Ranma – A Senshi of Earth
[A Ranma ½ / Sailor Moon / Day after Tomorrow Crossover]
UPDATED 6/14/04 with Genma's and Cologne's Escape from Tokyo – both additions are towards the beginning of this chapter
AN: I would like to thank all the authors who have contributed to the works listed at the Temple of Ranma's Seifuku. This work is heavily inspired by several stories there and I apologize in advance for borrowing concepts and ideas from them. There are some great stories there and I highly recommend anyone reading this to browse through them.
Disclaimer: I do not nor will ever own anything that appears in this fiction. I have no recollection of writing this or plotting to overthrow Cuba.
Disclaimer II: I beg forgiveness for using the movie "Day after Tomorrow" A movie that is slightly less believable than sailor moon. Though I will only be using the bad science in the movie, and none of the bad writing or charecters that was in it.
Chapter 1: The Great Ice
Ranma sat on the train as it made its way south. Akane sat next to him by the window while Nabiki leaned against Kasumi in fitful sleep across from them. Kasumi gave him a small encouraging smile and he returned it. The older girl's ever present cheerfulness hadn't cracked in the crisis, but it was defiantly fraying around the edges. Especially when the train assignments had been announced. The young and healthy had been given first preference, which meant that they had to leave their fathers behind. Soun had charged him to take care of his girls and amidst the tearful goodbyes (especially Soun) no one had argued with him. Ranma wasn't particularly concerned about them, he seriously doubted there was anything that would kill his old man; the man was simply too good at surviving. With Genma to look out for him he had little doubt that Soun would pull through as well. He let out a muffled chuckle as he wondered what idiotic scheme his old man would pull to make his way to Kyushu.
............................ [Self Defense Force Evacuation Staging Area, Tokyo]
Corporal Yatsumuri fidgeted nervously as two officers from command inspected the convoy of ten trucks that were under his direction and among the last to be leaving Tokyo. This particular colonel had a glare that could strip paint off walls, even behind his glasses. The heavyset man moved as though he could back up his look as well. After an agonizing five minutes of inspection the colonel turned back to face him.
"You seem to have done and adequate Job Corporal. Because the major and I were held up at command till the last moment; space will need to be made for the major, my wife, and myself on your trucks. I trust that it will not be a problem?"
The corporal spared a quick glance towards the tall major and the elegant auburn-haired woman standing next to him by the lead truck before facing the colonel again.
"No sir, we'll have to put you each in a different truck's cab and its going to be tight with riding three people up front, but we should be able to manage it."
"Very good, make the needed adjustments. I want these trucks on the road in the next ten minutes."
"Yes Sir!" The corporal sprinted off glad to carrying out orders instead of being under the colonel's stern gaze. After he departed the tall mustached man in a major's uniform walked over with a visibly frowning Nodoka. Soun's eyes sparkled with mischief.
"So Colonel Saotome, I take it arrangements are being made for our departure?"
Genma couldn't contain a small chuckle, the last time they had performed the self defense bit was back when they were training under the master.
"Yes Major Tendo, our ride should be ready within the next few minutes."
Nodoka continued to frown, but kept her peace.
.................................
Likewise he wasn't worried about the amazons. Cologne had survived for 300 years and she wasn't going to let her granddaughter die, though she might forget about Mousse.
................................... [DELTA flight 620 to Sydney, 700 miles south of Tokyo]
"I'm telling you, there's some Thing on the wing! I saw it, I'm not crazy. When the lightning struck I saw it! It was some horribly deformed thing!"
The co-pilot rolled his eyes as he finished strapping the irrational passenger into his seat and watched as the sedatives that the flight attendant had administered began to take effect. After it had taken hold completely he briefly talked with a few of the passengers and then walked back up to the cockpit.
Strapped to his seat and coming under the effects of heavy sedation George Anderson's head rolled to the side facing the window. He let out a gurgled scream of horror.
