Chapter 13

At the foot of the hill leading to the shrine.

"What do you suppose is going on up there honey?" A passing lady asks her boyfriend as she huddles closer when the screams continue.

"I don't know, but let's just keep on going." The man says as he wraps his arm further around his girlfriend and hurries along. He couldn't see anyone else around and didn't want what was happening to the people on the hill to happen to them.

He… he…. He looked around and wondered what he'd been thinking, but just shrugged it off as one of those thoughts that gets lost along the way to consciousness.

"Let's go get some tea honey." His girlfriend suggested as they walked.

"Sounds like a good idea dear."

Up above the hill many, many ravens and crows can be seen circling the area above the temple.

Switch Scene

"Where are we?" Hotaru asked as she looked around the unfamiliar landscape. It looked as though they had been teleported to somewhere in the mountains. The flora in the area looked somewhat familiar, but there were also many plants that she didn't recognize. For that matter, she didn't recognize several of the birds that had flown by a moment ago.

"Oh, this is great!!" Joram exclaimed as he danced a jig. "This couldn't have turned out better!"

"What are you talking about?" Hotaru asked, not understanding what Joram was talking about. How could they being in the middle of the wilderness be a good thing?

"I was wondering if this place was still around…." Joram said to himself with a look of remembrance on his face. "Who would've guessed that it was still around and doing so well?" Joram seemed pleased beyond measure.

"Where are we!?" Hotaru finally demanded after several attempts to get his attention. Joram turned and regarded her for a moment with a twinkle in his eye.

"We're in Dovainia, my pocket realm." With that said Joram looked over to what looked like a crystal spider with a body the size of a large American orange and grinned. "Long time no see."

Switch Scene

Through the curtains of excruciating pain she could still manage to see the large dragon that she'd summoned to find Joram, and she was sorry for it. The dragon, it seemed, was also susceptible to this horrific spell that that evil mage had cast on them. She managed to look over a bit to the right and saw that Neptune and Tuxedo Kamen were also under the spell.

Sailor Moon looked up and over to the mage in question and looked on as he laughed. Well, she assumed he was laughing by the way his mouth was moving and his chest was heaving. She really couldn't hear anything beyond the roar in her ears and the loud screaming, hers included.

When was this going to end?

Switch Scene

"So Sailor Pluto sent us to your pocket realm?" Hotaru asked in confusion.

"What?" Joram turned from the crystal spider for a moment. "Oh, no. I did that. You see the portal that was opened led to the astral plane, I just kind of redirected it to this place."

"Who is this human master?" Hotaru looked around for the source of the voice, but couldn't see anyone around. That kind of scared her, so she stepped closer to Joram for protection.

"What? Oh. This is my little sister, Hotaru." Joram said as he patted said girl on the shoulder. "Hotaru this is my little friend-" Joram was saying, but was cut off by someone entering their little clearing.

"Who are you?" The stranger asked as he stopped a good twenty feet away. The person was wearing a cloth mask over the lower portion of his face and a bandana to cover his hair, along with clothing in black and varying shades of grey.

"You're the rude one, you introduce yourself first." Joram said indignantly. This was his home after all. Joram looked down to his crystal friend with an amused look and formed a mind link with it.

For a response from the stranger, he just pulled out several kunai and held them at the ready.

'So, who is this guy?' Joram sent to the crystal.

'He is a scout.' The crystal sent back.

'That's obvious, but for who?'

'The clan just to the north about a mile or so.'

Joram had to suppress a sigh. The habit of giving minimal answers hadn't really changed for his friend over the years. Unfortunately Joram's conversation was interrupted by a kunai flying past his head. That irked him.

"Are you really wanting to die that much?" Joram asked the offender as he looked at him from the corner of his eye. As he was doing such Joram activated one of his better defense jutsu.

The man looked as though he might flee, but to his credit he didn't. Unfortunately he did something worse.

"Eliminate them!" He called out and suddenly there were kunai flying at them from every direction. Joram sensed the presence of fifteen hidden people all around them, all with the intent of killing. Hotaru fainted dead away so that made things a little easier for Joram, or quieter, if you will.

Just as he'd planned, his jutsu stopped all incoming attacks as though they'd been caught up in the air itself, for indeed they had. As the man in front of him saw this a look of terror could be seen rearing in his eyes. Joram could feel panic surging at the borders of the man's restraint.

Joram then activated another jutsu that caught and held everyone in the vicinity by stretching his shadow out and latching it onto all those present and hiding. "Now, if you all don't want to die right away, tell me who you are."

"Never." The man in front of him said through clenched teeth, for he couldn't even move his mouth. About the only thing that wasn't affected were his eyes. He could still blink.

"So be it." Joram said as he was preparing another jutsu.

"Hold master." Joram's little friend said out loud. That caused both Joram and the man in front of him to blink. "I do not think the current Hokage would be pleased if these squads were to perish."

"Hokage?" Joram asked in disbelief. What was he talking about?

"The village of Konoha had relocated here for protection's sake after you disappeared those many years ago." The crystal explained in his usual instructional tone when it had the chance to explain anything. "They have been using this place as their home ever since."

"Jirin sama, you know this man?" The man held in front of them asked in a tone of disbelief and shock.

"Yes, for he is my master." Jirin replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well then," Joram said as he released the binding jutsu. "Let's go talk to this Hokage of yours." With that said Joram crouched down and gathered Hotaru up in his arms and followed the stunned man in front of him.

'Jirin?' Joram called out with his mind to his not so little crystal.

'What is it master?' The thing replied as it climbed its way up and around Joram's body to rest on his shoulder.

'Tell me; what has happened in here since I… left.'

Joram expected a somewhat short and boring explanation of the events that had passed in his departure those many years ago, but instead he got a very long and detailed account of things past. Joram was shocked to learn of the hundreds upon hundreds of wars that had been fought in his home by the numerous races occupying the small planet. Then there was the issue of the time stream.

'So you're telling me that for every week inside just one hour passes outside?!' Joram demanded, completely shocked. When he had created this place when he was younger he had purposely made it so that time passed more quickly in the pocket realm, but that was only a two to one ratio. Two days inside equalled one day outside. What was happening to the place if time was flowing even more quickly than ever?

'That is exactly what I'm telling you master.'

'So then tell me, when did the variation start to increase?'

'That is a relative question master.' Jirin replied in a rather dry tone of voice, but gave over at a glance from Joram. 'From what I can calculate from outside chronology, this variance began approximately ten thousand years ago. For some reason in the past three or so years, the variation has increased drastically. From near as I can tell, the entire realm is sliding further and further into the time stream.'

'Well isn't that just brilliant?' Joram asked sarcastically as he tried to think very fast.

