranma's eyes narrowed as he recognized the man's aura, it was Endymion, Prince of the Earth. He was the actual cause of the War, the cause of the Moon Kingdom's fall. If he had just told Beryl to go to hell, then the War might have never happened. But no, he had to go and drag her along, letting her think that she had a chance, then go get engaged to the Moon Princess. It was her anger and jealousy that caused her to free Metallica, dooming the Moon Kingdom to ruin.
Ranma started to walk over, but thought twice about it. He didn't want them to know that he was alive… yet. So he slipped into the shadows, using them to get closer. He came out of a shadow two trees away from the couple, who were now cuddling on a bench. He was about to move closer when an explosion came from three blocks down. The two of them shot out of their seats and Serenity contacted her Sailor Senshi. Having done that they looked around for anyone, completely missing Ranma, and each did their own transformation. Ranma nearly dropped his cover when he saw Endymion's costume. It was a penguin suit! He pulled out a cane and a rose and took off towards the explosion. Ranma pulled himself together and followed them, keeping his distance and using their auras to track them. Eventually, they stopped where a Youma was tearing up the surrounding area. The mangled remains of a tanker and some cars explained the explosion. The two of them waited for the rest of the Sailors before Serenity started saying this really corny speech.
"Hold, foul beast! Day's like this are not to be interrupted by things like you, they are for cuddling with your boyfriend. So, for disrupting the peace and causing destruction; In the name of the Moon, I shall punish you!"
A sweatdrop formed by Ranma's head, as well as the Youma's head. Ranma shook his head, to think that they did this before every battle. He'd have to teach them eventually about surprise tactics. He took a second look at the Youma and his eyes widened in surprise. It was a Warrior Hunter model of Youma, one specifically designed to battle the Senshi. Ranma shook his head, he felt that there was nothing to be worry about, after all, it use to take at least five to even hurt one of the Senshi back in the Silver Millennium, what could just one do to five of them. Apparently, as he watched the fight, quite a bit.
"They've grown weak," Ranma said to himself.
The Youma was currently handing the Senshi their butts as it wasn't allowing them to use their attacks, disrupting their attack sequences before they could get a shot off. Only Jupiter was having any success as she was the only one with any experience with hand-to-hand fighting.
Ranma sighed as he watched Jupiter's face meet a concrete wall and Venus get thrown into a car door. He cloaked himself in shadows and crept closer. Ranma was glad that he had cloaked himself when the Outers showed up. However, even they had trouble with the Youma. Ranma sighed again, they were really weak.
Ranma was now just fifty feet away from the fight and he noticed something odd about the Youma. It looked slightly different than the ones from the Silver Millennium. It looked stronger, tougher. He scanned it with his senses and was shocked by what he found. It was infused with Chaos energy! His eyes narrowed as he processed this new revelation. Either Chaos had lied to him or… War and Strife were back to their old habits. He'd have to talk to Chaos about that later, right now he had to go save a Princess.
Sailor Moon knew she was in trouble. Nothing they did even fazed the Youma they were fighting. She watched in shock as her friends were being pummeled ruthlessly. She had just raised her scepter when the thing charged at her. She let out a scream and tried to jump out of the way. However, the Youma grabbed her leg and swung her into a lamp post, bending it in half. It laughed as it saw how easily it had incapacitated the feared Sailor Senshi. It stopped laughing, however, when it felt an aura of incredible power appear a few feet behind it. The Youma turned quickly, expecting to see the dreaded Sailor Pluto, but was shocked when it saw a young man dressed all in black, with silver highlights. He had his black hair tied in a loose pony-tail and had a black leather jacket with a silver symbol on the back. He wore a silver shirt, but the rest of his clothes were pure black. On his forehead was a silver Crescent Moon, normally the symbol for the Royal Family of the Moon Kingdom, but the Crescent Moon was supposed to be gold, not silver. As the Youma tried to figure this new info out, Ranma walked over to the injured Sailor Moon and knelt beside her.
"Get… get away from her!" yelled Sailor Mars weakly, as she tried to get up to defend her Princess.