Outside Cologne, protected by the elements and anchored to the wing with a shield of Ki, once again tried to ease her boredom by watching the in flight movie through the window.
...............................
What concerned him more was Ukyo. In the confusion of the past few days he hadn't thought to go check on her, and by the time he had they were rushing to catch their assigned train. Glancing around the compartment he was impressed by the composure people were displaying in light of the coming destruction. Sure there was fear and concern etched on nearly everyone's face, but it was tightly held, personal. He wondered how the other countries around the world were handling the crisis. He heaved a heavy sigh, in a way it seemed pointless. Even with the quick action and organization of the government he didn't fool himself into believing that the death toll from this disaster wasn't going to be catastrophic. There was only so much room and infrastructure available on Kyushu and it had been incredible good luck that the Tendos had been selected for an early train or even a train at all.
He remembered watching the television in shock when the government had made the announcement. It was simply impossible to grasp that within the week Hokkaido and all but the southernmost part of Honshu were going to be encased in ice. What parts of Japan that was considered sub-tropical now, were going to have a climate that would make the northern parts of the Island of Hokkaido look temperate. It was this that truly concerned him, with so much of the worlds farmable land reduced to icy wasteland what were the survivors going to do for food? He was sure that the government had some sort of plan; he just had a dreadful idea that the plan included severely limiting the number of people evacuated and stripping the rest of the country of its stockpiles. Shaking his head, he leaned back into his seat and closed his eyes. The questions were too big for someone like him to worry about. He sent a prayer to those that did and tried to get some sleep.
............................. [Cherry Hill Temple, Tokyo]
Sailor Pluto looked down upon the courtyard of the Cherry Hill Temple with a sad satisfaction. The scouts and their families were putting the finishing touches on the small structure that would be the Tsukino family's sleeping quarters. Last month the scouts had finally revealed themselves to their families and with Pluto's help had explained to them the coming disaster. Since that time everyone had been busy getting together everything they would need to survive here. The scouts themselves had just finished completing the series of spells and environmental wards that would protect the temple from the coming ice and shelter this one small island of humanity. In the years to come the scouts would slowly excavate and rebuild the surrounding area which would one day form the heart of Crystal Tokyo.
Her feelings couldn't help but be split, while she grieved for the loss of life that was going to occur around the globe she couldn't help but feel good about finally undertaking the first visible step towards her dream. Her grief was also mitigated by the fact that she had seen it coming for over a thousand years and thus any major feeling of loss had long since been experienced and put behind her. Still she was not made of stone. Knowing that in Japan alone 65% of the population was going to die within the next two days and that almost no one over the age of 40 in the evacuation areas was going to survive was hard knowledge to have. She was sure that Ami had a rough idea of what the casualties were going to be, Mercury had been decidedly downcast since the government had announced its evacuation plans late last week. The other scouts seemed to have buried the implications in their subconscious, busying themselves with readying the temple and trying not to think about it.
She looked up as a particularly large piece of hail struck the magical dome that incased the temple grounds. The snow was already building up along the bottom edges of the shield, in a few hours in wouldn't be fit for man or beast outdoors and in another 12 the last vestiges of one of the super storms would pass directly over Tokyo, instantly freezing even those sheltered indoors. It was fortunate that the storm was going to swing to the southeast and miss Kyushu. For even as weakened as it would be by the time it got that far south, there would have not been much left of the Japanese people. Hearing Makoto call everyone to dinner Pluto resolved to stop brooding and try to enjoy the company of others for the first time in 2000 years. The future was set and there was very little that could disturb it now.
Later she would vow to herself never to underestimate the phrase 'very little' ever again.
........................
It was six a.m. and Mamoru had woken up restless and disturbed. After fifteen minutes he had given up any hope of getting back to sleep so he stood on the temple wall and watched as the snow swirled violently against the shield just a few feet from where he was standing. Suddenly the wind settled down outside the dome and everything became eerily quiet. In the dim pre-dawn light Mamoru watched as the eye of the greatest storm in history passed over Tokyo. It would be the last thing that he ever witnessed.