'Need I even mention what might occur if we entered the center of the time stream?'

'Don't bother; I've got enough problems that need looking after.' Joram sent back as he tried his hardest to remember something Katreen had mentioned in her brief explanation of history when they'd finally met again after so long apart. It had something to do with time, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. There wasn't anything he could do about in right then, so he dismissed it from his thoughts.

Joram marvelled at how large his little world had grown since he'd been gone. It was absolutely amazing to say the least. When he'd originally created the place it'd only been a scant few hundred feet across, now it was about half the size of earth. He just couldn't believe it. He grinned. He wondered who else had taken up residence in his home.

The houses and other structures here were of a unique design. They looked like a cross between the houses from his time and the buildings of Japan. One big difference though was the lack of cars. That disappointed him somewhat, but not terribly. He'd get a chance to take one of them apart when he got back to Japan.

'How much farther to the Hokage's place?'

'It is that large building up there.' Jirin sent as he motioned with a spider like leg made of ectoplasm. 'I'm sure Hokage-sama will be thrilled to meet you.'

'How long has the Hokage known that I'm here?' Joram asked as he regarded the crystal spider on his shoulder.

'I would say that she knew of your arrival about one second after I did.' Jirin replied, sounding quite smug about it.

"You do realize that I'm going to hurt you now, don't you?" Joram growled out loud enough that a couple of passers-by skittered to the edge of the road and regarded him fearfully. His escort didn't seem too pleased with him either for that matter.

'You've always had a hard time keeping a conversation private, haven't you?' Jirin sent with the image of a person shaking their head in disappointment.

'You know, I might just re-integrate your personality one of these days….' Joram gave the mental equivalent of a grumble as he sent the thought along. That seemed to quiet him for a time. So Joram took the opportunity to once again check on Hotaru.

She seemed to be sleeping quite contentedly with her head nestled on his chest. Taking a closer look he noticed that there was a wet spot forming on his chest right at the corner of her mouth. Joram sighed. He'd have to get that dried before anyone saw it.

The Hokage's building was much larger than all the others around it, but not really constructed much differently than the rest; it was just built on a larger scale. Joram shook his head as he managed to spot seven sentries that were supposed to be hidden. Or maybe they were the ones that were supposed to be seen while the real guards were in all actuality hidden so well the not even he could see them…. So Joram waved and just about laughed as the "hidden" guards just about fell from their hiding spots in shock. Maybe he was giving them too much credit.

"That wasn't very nice you know. They really are trying their best not to be seen." Jirin piped up.

"Then why could I see them plain as day?" Joram asked as he climbed the stairs behind his guide.

"May I speak plainly?" Jirin asked in a tone that seemed almost… amused. Joram nodded. "You aren't normal master." Joram tripped on the next stair and had to buckle his left leg and raise his right leg just a bit more so that he would land on his shins instead of on Hotaru. It was a painful, yet worthwhile, exchange though.

"As subtle as ever…." Joram grumbled as Hotaru began to stir due to the excess jostling.

"But I don't want to go to school Haruka-papa…." She mumbled out as she dug her head further into his shoulder like it was a pillow. Unfortunately for her Joram's shoulder wasn't the consistency of a pillow; it was more like a rock. Needless to say; Hotaru woke up even faster after she felt as though her head had ground against a rock.

"What? Where am I?" She asked sleepily while rubbing her forehead.

"Ah, we're a village called Konoha." Joram replied as he continued to climb the stairs. Then Jirin piped in from Joram's shoulder.

"Yes, this village in particular has only been around for one hundred and three years." Gazing up at the source of the talking, Hotaru could just blink.

"Is that crystal talking to me?" Was about all she could think of to say.

"Yes, and he's somewhat boring so don't feel bad if you ignore him." Joram said as he continued to climb the stairs.

"Oh please master, you've been gone over two hundred thousand years; is there any wonder that I've taken on a few bad habits?" Jirin demanded indignantly from his perch on Joram's shoulder.

"Anyway, we should be arriving at Hokage-sama's office shortly." Joram said as he continued walking up the stairs with Hotaru in his arms.

Switch Scene

Sailor Pluto could not quite stop screaming. Ever since she'd woken up to the sounds of her friends screaming and looked down at the symbol drawn on the dirt in some sort of quicksilver, she had been in pain. She knew that she should be able to get past the pain and do something, but there was nothing she could do to stop herself from screaming her voice ragged. She couldn't even manage to lose consciousness to escape from the horrible pain. What was worse, she could have sworn that he'd cast another spell or two while he was standing there.

For a blessed moment she could have sworn she was going to black out, but she was then brought back by what seemed to be a slap on the face. How she could tell it was a slap she did not know for her nerves felt as though they had been bathed in acid. But she looked up anyway and tried to focus her eyes through the torrents of pain and water and found that she was looking at a pretty lady in a black dress.

It took her a moment to realize that she'd seen this lady before and yet a few more moments to realize that it was Katreen. Her mind reeled at what this could mean, but her body could do nothing. She felt as weak as a newborn kitten and about as helpless.

'This is what happens when you don't listen. This is what I'm going to allow to happen to you and your friends for doing what I'd forbidden.'

Sailor Pluto was at a complete loss and could only think in broken bits. 'The others… had… nothing to… do… with what… happened…. Let them… go!'

'What makes you think I am the one that called him here?' Sailor Pluto could hear the contempt even in her thoughts. 'He came only because of what you did. Had Joram and Hotaru not been… sent away, he would not have come. This is your fault.' Katreen sent back as she waved her hand. From the corner of her eye, Sailor Pluto watched as the Time Staff slowly disappeared into nothingness. 'You won't need that anymore Meiou Setsuna.' And then she too disappeared slowly like mist in the morning. Setsuna howled like a soul damned to the lowest depths of hell.

Switch Scene

"So that is why we are here Hokage." Joram said as he once again relaxed in his chair. They'd been there a good hour and a half explaining and re-explaining things to the current Hokage, a man in his late twenties who just didn't seem to get all the dimensional babble Joram was spewing forth. Then again the only other being in the room that actually did understand what he was talking about was Jirin, and he was nearly as old as Joram.

"So you're telling me that someone opened a portal with the intention of killing you and you just managed to redirect the destination of the portal to save you and your girlfriend." The Hokage tried to sum up, and did fairly well seeing how confused he was an hour ago, but botched up the Joram/Hotaru relationship. Hotaru blushed quite cutely, but Joram didn't look all that pleased.

"Basically." Was all Joram trusted himself to say at that moment.

"Ok, that explains why you're here, but when are you going to leave?" The Hokage asked rather bluntly as he leaned forward to regard them from across his big table. It was a little hard to take him all that seriously with his short blonde hair all messed up and the fact that he seemed to have missed shaving precisely three whiskers on each cheek.