"No need to fear, Mars. I am here to help," Ranma told her as he laid his hand on her stomach. Silver light erupted from his hand and flowed into the injured Sailor Moon, visibly healing her wounds. She let out a gasp as she was once again able to breathe freely.
As Sailor Moon regained consciousness, Ranma walked back to the Youma, who by now had figured out that Ranma was no longer in front of it.
"For hurting innocent bystanders, destroying people's livelihoods, and for just being so butt ugly, I shall destroy you!" Ranma exclaimed as he cracked his knuckles.
"Just come and try it, Prince," it mocked. Even it had heard of the Prince who had been banished for his powers and his position as the Avatar of Chaos.
"Let's do this," said Ranma as he got into a stance.
"Be careful," warned Mercury as she struggled to sit up after having been thrown through a concrete wall… several times. "It can regenerate."
"Thank you," Ranma told her before ducking as the Youma attempted to blindside him.
Ranma swept the Youma's legs out from under it and rolled backwards to get some room. As the Youma stood up, Ranma dashed forwards, pulling his sword from subspace as he did, the one that Chaos had given him so many millennia ago. It was pure black and shaped like a katana, but it was double-bladed and could alter its length according to its user's will. If anyone besides the Avatar of Chaos attempted to use it, they would suffer severe pain, as well as their hands would become permanently burned. Ranma struck out at the Youma, who sidestepped with a laugh, before spinning around with a slash. The Youma backpedaled in order to avoid losing its head, ending up with a sliced throat instead. It clutched its throat as its regenerative powers kicked in. However, Ranma didn't allow it time to regenerate as he continued his assault, thrusting and slashing at the Youma's body. The Youma barely managed to dodge some of the strikes, many hit home. Ranma back-flipped away and held his free hand towards the Youma.
"Flames of the Void!" he exclaimed as black flames shot from his hand, enveloping the Youma. When he stopped his attack, there was nothing left but a pile as ash.
Ranma shortened his sword back to its original length and sheathed it in its scabbard on his back. He then turned back to the Senshi and was about to go help the newly awakened Sailor Moon to her feet when he dodged out of the way of another attack. He turned towards his new attacker while starting to unsheathe his sword, but stopped cold when he saw who attacked him. It was Sailor Pluto.
"I don't know how you managed to get sent forward with the rest of the Senshi, but I do know that you should have never reawakened, Shadow!" she yelled as she leveled her staff at him.
"Will you shoot me? Shoot me and kill Serenity as well?" Ranma asked as he pointed to Sailor Moon who was right behind him.
"Move away from her," Pluto growled.
"Hey, Pluto, ease up. He helped us," said Sailor Uranus as she sat up painfully. Being a flying projectile wasn't fun.
"This man is the Avatar of Chaos, he is evil!" shouted Pluto as she charged up her attack.
"For the last time, Pluto, I am not evil!" Ranma yelled at her as he moved away from his sister.
"Dead Scream!" yelled Pluto as a purple ball of magic shot from her staff.
However, Ranma was faster. "Void Shield!" he shouted as he raised his hand.
Pluto's attack hit Ranma's shield and a giant cloud of dust was formed from the explosion. Pluto looked smug; she knew nothing could survive that attack, especially when it was charged so much. However, her smug look disappeared when she saw that his shield was still there.
Ranma lowered his shield and looked at the crater around him. "Not as big as Saffron's, but still pretty good," he thought. He looked up at Pluto, who was preparing to attack again.
"You can't hurt me that way, Pluto. You never have. Let's settle this the old fashion way," he said as he unsheathed his sword.
"Yes, lets," said Pluto as she charged forward, intending to smash his skull in with her staff.
As the two of them fought, the rest of the Senshi gathered together to watch the fight.
"Anyone got any popcorn?" asked Uranus?
"Haruka!" exclaimed Neptune.
"What? It's a good fight," she said defensively.
"But why are they fighting? I don't get it," commented Minako.
"Princess, do you know why?" asked Makoto.
"I think I do," she told them. They all leaned forward to hear what she had to say. A tear rolled down her face as she remembered who that man was. "That's my brother."
"WHAT?" they all exclaimed, turning to watch as the man they knew only as 'Shadow' blocked a particularly vicious strike that would have left him permanently a soprano.