To understand what happened one has to visualize how the senshi had gone about constructing the magical barrier that protected the temple. Under Pluto's direction the scouts had linked together and cast a series of interlinked magical barriers molded after Saturn's silence wall. This was then reinforced by spiritually imbued wards placed at strategic locations around the perimeter of the temple grounds and in slowly tightening concentric circles around the main structures. To be on the safe side Pluto had warned everyone at dinner they should stay as close to the temple proper until after sunrise the next day. The person that had been destined to be the future king of earth, apparently missed the part about sunrise.
At that moment the eye of the storm passed directly over the Cherry Hill Temple; the intensity of the cold air that had been pulled straight from the upper stratosphere stressed the magic of the shield to its breaking point. Along the perimeter several of the wards flared brightly before dissolving into ash causing the shield in those areas to buckle inwards fifteen feet before hitting the next circle of wards. Mamoru didn't have time to blink before being frozen solid. Under normal circumstances there would have been several things the senshi, with their combined powers, could have done to revive the popsicle formally known as Endymion. These were not however, normal circumstances. The earth was currently experiencing the greatest upheaval it had felt in hundreds of thousands of years and the energy that linked it with its avatar was frantic when its conduit suddenly died. And so before Usagi could stop screaming in her bed, before Pluto could check the gate to see what happened, before the rest of the scouts rushed to their princesses' side, the energy flashed out and forged a link with the first viable candidate that it found.
Mores the pity.
Chapter 2: Nice outfit...Does anyone know how to take it off?
[Refuge Camp A26, Just outside Kagoshima, Japan]
As the energy flashed out from the point of Mamoru's death it quickly found one with the potential to be its conduit. Unknown to all the scouts except Pluto it was actually quite rare for the avatar to be male, and having a male avatar severely restricted the amount of power that could be wielded. So the energy was pleased, if such emotion can be given to it, to find that the new conduit was the proper sex. It was half right.
Ranma-chan stood staring out of the tent flap feeling cold, wet and miserable. Probably because that was exactly what she was at the moment. As the sleet came down it turned the refuge camp outside of Kagoshima into something slightly more hospitable than the seventh circle of hell. At least the small tent the four of them shared had a wooden platform to rest on. Looking over his shoulder he saw the Tendo girls involved in a high stakes game of go fish which Kasumi seemed to be winning handily much to the middle sister's chagrin and the youngest ire. Just as she was about to resume watching the sleet she felt the hairs raise on her arms as though she were about to be struck by lightning. Oddly enough that's exactly what it felt like when the energy reached out and burned the link to the planet into her. (Ranma having personal experience with exactly what a lighting strike feels like due to one of Genma's more delusional plans to toughen him up involving holding lightning rods on top of Tokyo Tower).
The sisters watched in shock as a bright white light surrounded Ranma-chan and she lifted off the floor. Suddenly the light flashed brighter for a moment and Ranma-chan was suspended in the air with only the clothes that Jusenkyo gave her. Bright multicolored ribbons of energy sprung from thin air and began to wrap themselves around her as she slowly rotated. Before they could let out a gasp the process was over and a very different Ranma- chan fell to the floor of the tent, conscious but not entirely lucid. Kasumi rushed over while her sisters were still in shock.
"Ranma, are you alright?"
"Potatoes." With that Ranma gave up her struggle to stay conscious.
...............
[Cherry Hill Temple, Former city of Tokyo]
"Setsuna, how could this have happened? How could you have missed this?" Rei asked since Usagi was wholly incapable of speaking without wailing uncontrollably.
Setsuna gave a weary sigh, as though the weight of those thousands of years had suddenly come to bare on her. "In dealing with time nothing is ever set in stone, everything is probabilities. My work up to this point was to make Crystal Tokyo far and away the most likely probability to occur. The series of events and happenstance that led to Mamoru's death and inability to be revived was so unlikely that it never even showed in the gate."