"I don't plan on leaving for a few weeks at least." Joram said quite simply and was rewarded with a glare from the Hokage, not to mention the lady with pink hair standing beside him. It looked as though she wanted to hit something. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Hotaru couldn't quite figure out who she wanted to hit, Joram or the Hokage. Either one was a bad idea in her books. From what Joram had told her just before they had entered this office, the Hokage was the strongest shinobi of the village.

"What makes you think I'll let you stay?" The Hokage asked quietly from behind his desk as he regarded Joram with a not so nice look on his face.

"Quite frankly I don't care if you like me being here or not. I've got three things I need to do while I'm here, and I don't intend on leaving before I get them done." Joram said as he rested his elbows on the arms of his chair then steepled his fingers in front of his face. The Hokage was getting redder by the word. "I came here as a courtesy and nothing more. I've business that needs be taken care of."

To say the Hokage looked livid would have been understating how angry he was. The pink haired lady seemed on the verge of saying something but was interrupted by Jirin.

"Master, need we bicker like this? I'm sure we can all come to a nice compromise here. Hokage, Naruto, why try and make him leave? This is, after all, his horizon realm that he created. True he's neglected it for some time now," insert glare from Joram, "but he may be able to get to the root of the problem we've been contemplating for some time now."

The Hokage looked as though he had eaten something that had gone bad a week ago, but managed to sound civil none the less. "What is it that you need to do while here?"

"One; train Hotaru here. Two; make a sword. Three; figure out what is causing this demi-plain to slide further and further into the time stream." Joram said while raising a finger for each point. "I may not have the resources available to anchor the plain before it's too late, but I sure as hell need to do the first two items. Worse comes to worst, everyone will have to relocate to the prime material plain."

"I'd really rather we didn't have to do that." The Hokage replied in a tight voice then took a deep breath. "I'm sure I can find a forge for you to use, and even somewhere out of the way for you to train Hotaru-chan here, but I have no idea how to anchor this world."

"Just leave that one to me." Joram said with his usual confidence.

Switch Scene

Katreen was very, very angry. She hadn't let her anger out at the mortal Meiou Setsuna, but she had really wanted to. To think that a mortal could be so stupid….

Katreen couldn't help but laugh at that thought. Mortals had been that stupid in the past and would continue to be that stupid in the future. They were just made that way. Somewhat like that Jester way back in the day….

Katreen shook her head to rid herself of that thought and continued walking through the grey void that surrounded the gates of time. This realm wasn't entirely unlike her own. Whichever direction one chose to walk, one would always end up at its center; as she found herself now.

Katreen had to smile as she worked at unlocking the Gates of Time. Well, not truly unlocking them; that would be silly. What she was doing was reviewing Time at the shrine, then reviewing Meiou Setsuna's actions that led up to Joram and Hotaru being banished. While viewing the "record", as some would call it, Katreen suddenly began to smile. She hadn't smiled this broadly since she'd once again found Joram. She was smiling because she'd managed to do a second time in the past couple of weeks what she hadn't been able to accomplish for the past couple hundred thousand years: she'd found Joram.

Switch Scene

"Ranma, please tell me again why we're going to Rei's shrine this early in the morning on a Sunday?" Akane asked around another yawn. She really wasn't used to being up this early on a Sunday. She usually enjoyed sleeping in, but it was just going on nine o'clock.

Sigh. "I agreed to train Sakura-san. I just wanted to get a start on it as soon as I could. No need to put it off." Ranma tried to explain patiently, but it came off as being slightly peevish. He really didn't like repeating himself so much, especially in the morning. Without the old man there to wake him up every morning with some sort of underhanded attack, Ranma was beginning to fear that he was getting soft for lack of practice. He wasn't about to admit that to Akane though.

"Tell me again why we're walking there?" Akane asked, this time annoyed.

"I, ah, well…." Ranma really couldn't think of anything to say, so the truth came out. "I'm broke."

"Two districts away and we're walking." Akane said as she shook her head. "At least this'll give us some time to talk."

"About what?" Ranma asked as casually as he could even though alarms were going off in his head.

"Do you really think it's a good idea for everyone to go to China with Joram? I mean, we hardly know the guy." Akane said as she walked with her fiancé and stared up at the sky. It looked as though it would rain.

"Personally, I don't know. Nabiki seems to like having him around, but that's probably just because he's an easy target. The old letch and the old ghoul seem wary of him, but they get that way any time they come across anything they can't either figure out or beat the snot out of." Ranma said as a way of putting off actually answering the question. Akane saw right through it though.

"I know about them, but what about you? Do you trust the guy?" Akane asked genuinely concerned. She didn't want anything to take Ranma away from her while they seemed to have this tenuous understanding of one another.

"He saved my life." Ranma said simply. "He could have saved his own, or rather the pain, by just letting me take the hit, but he didn't. He took it, and that says something about a guy." Ranma didn't know too many people who'd do the same, much less for a stranger that was trying to beat the crap out of you.

"True enough," Akane mused, "but the guy just seems so..." Akane tried to find the right word but was having difficulties pinning it down.

"Mysterious, aloof, confident, inattentive, intimidating...?" Ranma offered.

"Kind." Akane concluded. "I just haven't met someone so kind, but at the same time so cut and dry."

"What do you mean?" Ranma asked, somewhat puzzled.

"It's hard to explain." Akane said as she furrowed her brow in thought. "I get the feeling that it would be a very bad thing if he were to get angry with me."

Ranma thought about it for a moment as he continued to walk alongside Akane. At length he said, "I think you're right. But I wouldn't worry about him; I'd worry about whoever it is that's after him. I don't know how those things were made or even how they got to the dojo, but I do know that you'd have to be very powerful to pull that kind of thing off."

"But if he just got here how could he have made such a powerful enemy so quickly?"

"I get the impression that he's one of those guys that you're either gonna love or hate, you know what I mean?" Ranma asked in as off handed a manner as he could.

Akane couldn't help but giggle at that statement which in turn caused Ranma to glance at her quizzically. Akane just waved his question away and they continued on in silence for a time enjoying the scenery as they went.

Akane couldn't quite believe how quiet a morning it was. No Ryouga smashing through the nearest wall, no Kuno slashing down random objects that just so happened to be behind Ranma, no Shampoo landing on poor Ranma with her bicycle just so that she could stun him long enough to glomp onto him, or any of the other random fools out there thinking they've got some sort of claim on him, or a bone to pick.

Thinking of all the other "fiancés" she'd had to deal with since Ranma had come into her life made her grind her teeth. She still couldn't believe that someone could be such a bad father.