"His name was Ran, he was the Prince of the Moon Kingdom," came a voice from the Sailor's ankles. They all looked down to see the Moon cats, Luna and Artemis.
"What do you mean, 'was'?" asked Hotaru. "Wouldn't he still be the Prince?"
"He would be if he hadn't been banished," Luna told them as she winced when Pluto got thrown back a few yards by a blast of pure Mana.
"Why was he banished?" asked Ami as she recorded the fight for later analysis.
"He became the Avatar of Chaos, the enemy of Order," Artemis told them seriously.
The Sailors felt that that meant something, but only Sailor Moon knew what that meant, as she had just recovered a chunk of her memories. She turned to Luna.
"But that didn't make him evil," she told her.
"That doesn't matter," Luna scoffed. "He has been corrupted by Chaos, which makes him the enemy."
"Luna, what you're saying doesn't make any sense. If he is the enemy, then he should have just let us die, not save us," Ami pointed out.
"That doesn't matter," Luna started to say when she was cut off by Usagi.
"It matters quite a bit, Luna. He is my brother, and he saved us, let's give him the benefit of the doubt," she told Luna firmly.
Just then, Ranma and Pluto separated briefly to get some breathing room.
"Why do you do this, Setsuna?" Ranma asked, panting a little. Setsuna had only gotten better in ten thousand years.
"I have made a pledge to destroy evil wherever I find it, even if it means destroying you," she replied, a little winded herself."
"Since when am I evil?" Ranma asked, genuinely confused.
"Since the day you became Chaos's Avatar," she told him.
"I never changed, Setsuna. I only gained the power to protect those dear to me and preserve the Balance," Ranma told her, shaking his head at her ignorance.
"Chaos is the enemy of Order, that means that it is evil," Setsuna declared as she prepared to fight again.
"Was I evil when I was growing up? Was I evil when I saved you from a life of depression?" he demanded harshly. His face then softened and his voice lowered. "Was I evil when you married me?"
"None of that matters now!" she declared as she attacked again, this time with tears in her eyes.
The Senshi were stunned at this revelation, even Usagi.
"They… were married?" she asked to no one in particular.
"You mean you didn't know?" asked Makoto.
"I knew that they were dating back then, but I didn't know that they had gotten married," she told them. She then got a firm look to her eyes as she walked out to where the two were fighting.
"Both of you stop this insanity immediately!" she demanded, her clothes flaring into her Moon Princess outfit.
The two fighters stopped mid-strike, Ranma with an over head strike and Setsuna with a strike to his solar plexus. They separated as she walked over to them. Ranma looked around at the damage that they had caused while Setsuna bowed her head before her Princess. Ranma turned back to Usagi and smiled widely.
"Hello, Serenity. It's been a long time," he told her as he stepped closer to her, causing her to look up at him.
"It's been too long, Ran," she said as she too smiled. Her face then turned serious. "Now why were you two fighting?"
"He is the Avatar of Chaos," Setsuna said, as if that explained everything.
"And he is my brother, so what?" said Usagi impatiently.
"Setsuna is afraid, sister. She is afraid of my power," Ranma told her sadly.
"Why?" Usagi asked simply while Setsuna gaped like a fish out of water.
Ranma help up his hand and formed a black ball of Void energy.
"I control the endless power of the Void. I am far more powerful than the Silver Crystal, and that's without adding my power as Chaos's Avatar," Ranma explained softly.
"That isn't true," exclaimed Setsuna. "I am merely protecting the future of the Moon Kingdom."
Ranma let out a humorless laugh.
"A lot of good that did. The Silver Millennium ended, what, three years after I was banished?" he asked sarcastically. He then got a haunted look to his eyes. "I've got to go… now. I'll be around."
With that he faded into the shadows and was gone. When Usagi turned to ask Setsuna some more questions, she found that the Guardian of the Time Gates was gone as well.
Fhew, got that done. I've been working on this for a while now. I finally got over my writer's block on this and got this chapter done. Now, you should be asking yourself, "What's with Ranma?". If not, then I did a crappy job with that part. If you are, you'll find out eventually. As always, reviews are great and helpful.
Love it? Hate it? Please review. Flames will be used to light my incense. (Sandle-wood)