Ami looked up from where she was holding Usagi's hand. "Does this mean that Crystal Tokyo doesn't happen?" Everyone went quiet and turned towards the time guardian.
"Actually no, I need to check the gates after things have quieted down but his death does not mean the end of Crystal Tokyo. It will certainly have an effect, how large of one we will simply have to wait and see."
Everyone in the room nodded their head solemnly each occupied with their own thoughts.
........................ [Tent 859, Refuge Camp A26]
"Should we call a doctor?"
"Great idea Akane. Doctor, Doctor our friend just became an urban legend and collapsed. Can you do anything for her?" Nabiki commented sarcastically.
"Nabiki don't taunt your sister, now is not the time. However I think you are right, I think whatever happened just took a lot out of her. I think she'll wake up on her own." Kasumi said as she reapplied the damp cloth to Ranma's forehead. They had bundled her up in her sleeping bag after she collapsed and in the few hours since Ranma hadn't even twitched except the even rise and fall of her chest.
Nabiki smirked, "He..She is really not going to be happy when she wakes up."
Akane frowned a little and stared down at the beautiful girl. "Baka deserves it. He's probably being punished by a kami."
It can be said that there is a fine line between punishment and blessing where the kami are involved.
[10 hours later..]
Ranma groaned as she came to, "Damn it pop, I told you it was a stupid idea..."
Kasumi walked over and knelt down beside Ranma-chan. "How are you feeling Ranma? Do you hurt anywhere?" Ranma came back to herself a little more and focused on Kasumi's face.
"Naw, I think I'm alright. Just sort of tired and sore all over. How long was I out? What happened anyway?"
Kasumi hesitated for a moment and then smiled as she said, "Oh my, well Ranma-chan you lifted off the ground and became a magical girl."
"Huh?"
Nabiki stepped into view, "Sailor Senshi actually."
"WHAT?!"
"Get up and see for yourself stud, or should I say babe. I think I found Victoria's next secret." Nabiki continued.
Ranma quickly through the covers off of her, jumped up and stared down at herself in horror. The first thing she noticed of course were the clothes, how could one not. Replacing her Red and Black silks was a fuku: disturbingly tight, short, and with far to many ribbons for comfort. The body was white and hugged her curves and was adorned with two black bows trimmed in silver; one just beneath her breasts while the other trailed to long ribbons from the small of her back. The skirt matched the bows and Ranma tugged on it in a futile effort to try and make it more concealing. Her lower arms were encased in long white gloves that were trimmed and detailed in silver and black swirls, while her legs were in cased in matching black trimmed in silver high heeled boots. She looked up in panic and it got worse as she saw herself reflected in the hand mirror Nabiki had been hiding behind her back. Her hair now had to small braids, one that draped over the front of each ear while the rest flowed freely down almost to the small of her back. To Top it off was a silver tiara and a single red rose stuck in her hair above her right ear.
"ACK, ack, ack....not happening, nightmare, gota be a nightmare..." Ranma mumbled incoherently for awhile before noticing something else, she was looking down a little on Nabiki and her eyes were now even with Kasumi's. "What, how, why?" Ranma finally asked plucking the rose out of her hair only to have another one materialize in its place.
"We were hoping that maybe you could tell us that Ranma-Chan." Nabiki said oh so sweetly.
"Why would I know anything about it? I'm a guy! If anyone should have turned into a magical girl it should have been Kasumi!"
It was too easy, and Nabiki simply couldn't resist. "Why Kasumi? Why not Akane?"
"She's too much of a sexless tomboy to be a magical girl." Ranma responded automatically before a look of anguish passed over her face. That was shortly followed by the real thing.
"BAKA!" The result of which was Akane breaking the only mallet she had packed for the evacuation.
Ranma groaned before pulling herself up in a sitting position. She nervously plucked at the outfit for a minute before turning to the sisters again.
"So, ah..anyone know how to take this off?"