Then the incident with Joram reared its ugly head in her mind. That whole encounter made no sense to her at all. When had that old coward grown himself a new spine, and for what? What happened that day went against everything she knew about Genma. He was a coward who only attacked when he was sure to win, or when he thought he'd win anyway.

It was almost like the time when that evil spirit had gone around possessing everyone, making them vandalize everything in sight. Except this time it was a whole lot more serious. Genma had been out for blood, and Akane was afraid of what might happen if Genma came around when Joram or the old master weren't around to stop him.

That thought made Akane pause. Joram must be the key. If the person that had tried to kill Joram couldn't do it, why not get someone else to do it for you? With that thought she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Ranma?" Akane asked and only continued when Ranma turned to look at her. "I don't think Genma was acting of his own volition." She finished and started to chew her lower lip nervously.

"What do you mean?" Ranma asked as he slowed down some and turned to face her a little more. It was plain as day that she had not only caught his attention, but had also sparked some hope in him.

"Well, have you ever known Genma to attack an unknown enemy before? Have you ever seen him use such obviously lethal techniques?" Akane paused then to let the significance of those two simple questions seep into Ranma's sometimes-too-thick head.

"Well, no. Now that you mention it he's only ever attacked with non-lethal techniques. Admittedly though, his regular techniques are really underhanded." Ranma then started to go over all the underhanded techniques his father had used over the years and wondered when Genma had had time to develop such a nasty and quite lethal technique as that.

"Well, here's what I think. The person after Joram is very powerful. He made go-lems" Akane still stumbled over that odd word, "to come after Joram. Those things were quite powerful in and of themselves. If that person is strong enough to make those things, what else do you think that person could pull off?" Akane asked as she watched Ranma to see if he caught on or not.

"So do you think that this person who's after Joram is behind my father's actions?" Ranma asked; hope obviously shining through in the question.

"I think that that might be the case." Akane said as she once again started to walk at the brisk pace they'd used when they'd left home earlier that morning. "If it is, then all we have to do is find whoever it is that's doing this and make him stop." Akane left off that they might have to do more than just trying to convince the person that's trying to kill Joram. Ranma seemed to come to that conclusion as well, and didn't look too happy about it. But she guessed that they'd have to do what they had to do to get Genma back.

All this was assuming that Genma was indeed being controlled by some third party.

It was mid-morning by the time the clouds rolled in and threatened rain. Akane was astonished that Ranma didn't seem to care. He must really be distracted by what she'd brought up to not seem to care that it might rain any second. Akane determined right then and there that she'd do all that she could to help get Genma back to normal. She just wasn't sure how she would be able to help with a situation like this.

It was as she was thus contemplating that the first of the rain drops hit her. As she looked up at the sky the rain increased tenfold and soon both looked like stunned drowned rats in the rain.

"Come on." Ranma-chan said as she grabbed Akane's arm and began to haul her towards the closest tea shop on the street, which unfortunately was at the end of the block that they'd just started on.

By the time they got to the tea shop both were soaked to the bone. Oddly enough though, Ranma-chan didn't seem all that perturbed at being soaked to the bone. It almost seemed that her reaction had been more reflex to get inside a place that sold hot liquids than conscious thought. That in and of itself had Akane a little worried. Sure she had the right to stew about the problem at hand, but the only times that she stewed this long were when she thought she had a very tough fight in front of her that she didn't think she could win.

"Let's get some tea and wait for the worst of the rain to ease up." Akane suggested as she tugged Ranma-chan over to an empty table by one of the windows.

After their tea, and an extra kettle of water, was ordered they sat in silence for some time. Akane began to fidget a little at about the second hour of sitting there sipping tea and eating tea biscuits.

"Ranma, why don't we head out? The rain's let up enough so that we could probably make it to the temple without catching a cold."

"Sure." Was all Ranma-chan said as she moved to grab the kettle. When she realized that the water had gone cold she only shrugged and got up. "Let's go Akane." Ranma-chan said as she dropped some money on the table and started for the door.

Akane was shocked. Ranma had actually not cared that the water had gone cold. That and the fact that she'd paid the bill. Hurrying to catch up Akane wondered if it had been a good idea to let Ranma in on her little theory. 'Well, nothing I can do about it now. Maybe she'll cheer up when it comes time to spar." Akane thought to herself as she walked along beside Ranma-chan in the light rain.

It was nearing noon by the time they were close enough to the hill to feel that something was definitely wrong. With a shared look of concern they both started to run.

Switch Scene

"Joram?"

Joram turned from what he was doing for a moment to see if it was really who he thought it was, and smiled. "Hello Katreen. I was wondering when you'd drop by." He said with that wonderful smile then turned back to his work. It had been three and a half weeks since he'd started re-forging the sword he'd made as a youth and he really wanted to get it finished so that he could return to the Prime Material Plane to give it back to Nodoka.

"Yes, it took me a little while to find you." Katreen said as she looked around and expanded her senses. "It seems that your little realm had grown quite a bit." Katreen said with a satisfied smile. He could do much with this realm.

"Yeah, I was kinda surprised to find out that it had been populated in my absence." Joram said as he continued to hammer at his sword, then said "Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" under his breath and once again breathed fire onto the sword he was working to heat it back up enough so that he could continue working on the sword.

"Indeed. When will you return to the Prime Material Plane Joram? The Sailor Senshi need your help." Katreen asked as she watched him work. It was like watching one of the other gods work, it was so smooth and flawless.

"What do you mean?" Joram asked, concern entering his voice if not his posture. He continued to work and concentrate on what he was doing though.

"The mad wizard that has been hounding you has attacked the Senshi and Asuza in your stead. It seems as though he wishes to exterminate the Senshi and Asuza so that there will be little to no resistance for what he plans." Katreen said quite simply.

"I'm gonna have to find that beggar and give him what for." Joram said under his breath as continued his work. He just needed till the end of the day and it would be complete. "When did he attack them?"

"About three and a half hours ago on the Prime Material Plane. Here, I'd say about three and a half weeks ago."

This caused Joram to pause. "I can't leave yet Katreen." Joram said in a pained voice as he continued to hammer his sword. Thinking about the situation some more made him realize that the others must still be alive if she were telling him this. "Will you please send them some help?" Joram asked formally as he worked on the sword.

"Is that an official request?" Katreen asked with a small smile on her face as she walked around the other side of the anvil to look at him directly. It had been some time since he'd last asked for her help in this way.

"Indeed." Was all Joram said.

"Then so shall it be done." Katreen said as she began to fade away like mist in the morning.

'Jirin?' Joram sent to his old friend.

'What is it master?'

'Take Hotaru back to help her friends. I have a feeling that she will also be needed in this.'

'As you command my master.' Jirin sent then faded from Joram's senses.

"I hope I get there in time." Joram mumbled as he continued working.

Switch Scene

"I hear screaming." Akane said in a worried tone as they both ran towards the stairs leading to the temple.

"So do I." Ranma-chan said as she picked up speed, but then had to skid to a halt as a woman stepped in front of her. "Wadda'ya doin' lady?!" Ranma-chan exclaimed as she came to a stop mere inches from the lady in black.

"I'm here at the behest of a mutual friend." The woman in black said with a small smile.

"You're not one of Kodachi's friends are 'ya?" Ranma-chan asked suspiciously as she backed up a couple of steps to where Akane was standing.

"No, but she is a nice girl." The lady in black replied. "I'm just here to wish you the luck of the gods in your upcoming battle. If I were you I'd put on these items the Stormborn gave you." With that said she tossed the weird arm guards Joram had given her the other day and began to fade into mist.

"Who was she Ranma?" Akane asked as she continued to stare at the spot where the strange lady disappeared.

"I don't know, but we've gotta hurry!" Ranma-chan yelled as she once again took off at a dead run, breaking many Olympic records as she also slipped on the arm guards given to her by that strange lady. Akane just shook her head and tried her best to keep up, but soon found she was falling way behind.

As Ranma-chan came to the top of the stairs she had to pause and take in what she was seeing. Never before had she seen such an evil looking person. Not only that, but he seemed to be doing something that was causing all of the Sailor Senshi to scream feebly in pain and writhe on the ground. As she watched he did something weird and five bolts of energy shot forth, separated, and slammed into the five closest girls on the ground causing them to either whimper or shriek in pain. Ranma-chan winced as she noted the cuts and tears all over the Senshi, as well as the blood that seeped from many a wound on them.

"I don't know who you are, but you're gonna pay for hurting them like that!" Ranma-chan yelled as she dashed forward and in the blink of an eye was swinging a punch at the robed figure who was just now starting to turn around to see who had yelled.

Ranma-chan yelled out in shock as her punch seemed to collide with an invisible wall of steel.

"Another annoying insect to take care of." The robed figure said disdainfully as he, for now Ranma-chan could now see that it was indeed a man, began to chant in some strange language. Ranma-chan stood there shocked for a moment taking in the weird half mask the guy was wearing. Ranma-chan then took a quick look at her hand and was re-assured to see that the odd arm guard was undamaged. What was even better was the fact that her fist hadn't taken any damage. She then reprimanded herself for not remembering that these things seemed to absorb the damage from an impact on the inside of the guard.

The masked figure stopped chanting as the ground beside Ranma began to glow. "Good-bye insect." Was all the guy said as he once again turned his attention to the girls in front of him. Ranma-chan could only stare at the guy in shock, not even noticing the large bulge in the ground grow and form into a humanoid that stood over thirty feet tall.

Switch Scene

"Ranma, why do you have to always run ahead like that?" Akane asked herself as she made her way up the stairs. After such a long walk it was not as easy as it should have been and as a result Akane was puffing by the time she got to the top of the stairs and saw the macabre scene that now overlaid the temple grounds.

"Ranma!" Akane yelled as she watched a huge… monster of stone and earth take a swing at Ranma-chan. Ranma-chan seemed to either have heard the warning or knew it would be coming because she dodged to the right at the last second to avoid the powerful swing. So powerful it was that it seemed as though the earth rippled out in a ring similar to that of a stone landing in a pond. Unfortunately it didn't seem as though Ranma-chan was ready for that small wave of stone and it knocked her prone. Akane was further from it and as a result was able to hurdle the wave and make her way closer to the fight.

The hooded figure on the other hand didn't seem to care about what was happening behind him, and in fact didn't seem to be affected by the wave of stone in the least. That made Akane a little nervous. If this fellow could just ignore something that knocked Ranma-chan over they were in a bit of trouble. So Akane did what she thought was best and ran to the other side of the monstrosity attacking Ranma so that she could distract it enough so that Ranma could more easily take it down. That was if he could take it down.

Switch Scene

Ranma couldn't believe how tough this thing really was. He was used to being able to punch through stone, if not quite as well as Ryouga, but still being able to punch through stone. This thing seemed much harder than stone though.

Dodge.

And much faster than it looked. For as much as she tried to dodge out of the way of the monster's blows she just couldn't manage to dodge them all and boy was it starting to hurt. The thing that really irked her was that the thing seemed to be… repairing as it fought. That annoyed Ranma-chan about as much as seeing the old letch get up after a sound beating and keep on going.

The monster in front of her wound up for another swing but as it came Ranma-chan saw that it wasn't aimed at her just a little too late. With a futile scream of rage and fear Ranma-chan watched as the monster slammed its car sized fist right into Akane's chest and sent her flying over the edge of the stairs that they'd come up just a minute ago.

Ranma-chan could only see red. Everything shrank down to her foe, narrowing her focus so much that the monster was the only thing she could see. Then she snapped. "Kashu Tenshin Amaguriken!!!" Ranma-chan yelled as she began to pummel the freak in front of her; the monster that had hurt Akane.

Switch Scene

The cloaked figure paused as he heard a primal scream of rage and turned to see what had made such a noise and was shocked to see that little red head pummelling chunks off his Earth Elemental at such speed that he couldn't even see her fists moving. That made him pause for a moment. This would require more of his attention than he'd originally anticipated.

The cloaked figure just shrugged as he took out a small metal object, and something else that he held pinched between two fingers, and began to cast another spell that would surely take care of this nuisance. The cloaked figure pointed at Ranma-chan as he yelled "Disintegrate!" A thin green ray shot out at Ranma-chan and hit her square in the back, and for a moment she glowed a dull green colour, then turned to dust, her clothes and the bracers falling to the ground along with the dust.

The masked man grinned and turned back to his work as he produced several things that glittered slightly in the diffuse light of the cloudy day. "Time to end this." He said as he once again began to chant.

Switch Scene

Usagi, or rather Sailor Moon, couldn't quite believe what she was seeing through her haze of pain. A red-headed girl she thought she recognized had tried to hit the evil man in front of them but couldn't. Even through her haze of pain Sailor Moon surely thought the punch connected, but it didn't seem to phase the evil man in the least.

That made her sad. She'd hoped that that girl could distract that man long enough that she and the others could join in the fight, but it seemed as though that girl couldn't even do that. Then the man turned and began to chant in that weird language and Sailor Moon wanted to yell at the girl to run away and save herself, but she couldn't find her voice, couldn't yell the warning she so dearly wanted to.

Then the evil man turned again to her and her friends and chanted another quick spell and some more of those hateful bolts of light burst out of his hand to once again strike them with enough force to knock her senseless for a time.