[A Ranma ½ / Sailor Moon / Day after Tomorrow Crossover]
UPDATED 6/14/04 with Genma's and Cologne's Escape from Tokyo – both additions are towards the beginning of this chapter
AN: I would like to thank all the authors who have contributed to the works listed at the Temple of Ranma's Seifuku. This work is heavily inspired by several stories there and I apologize in advance for borrowing concepts and ideas from them. There are some great stories there and I highly recommend anyone reading this to browse through them.
Disclaimer: I do not nor will ever own anything that appears in this fiction. I have no recollection of writing this or plotting to overthrow Cuba.
Disclaimer II: I beg forgiveness for using the movie "Day after Tomorrow" A movie that is slightly less believable than sailor moon. Though I will only be using the bad science in the movie, and none of the bad writing or charecters that was in it.
Chapter 1: The Great Ice
Ranma sat on the train as it made its way south. Akane sat next to him by the window while Nabiki leaned against Kasumi in fitful sleep across from them. Kasumi gave him a small encouraging smile and he returned it. The older girl's ever present cheerfulness hadn't cracked in the crisis, but it was defiantly fraying around the edges. Especially when the train assignments had been announced. The young and healthy had been given first preference, which meant that they had to leave their fathers behind. Soun had charged him to take care of his girls and amidst the tearful goodbyes (especially Soun) no one had argued with him. Ranma wasn't particularly concerned about them, he seriously doubted there was anything that would kill his old man; the man was simply too good at surviving. With Genma to look out for him he had little doubt that Soun would pull through as well. He let out a muffled chuckle as he wondered what idiotic scheme his old man would pull to make his way to Kyushu.
............................ [Self Defense Force Evacuation Staging Area, Tokyo]
Corporal Yatsumuri fidgeted nervously as two officers from command inspected the convoy of ten trucks that were under his direction and among the last to be leaving Tokyo. This particular colonel had a glare that could strip paint off walls, even behind his glasses. The heavyset man moved as though he could back up his look as well. After an agonizing five minutes of inspection the colonel turned back to face him.
"You seem to have done and adequate Job Corporal. Because the major and I were held up at command till the last moment; space will need to be made for the major, my wife, and myself on your trucks. I trust that it will not be a problem?"
The corporal spared a quick glance towards the tall major and the elegant auburn-haired woman standing next to him by the lead truck before facing the colonel again.
"No sir, we'll have to put you each in a different truck's cab and its going to be tight with riding three people up front, but we should be able to manage it."
"Very good, make the needed adjustments. I want these trucks on the road in the next ten minutes."
"Yes Sir!" The corporal sprinted off glad to carrying out orders instead of being under the colonel's stern gaze. After he departed the tall mustached man in a major's uniform walked over with a visibly frowning Nodoka. Soun's eyes sparkled with mischief.
"So Colonel Saotome, I take it arrangements are being made for our departure?"
Genma couldn't contain a small chuckle, the last time they had performed the self defense bit was back when they were training under the master.
"Yes Major Tendo, our ride should be ready within the next few minutes."
Nodoka continued to frown, but kept her peace.
.................................
Likewise he wasn't worried about the amazons. Cologne had survived for 300 years and she wasn't going to let her granddaughter die, though she might forget about Mousse.
................................... [DELTA flight 620 to Sydney, 700 miles south of Tokyo]
"I'm telling you, there's some Thing on the wing! I saw it, I'm not crazy. When the lightning struck I saw it! It was some horribly deformed thing!"
The co-pilot rolled his eyes as he finished strapping the irrational passenger into his seat and watched as the sedatives that the flight attendant had administered began to take effect. After it had taken hold completely he briefly talked with a few of the passengers and then walked back up to the cockpit.
Strapped to his seat and coming under the effects of heavy sedation George Anderson's head rolled to the side facing the window. He let out a gurgled scream of horror.
Outside Cologne, protected by the elements and anchored to the wing with a shield of Ki, once again tried to ease her boredom by watching the in flight movie through the window.
...............................
What concerned him more was Ukyo. In the confusion of the past few days he hadn't thought to go check on her, and by the time he had they were rushing to catch their assigned train. Glancing around the compartment he was impressed by the composure people were displaying in light of the coming destruction. Sure there was fear and concern etched on nearly everyone's face, but it was tightly held, personal. He wondered how the other countries around the world were handling the crisis. He heaved a heavy sigh, in a way it seemed pointless. Even with the quick action and organization of the government he didn't fool himself into believing that the death toll from this disaster wasn't going to be catastrophic. There was only so much room and infrastructure available on Kyushu and it had been incredible good luck that the Tendos had been selected for an early train or even a train at all.
He remembered watching the television in shock when the government had made the announcement. It was simply impossible to grasp that within the week Hokkaido and all but the southernmost part of Honshu were going to be encased in ice. What parts of Japan that was considered sub-tropical now, were going to have a climate that would make the northern parts of the Island of Hokkaido look temperate. It was this that truly concerned him, with so much of the worlds farmable land reduced to icy wasteland what were the survivors going to do for food? He was sure that the government had some sort of plan; he just had a dreadful idea that the plan included severely limiting the number of people evacuated and stripping the rest of the country of its stockpiles. Shaking his head, he leaned back into his seat and closed his eyes. The questions were too big for someone like him to worry about. He sent a prayer to those that did and tried to get some sleep.
............................. [Cherry Hill Temple, Tokyo]
Sailor Pluto looked down upon the courtyard of the Cherry Hill Temple with a sad satisfaction. The scouts and their families were putting the finishing touches on the small structure that would be the Tsukino family's sleeping quarters. Last month the scouts had finally revealed themselves to their families and with Pluto's help had explained to them the coming disaster. Since that time everyone had been busy getting together everything they would need to survive here. The scouts themselves had just finished completing the series of spells and environmental wards that would protect the temple from the coming ice and shelter this one small island of humanity. In the years to come the scouts would slowly excavate and rebuild the surrounding area which would one day form the heart of Crystal Tokyo.
Her feelings couldn't help but be split, while she grieved for the loss of life that was going to occur around the globe she couldn't help but feel good about finally undertaking the first visible step towards her dream. Her grief was also mitigated by the fact that she had seen it coming for over a thousand years and thus any major feeling of loss had long since been experienced and put behind her. Still she was not made of stone. Knowing that in Japan alone 65% of the population was going to die within the next two days and that almost no one over the age of 40 in the evacuation areas was going to survive was hard knowledge to have. She was sure that Ami had a rough idea of what the casualties were going to be, Mercury had been decidedly downcast since the government had announced its evacuation plans late last week. The other scouts seemed to have buried the implications in their subconscious, busying themselves with readying the temple and trying not to think about it.
She looked up as a particularly large piece of hail struck the magical dome that incased the temple grounds. The snow was already building up along the bottom edges of the shield, in a few hours in wouldn't be fit for man or beast outdoors and in another 12 the last vestiges of one of the super storms would pass directly over Tokyo, instantly freezing even those sheltered indoors. It was fortunate that the storm was going to swing to the southeast and miss Kyushu. For even as weakened as it would be by the time it got that far south, there would have not been much left of the Japanese people. Hearing Makoto call everyone to dinner Pluto resolved to stop brooding and try to enjoy the company of others for the first time in 2000 years. The future was set and there was very little that could disturb it now.
Later she would vow to herself never to underestimate the phrase 'very little' ever again.
........................
It was six a.m. and Mamoru had woken up restless and disturbed. After fifteen minutes he had given up any hope of getting back to sleep so he stood on the temple wall and watched as the snow swirled violently against the shield just a few feet from where he was standing. Suddenly the wind settled down outside the dome and everything became eerily quiet. In the dim pre-dawn light Mamoru watched as the eye of the greatest storm in history passed over Tokyo. It would be the last thing that he ever witnessed.