When she could once again concentrate trough the pain of the prolonged torture she saw a stone demon of some sort hit a blue haired girl so hard she went over the edge of the stairs. That made her want to weep, but then she realized she was already weeping and ground her teeth in frustration. What could she do? She and her friends were helpless on the ground being slowly killed by this evil man in his ridiculous mask. Even that poor dragon was suffering, and he had only been there to deliver a message. If she'd had any more tears to cry for those suffering she would have been weeping, but the only tears that she had were tears of pain.

Then the red headed newcomer snapped and seemed to blur at the edges so fast was she moving and hitting the stone demon. If Sailor Moon hadn't seen so many unbelievable things since Joram had shown up she would have discounted it as blurry vision form all her tears, but she was seeing what she was seeing and it was incredible. But then Sailor Moon wanted to cry out once again when the evil man once again turned his attention to the red-head. This time his chant was a lot shorter than the other one, but more terrible by far were the results.

A green ray shot out and hit the girl in the back, and like so many demons she had purified in the past, the red-head turned to dust before her eyes and crumbled to the ground with a small pile of scattering dust as her clothes fell to the ground as well.

Right then, right there, Usagi felt as though her heart were torn out and stepped upon by that stone demon and crushed to dust. "Nooooooo!!!" Usagi heard someone scream out hoarsely and realized it was her voice she was hearing over and over again.

The robed figure turned and regarded her as he took some items from one of the many pouches at his waist. "My dear, haven't you already guessed that I care nothing for what you think?" That baritone voice of his was really getting on her nerves. "I think that you all should join in my collection now."

Usagi was confused beyond all measure now. What was he talking about? What collection. But as the evil man in the mask once again began to chant she felt as though someone had run an ice cube down her spine and let it sit at the small of her back. Whatever was coming, it wasn't good. And she could do nothing to stop it.

Switch Scene

Akane couldn't believe how much pain she was in. Sure that stone monster was three stories tall, but she hadn't quite thought it would hurt so much to get hit by the thing. Of course tumbling down the stairs afterwards hadn't helped much either.

"Akane!!" Someone yelled from behind. Turning ever so slowly Akane saw that it was Ryouga who'd called out to her and was now rushing over, presumably to help.

"My god Akane, what happened?! You look as though you were hit by a bus!" With that said he made as though to get up to find said offending bus and give it what for, but Akane reached out and took his hand into her own.

"Ryouga, Ranma's in trouble. Please, help him." Was all Akane could get out before starting into a coughing fit that resulted in a little bit of red splatter on the ground beside her. Knowing that Ryouga would never leave her side if he thought her seriously hurt, she turned over slightly so that her arm covered the offending red spot on the sidewalk. "Hurry." She said with as bright a smile as she could muster. Ryouga fell for it.

"I'll do what I can." Ryouga said as he got up and started to head the wrong way. Akane caught his arm yet again, which caused Ryouga to blush like the sunset. "Up the stairs." She couldn't help but smile a little. Even when it was life and death the brute could still get lost walking out the front door, figuratively speaking of course.

With Ryouga running up the stairs Akane was able to lean herself against the retaining wall at the base of the stairs and rest for a moment before once again going into a violent coughing fit that left her hands red and her torso feeling as though Ryouga were giving her a bear hug. She just hoped someone with a cell phone would wander by soon. With the rain coming down she was getting colder by the moment.

Switch Scene

"Kuonji Ukyou you will come with me."

Ukyou turned around to see who this imperious sounding person was and had to pause a moment. There was something about the little lady in an old style European dress that made her think she should know her, but Ukyou couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Who are you?" Ukyou asked while settling into an easier stance. She didn't know who this lady was, or why she seemed familiar, but that didn't mean that she wasn't a possible threat.

"There is no time for playing around Kuonji Ukyou; you must come with me to settle your debt with the Stormborn." And suddenly the lady in black was standing beside her with her hand on Ukyou's wrist. "We leave now."

Suddenly the next thing Ukyou knew was that she was standing at the base of a long set of stone steps in the rain, and sitting propped up against the retaining wall was some girl who looked as though she'd been beaten by a gang of sumo wrestlers.

Ukyou looked around but she was all alone in the rain, the lady in black having already disappeared. With no one to question Ukyou quickly made her way over to the poor girl and gasped in shock. It was Akane.

"Oi, Akane!" Ukyou called out as she took Akane by the shoulders. No response. Ukyou quickly checked for a pulse and was glad that she could feel one, albeit a weak one. Ukyou once again looked around; this time more panicked, and wondered why the street was empty of pedestrians, let alone traffic.

'This isn't good.' Ukyou thought as she probed what wounds she could find. Ukyou couldn't believe Akane was still alive after the beating she'd taken. But she wouldn't be long for this world if Ukyou didn't hurry up and find some help for the poor girl.

With a sigh of regret, that her conscience wouldn't allow her to leave her major opponent in the battle over Ran-chan to lay there dying, Ukyou gently slid her arms under Akane as though she were the most fragile okonomiaki Ukyou had ever worked with and stood up.

"Now, where is the closest hospital?" Looking around was futile for the street was still quite inexplicably deserted. With a mental shrug Ukyou turned left.

Switch Scene

Ryouga couldn't quite believe just how huge the monster in front of him was. He'd faced many an enemy in his day, several of them twice his height and more, but this thing was three stories tall and just about as wide. What was worse though was that this thing wasn't anywhere as slow as it looked. And it was strong. Strong enough to have pounded him into the ground, with a two handed slam, like a tent spike.

Now he just had to figure out how to avoid the stomp coming at his head and he'd be all good. Out of reflex he closed his eyes just before the monster's foot connected, waited a moment, then opened his eyes again to see why he hadn't been stomped into a fine red paste and was shocked to see the stone monster frozen in place. Or rather, being pulled off balance by means of several chains wrapped around it. Ryouga blinked.

"Quit napping and give me a hand!" Mousse yelled from behind the stone monster.

Ryouga shook his head to clear it, realizing for the first time that he'd been stunned by that monster's awesome blow, and with a mighty heave and jump burst forth from the ground to land on his feet in front of the monster.

With a rare moment of insight, it occurred to Ryouga that it was probably this monster that had hurt Akane so badly, and with that insight came a fury so hot, so consuming that he could only think of one thing: destroying the monstrosity in front of him. With that all consuming thought, rage, fury, Ryouga went into a frenzy.

Switch Scene

Mouse was still quite afraid that the monster in front of him would squash the life out of him. After the initial pull on the chains that threw the monster off balance enough so that Ryouga wouldn't be flattened like so many bugs had been in the past, the monster broke the chains like they were threads. Then turned to Mousse.

It had been quite a while since Mousse had contemplated his own mortality, and he never quite liked the end result. So it was with much gratitude in his heart that Mousse thanked Ryouga for getting up out of the ground to once again pull the monster's attention to him. What Mousse hadn't expected was the sheer rage coming off Ryouga. True, Mouse had seen Ryouga's battle aura on several occasions, but this was like comparing a candle to a bonfire. It made him very much afraid, for usually Ryouga's aura was a black/green thing that seemed to have a life of it's own. Now, however, it was being flooded with a red the colour of blood.

Mousse could only stand and watch in morbid shock as Ryouga used his breaking point technique on the monster so fast, and with such fury, that the monster was quite literally being blown to dust, one cubic foot at a time. Within mere moments the monster began to crumble into smaller chunks of rock, quite dead.

Ryouga didn't stop. The largest of the boulders were the first to be dusted, then came the smaller rocks until there was nothing larger than a fist. But he wasn't done. Ryouga turned to the strange man in black who was once again turning to stare in shock at what was left of the monster, then to look up at Ryouga and mutter one word in shock. From what Mousse could make out from reading his lips it looked as though he said "berserker".

Switch Scene

When that girl had snapped he had thought he'd seen rage. The masked man was wrong. The word "berserker" slipped past his lips before he even knew it was on its way. No matter. Those who were foolish enough to lose themselves in battle always had a weakness. Just as the old man he continued to control, berserkers had next to no mental defences. This one would be much more effective than that old man. The man in the mask smiled once again as he began to chant.

Switch Scene

Hotaru almost threw up. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Never before had she seen the Sailors in such a state. She wanted to cry, but Joram had sent her on ahead to take care of what was happening, so she grit her teeth and kept her calm.

The day couldn't have been a better reflection of the events that were unfolding before here. The sky was thick with rain clouds making it seem as though it were evening, and a sporadic rain was falling.

Looking at her friends she spotted a very large dragon lying beside Sailor Moon and marvelled. Where had that come from? She then looked past her fallen friends and beheld the villain that was responsible for this travesty, and quite the villainous profile he had with that half mask and those black robes. Then she looked past the villain at someone, who at the moment looked much more terrifying, was a young man who was literally glowing with rage. The man in the mask didn't seem overly concerned though, which gave her pause. If someone that obviously angry were staring at her she might have fainted right away. Fortunately his attention was all on the robed man.

"Protect me from any other distractions." The man in the robe told the angry one.

Sailor Saturn was about to laugh at his audacity, but the young man simply nodded and began to look around. This shocked Sailor Saturn more than a slap in the face.

"Haruka… run."

Sailor Saturn looked over and saw her adoptive mother on the ground close to the temple wall and immediately ran over to her, dropped to her knees, and lifted her head into her lap.

"What happened Michiru-mama?" Sailor Saturn, Hotaru, asked holding back here tears.

"We made… a terrible… mistake." Sailor Neptune said between raggedly taken breaths. "You must… get… away… before he… notices you." She then closed her eyes as she began to shallowly pant, trying to regain her breath. Haruka knew that that was a very bad sigh, but felt helpless to do anything, for Sailor Moon was the one with healing magics.

"Just stay here and rest, I'll take care of that freak." She said as she laid her mother's head once again on the ground. Neptune had only the energy to open her eyes to give her daughter a pleading look. "Don't worry, Joram has trained me well." With that said, Sailor Saturn stood up and began her walk over to the man that was going to pay for what he'd done to her friends.

Switch Scene

Mousse couldn't believe what he was seeing. The strange fellow in the robe finished chanting what-ever it was that he was chanting and told Ryouga to guard him, and Ryouga seemed to be listening!

"Snap out of it Ryouga!" Mousse yelled at his friend in combat.

Ryouga just seemed to ignore him. So Mousse did the only thing that seemed to fit the situation; he hid.

From his vantage point in a tree twenty feet away Mousse could now see a young woman approaching from the other side of the masked man. He was glad that she was unhurt, for all her friends seemed to be out of it, but he was none the less afraid for her safety. He wanted to yell out and tell her to run, but that would give his position away, and he really wanted to wait for a clean shot at the man in the mask. So he held it tongue and waited for his chance as he watched the young lady.

"You have attacked my friends, hurt them beyond anything I've ever seen." The young lady called from thirty feet away from the masked man. "Now you will pay! Silence Glaive!" She called, and a large battle glaive appeared in her hand. If she weren't so angry Mousse would have chuckled at the sight of a little girl holding a glaive that was more that twice here height. Then he thought of all the warriors from his village and the mirth died away. All those warriors used similarly disproportioned weapons.

"What of it?" The masked man replied in a mocking tone. The young woman's face became even stonier. "They were in the way. I have only done to them what anyone would do to interfering insects." He then laughed out loud. "Slave; dispatch her." He commanded Ryouga. Once again Mousse was astonished at Ryouga's obedience. For once the masked man gave the order Ryouga dashed forward at blurring speed.

Mousse felt a pang of sympathy for the young woman as she stood there, defiant, bright, and deadly looking. Mousse knew, deep down, that Ryouga wouldn't hold back at all, even against this girl and feared that should Ryouga ever regain his faculties Ryouga would never forgive himself for this. But Mousse had to sit still and wait for his one shot at the masked man. Mousse said a quick prayer for the brave young woman.

As he was reciting the prayer Mousse faltered. For just as Ryouga was about to punch her into oblivion the young lady swung her glaive into a wide arch that took Ryouga full in the side. Mousse had to do a double take, for it seemed as though she hit time with the shaft instead of with the blade. Sure enough, as Ryouga was sent flying Mousse saw that she had indeed struck him with the shaft and not the bladed head of the weapon. Unfortunately for Ryouga that didn't seem to affect the damage the weapon inflicted upon him, for Ryouga was sent not only flying through one of the trees that lined the temple grounds, but through the wall and deep into the forest that surrounded the temple, toppling even more trees as he went.

Mousse was stunned. That sort of blow had most likely killed Ryouga, but the girl seemed not to have noticed it beyond what a person would for swatting a fly.

"Now no more games, fiend." The young woman said as she levelled her glaive at the masked man.

"Who's playing?" The man asked innocently. "I'm completely serious about wanting you all dead." He finished then began to immediately chant again. The young woman set herself for an attack, and indeed it was another attack. A blade that sucked in all light around it appeared in front of the young woman and immediately began to assault her. The hair on the back of Mousse's neck began to stand on end. He had a terrible feeling about that blade, and the young woman seemed to be defending for all she was worth.

"What's the matter? Weren't you going to punish me?" The man mocked as the girl was nicked on the arm by the blade. A black green light flared as it struck her arm and she cried out in pain. The man then began to laugh at her and it was all Mousse could do not to attack him right there and then.