To understand what happened one has to visualize how the senshi had gone about constructing the magical barrier that protected the temple. Under Pluto's direction the scouts had linked together and cast a series of interlinked magical barriers molded after Saturn's silence wall. This was then reinforced by spiritually imbued wards placed at strategic locations around the perimeter of the temple grounds and in slowly tightening concentric circles around the main structures. To be on the safe side Pluto had warned everyone at dinner they should stay as close to the temple proper until after sunrise the next day. The person that had been destined to be the future king of earth, apparently missed the part about sunrise.
At that moment the eye of the storm passed directly over the Cherry Hill Temple; the intensity of the cold air that had been pulled straight from the upper stratosphere stressed the magic of the shield to its breaking point. Along the perimeter several of the wards flared brightly before dissolving into ash causing the shield in those areas to buckle inwards fifteen feet before hitting the next circle of wards. Mamoru didn't have time to blink before being frozen solid. Under normal circumstances there would have been several things the senshi, with their combined powers, could have done to revive the popsicle formally known as Endymion. These were not however, normal circumstances. The earth was currently experiencing the greatest upheaval it had felt in hundreds of thousands of years and the energy that linked it with its avatar was frantic when its conduit suddenly died. And so before Usagi could stop screaming in her bed, before Pluto could check the gate to see what happened, before the rest of the scouts rushed to their princesses' side, the energy flashed out and forged a link with the first viable candidate that it found.
Mores the pity.
Chapter 2: Nice outfit...Does anyone know how to take it off?
[Refuge Camp A26, Just outside Kagoshima, Japan]
As the energy flashed out from the point of Mamoru's death it quickly found one with the potential to be its conduit. Unknown to all the scouts except Pluto it was actually quite rare for the avatar to be male, and having a male avatar severely restricted the amount of power that could be wielded. So the energy was pleased, if such emotion can be given to it, to find that the new conduit was the proper sex. It was half right.
Ranma-chan stood staring out of the tent flap feeling cold, wet and miserable. Probably because that was exactly what she was at the moment. As the sleet came down it turned the refuge camp outside of Kagoshima into something slightly more hospitable than the seventh circle of hell. At least the small tent the four of them shared had a wooden platform to rest on. Looking over his shoulder he saw the Tendo girls involved in a high stakes game of go fish which Kasumi seemed to be winning handily much to the middle sister's chagrin and the youngest ire. Just as she was about to resume watching the sleet she felt the hairs raise on her arms as though she were about to be struck by lightning. Oddly enough that's exactly what it felt like when the energy reached out and burned the link to the planet into her. (Ranma having personal experience with exactly what a lighting strike feels like due to one of Genma's more delusional plans to toughen him up involving holding lightning rods on top of Tokyo Tower).
The sisters watched in shock as a bright white light surrounded Ranma-chan and she lifted off the floor. Suddenly the light flashed brighter for a moment and Ranma-chan was suspended in the air with only the clothes that Jusenkyo gave her. Bright multicolored ribbons of energy sprung from thin air and began to wrap themselves around her as she slowly rotated. Before they could let out a gasp the process was over and a very different Ranma- chan fell to the floor of the tent, conscious but not entirely lucid. Kasumi rushed over while her sisters were still in shock.
"Ranma, are you alright?"
"Potatoes." With that Ranma gave up her struggle to stay conscious.
...............
[Cherry Hill Temple, Former city of Tokyo]
"Setsuna, how could this have happened? How could you have missed this?" Rei asked since Usagi was wholly incapable of speaking without wailing uncontrollably.
Setsuna gave a weary sigh, as though the weight of those thousands of years had suddenly come to bare on her. "In dealing with time nothing is ever set in stone, everything is probabilities. My work up to this point was to make Crystal Tokyo far and away the most likely probability to occur. The series of events and happenstance that led to Mamoru's death and inability to be revived was so unlikely that it never even showed in the gate."