Switch Scene

Things weren't going half as well as she'd planned. The masked freak in front of her continued to laugh at her, all the while that accursed blade attacked relentlessly. She'd been hit half a dozen times now, and each time it felt as though a part of her was being destroyed, and indeed the wounds themselves weren't healing as they should have, and were bleeding freely. She had to go on the offensive, but that accursed blade kept on getting in her way. It would also attack her if she took more than a couple of steps in any direction.

"Oh my, are you out of energy already little lady?" The masked man asked in that infuriatingly mocking tone of his. "Should I just end it now? As fun as this is, I do still have other business that must needs be taken care of." That said he began to chant in that strange language that always meant trouble.

As he began to chant the black blade winked out of existence. Mousse was glad to see that, but was still concerned for the young woman. She didn't look all too healthy right then, and whatever it was that the masked man was planning was sure to be quite fatal. Then Mousse blinked. When had that silver haired girl gotten behind the masked man?

Switch Scene

Asuza had had enough of the masked freak. As she lay there watching the several fights occur she concentrated on healing, so by the time the masked man was taking care of Hotaru she was healed enough to start moving again. So she slowly made her way around the side of the masked man, and then behind him. She smiled.

Asuza put her all behind this one last punch and was gratified by the feeling of her fist connecting with his spine, right between the shoulder blades. What she hadn't expected was for it to feel as though she had hit a metal wall.

Her hand broken in several places now, she stood and watched him stumble forward, his chant ceasing mid-word. For that she was grateful, but for the retribution she was not. It came in the form of a swarm of those accursed missiles that he'd been hitting them with. The force of the impacts sent her flying back a dozen or so feet. As the wonderful black of unconsciousness was enveloping her it occurred to her to wonder where Joram was now that Hotaru was back….

Switch Scene

Joram smiled to himself as he regarded his old sword. The sword looked much better than it had when it was first forged. To him at least, he conceded to himself. Not too many people out there would be able to tell the difference.

He stood up from his place beside the forge and noticed that Katreen had once again appeared.

"I see that you are done, this is good. Many of your allies are now injured." She said in that serene tone that she almost always used around him.

"I guess you bought me enough time." Joram said as he gave her his winning smile. "Could you bring me there?"

"Yes."

Joram sighed after a few moments of waiting. "Will you bring me there?" She was always the stickler for properly phrased requests.

"Indeed." Was all she said before the world faded from his eyes, then was replaced by another one. This one was almost from a nightmare. The Senshi were all down, his dragon messenger in worse shape, Asuza unconscious behind the Mage, and Hotaru panting as she clung to her planted glaive. Joram recognized the wounds caused by disintegration all over her body, and his temper just about got a hold of him.

"Hey, wizard!" Joram called over to the masked guy in the robes to distract him from Hotaru. It worked; the fireball meant to land at Hotaru's feet instead landed at his. Joram grinned. This sort of thing was easy as pie to dodge, and he did so with a quick jump and roll straight to the left.

"So you're not truly dead then." The Mage said with a sneer. "I should have known you'd be harder to kill than a cockroach." He then began to chant.

Joram smiled as he recognized the chant to summon fiends from the lower plains, so he began to call for some help of his own through a couple of dozen hand seals, nicking his thumb on the sword stashed under his arm, then completing it by slamming his hand onto the ground.

"Dragon Summon; Platinum Dragon, Bahamut!" Joram intoned as he stood up, his back to the dragon now sitting behind him. The Mage's summon completed at the same time and Joram was surprised to see not one, but two balors standing in front of the Mage. From what he could see, the Mage didn't look as confident as before.

"Who do you think is going to win this one Mage?" Joram called over.

"The one who kills the most victims!" The Mage called back, then to the balors: "Kill all those on the ground!"

Joram cursed under his breath. He should have predicted something like this. "Bahamut, please heal my friends on the ground." Joram asked as politely as he could manage. "I'm going to go kill that wizard."

"As you command." Bahamut replied as he began to chant a spell.

Joram then quickly dashed ahead to meet the first balor as it lifted its sword high over head to skewer Makoto. Joram got there in time to knock the balor's sword aside with a resounding clash of steel on steel. The balor looked down to regard him just as Bahamut's spell completed and every single downed ally began to stand up. Joram smiled as the second balor stepped back from the rising forms of the other Senshi.

"Now you're…" Joram stopped mid-sentence as he noticed that the Mage had vanished from sight. "Now that's bothersome." Joram said to himself as he regarded the balor in front of him.

"Hey, I was just summoned." The balor said as he raised a hand as though to fend off Joram. "You know, magically bound to obey one's summoner and all that."

"You fool, that is the Stormborn. Do you think that he'll have any mercy on our kind?" The second balor said, then promptly teleported away, presumably to the Abyss. The first balor regarded Joram for a moment as though seeing a rare and exquisite beast. A beast with very sharp teeth.

"I shall depart for now. Though know this: the Abyss shall know that you have returned to the Prime." With that said he too teleported away.

"Well, isn't that bothersome." Joram said to himself as he contemplated the now vanished wizard, then was promptly bowled over by a very happy Sailor Moon.

"Where have you been?!" She bawled and cried and then started to babble incoherently so that Joram couldn't get a word in edgewise.

Looking around Joram could see that all his friends were gathering around with mixed expressions. Makoto, Rei, Ami and Minako all looked very happy to see him. Setsuna, Haruka, and Tuxedo Mask all looked as though they either wished he were dead or, at best, not there. Asuza still looked like death warmed over, but she was alive and making her way over. Hotaru also looked better than when he'd arrived.

"Is there anyone missing?" Joram asked as he managed to quiet Sailor Moon down a bit.

"Ryouga-kun is over yonder." A young man in white clothing and very thick glasses said as he approached from one of the remaining trees on the grounds. "Ranma, on the other hand, seems to have been…. I don't know how to describe it. Turned to dust?"

"Excuse me?" Joram asked as he tried to figure out just what that meant.

"I mean a green ray of some sort touched him, or rather her, and she tuned to dust." The white-robed guy explained as he pointed to the pile of clothing where Ranma had fought.

"Oh, dear." Was all Joram could think to say. This was going to be a very tiring day.

End of Chapter.

A.N. - Well, I'm back. For now. This chapter had been bugging me, and bugging me, and bugging me!! Just sitting there and taunting me. Well, I finished it up. Now 14 is bugging me, and I haven't even started on it!!! Gah. Sorry.

Sorry, but you didn't get to find out who's gonna be training Akane in the fine art of cooking.

So, what's gonna happen next? What's with Ranma? How's Setsuna gonna react to having her toy taken away? What's so special about the new sword? And where are all the Konoha Shinobi going to live?

Find out next time on Dragonball Z!!

Kidding. ►_◄;;;