Ami looked up from where she was holding Usagi's hand. "Does this mean that Crystal Tokyo doesn't happen?" Everyone went quiet and turned towards the time guardian.
"Actually no, I need to check the gates after things have quieted down but his death does not mean the end of Crystal Tokyo. It will certainly have an effect, how large of one we will simply have to wait and see."
Everyone in the room nodded their head solemnly each occupied with their own thoughts.
........................ [Tent 859, Refuge Camp A26]
"Should we call a doctor?"
"Great idea Akane. Doctor, Doctor our friend just became an urban legend and collapsed. Can you do anything for her?" Nabiki commented sarcastically.
"Nabiki don't taunt your sister, now is not the time. However I think you are right, I think whatever happened just took a lot out of her. I think she'll wake up on her own." Kasumi said as she reapplied the damp cloth to Ranma's forehead. They had bundled her up in her sleeping bag after she collapsed and in the few hours since Ranma hadn't even twitched except the even rise and fall of her chest.
Nabiki smirked, "He..She is really not going to be happy when she wakes up."
Akane frowned a little and stared down at the beautiful girl. "Baka deserves it. He's probably being punished by a kami."
It can be said that there is a fine line between punishment and blessing where the kami are involved.
[10 hours later..]
Ranma groaned as she came to, "Damn it pop, I told you it was a stupid idea..."
Kasumi walked over and knelt down beside Ranma-chan. "How are you feeling Ranma? Do you hurt anywhere?" Ranma came back to herself a little more and focused on Kasumi's face.
"Naw, I think I'm alright. Just sort of tired and sore all over. How long was I out? What happened anyway?"
Kasumi hesitated for a moment and then smiled as she said, "Oh my, well Ranma-chan you lifted off the ground and became a magical girl."
"Huh?"
Nabiki stepped into view, "Sailor Senshi actually."
"WHAT?!"
"Get up and see for yourself stud, or should I say babe. I think I found Victoria's next secret." Nabiki continued.
Ranma quickly through the covers off of her, jumped up and stared down at herself in horror. The first thing she noticed of course were the clothes, how could one not. Replacing her Red and Black silks was a fuku: disturbingly tight, short, and with far to many ribbons for comfort. The body was white and hugged her curves and was adorned with two black bows trimmed in silver; one just beneath her breasts while the other trailed to long ribbons from the small of her back. The skirt matched the bows and Ranma tugged on it in a futile effort to try and make it more concealing. Her lower arms were encased in long white gloves that were trimmed and detailed in silver and black swirls, while her legs were in cased in matching black trimmed in silver high heeled boots. She looked up in panic and it got worse as she saw herself reflected in the hand mirror Nabiki had been hiding behind her back. Her hair now had to small braids, one that draped over the front of each ear while the rest flowed freely down almost to the small of her back. To Top it off was a silver tiara and a single red rose stuck in her hair above her right ear.
"ACK, ack, ack....not happening, nightmare, gota be a nightmare..." Ranma mumbled incoherently for awhile before noticing something else, she was looking down a little on Nabiki and her eyes were now even with Kasumi's. "What, how, why?" Ranma finally asked plucking the rose out of her hair only to have another one materialize in its place.
"We were hoping that maybe you could tell us that Ranma-Chan." Nabiki said oh so sweetly.
"Why would I know anything about it? I'm a guy! If anyone should have turned into a magical girl it should have been Kasumi!"
It was too easy, and Nabiki simply couldn't resist. "Why Kasumi? Why not Akane?"
"She's too much of a sexless tomboy to be a magical girl." Ranma responded automatically before a look of anguish passed over her face. That was shortly followed by the real thing.
"BAKA!" The result of which was Akane breaking the only mallet she had packed for the evacuation.
Ranma groaned before pulling herself up in a sitting position. She nervously plucked at the outfit for a minute before turning to the sisters again.
"So, ah..anyone know how to take this off?"