"Ranma"

She turned and looked for the voice, "It's me Beryl"

Bleary eyed the red haired girl extricated herself from her blankets. The inquiry from the village elders had gone late into the night and without any sleep she had been placed before the village. She was deemed a returning tribe sister with a status second only to that of the champion. Then, the challenges poured in. It took the remainder of the day to sort them out and beat every single one of them down.

Then there was the celebratory lunch and more talking with elders and finally the celebratory dinner and party and some drink that burned fire in her throat and after that everything went black. Her head pounded even in the dark of the night. "What do you want Beryl don't you know it's the middle of the night?"

"Indeed I do and I am also very glad that I am not feeling the full effects of what you have put yourself through." There was an evident smirk in that mental voice and Ranma simply growled at it. "In any case I am not waking you lightly. I heard a small beeping and was not able to move your hand and examine the bracer for its origin."

Ranma shrugged and mover her arm. The golden bracer flipped open and revealed a small screen. There she quickly typed in a few commands saying, "People'd never believe I could do this I bet?"

Beryl gave a mental laugh and said, "I believe you have said if it has martial arts you can do it. Those bracers are combat devices and they will very much aid us in battle."

Ranma nodded and was finally able to internalize her thoughts, "Okay, if I'm reading this right it says there was a huge burst of Moon Kingdom power used not long ago. Not sure what type or when though."

"I see it Ranma. It's tachyon based Silver Imperium energy. Most likely from the time gates themselves. The origin is in Juuban and it was sometime yesterday."

"Time gates…wait" Ranma's eyes shot opened, "That's the device you said was responsible for getting us into this situation. The crystal Moon used talked to it and together the two items changed everythin right?"

Beryl gave a mental nod, "Yes I believe that to be the case."

Ranma sighed and said, "All right, Shampoo and I will look into it after gathering supplies here and seeing if we can get allies too. Of course we'd have to find a few more Amazon's capable of using Mana, but if we get lucky there might be at least a few."

Beryl wasn't so sure of that. Finding Shampoo had been amazingly lucky. To find another with the gift might not be possible. She kept the concern to herself though and Ranma went back to sleep.

-break-

Ranma was not lucky at all. Out of all the villagers she and Shampoo were the only ones above the age of eight that could manipulate mana. Some of the older Amazon's seemed like they may have once held the ability, but years of building and training with chi had simply removed the option for them.

With that disappointment Ranma was training in a new technique with Cologne focusing on her 'soul of ice' and attempting to manipulate it in a new fashion. The elder bopped her on the head and said, "You are not concentrating. Clear your mind and emotions young one."

The red haired girl looked over at Shampoo who was working on the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken and then back at the woman, who had been and was once again her grandmother. "Hard to do when there's so much we don't have any information on. Beryl doesn't know much about the time gates or this Ginzuishou thing and who knows what other enemies from the ancient past might still be interested in attacking Earth….."

The wizened woman looked back at Ranma and said, "You are sure that the creatures will devour our Chi whenever we come into contact with them. Many of our warriors are skilled in combat and a menace to the entire world is definitely our concern."

Ranma thought about it, but the answer was the same. Even Herb had been reduced to a civilian status against Youma forcing Ranma to use her own mana to keep him protected. She and Shampoo had the bracers they were using and with time she could even create more. She shrugged and then looked at Cologne and said, "Honestly we could use any help we can get. There was a time I would have tried this on my own a time when I'd think twice about letting other people help me, but I've seen what the bad guys can do. We could use as much help as the village can provide, but it has to be from a distance."

Cologne nodded and departed to consult with other elders while Ranma decided to take a short hop back to the Juuban district. There she and Shampoo surveyed the destroyed house wondering just what had happened there.

"It's the same energy Ranma. Silver millennium for sure and the time gates for sure. Someone wanted something here dead."

Ranma nodded as Shampoo called out, "Over here look I think I found something."

Ranma walked over and Shampoo showed him a scrap of fabric from a schoolgirl's outfit and what was assuredly a Silver Millenium object. Ranma nodded and Beryl added, "It is a transformation item. The Sailor Senshi would use it to connect with their planetary mana taps."

Ranma held the item in her hand as she looked at the ground, "No blood and just scraps of clothes plus this. So who did this and could the person targeted have survived this?"

"Her name is Sailor Pluto or Setsuna Meioh and from the readings I am feeling from your bracer this may have been Sailor Saturn's device, but I can't tell if she is alive or perished."

Ranma frowned the woman's time gate had utterly messed up his life. Destroying a relationship that was just beginning and nearly ruining his relationship with a woman he thought of like his own mother plus this. "Yeah well when we meet her she can fix all this crap her gate caused."

Beryl remembered the woman from her time in the past and thought it very unlikely that would happen. Indeed it was more likely that Ranma's fiery personality would immediately clash with the cold Senshi of Pluto. "Perhaps we should attempt discussion and diplomacy when we meet? Maybe Shampoo could do the talking?"

The purple tressed warrior looked up at that and said, "I will try Beryl, but she is not my favorite person either. Her gate has caused us much trouble."

Bryl gave her own mental sigh with perhaps a small anvilicious smile. The time witch had always been an annoyance and yet as much as she wanted to see her in pain Beryl knew that if the one called Kaolinite was still alive she would find other powers to call forth. Metallia was not the only powerful entity between dimensions one could call on. The former queen of Earth knew that very well from her own dabblings into ways to destroy the Moon Kingdom.

She sighed again mentally wishing she had come to her senses earlier and then realizing it was foolish to delve on the past she moved on saying, "We should attempt to search further and see if Saturn did indeed survive. We still have a few hours befor Cologne will come back with information on who we can bring here to help us."

Ranma held up the scrap of cloth in her hands and said, "I don't know there's not much to go on here." Even as she finished the statement her bracer pinged. She looked down at it and said, "Huh, what do you know this girl has mana like Shampoo and I do. Maybe we could search the nearest hospital for mana signatures."

It was not much to go on and so the three were rather subdued by the time they returned to the Amazon village. They were met by Cologne who shook her head sadly and said, "The other elders do not feel that we have enough proof to send further warriors into the wider world. So, it will be just you two girls and myself on what I have declared to be an intense training trip."

Ranma sighed, "Just what we had before and even knowing what was gonna happen doesn't help because now it isn't going to happen anymore."

The red haired girl frowned and added, "Hell did that even make sense?"

Shampoo shrugged as Beryl replied, "You have it right. What we know of the next few moths is no longer accurate because events have changed. Our best option is to go to Juban and keep an eye out there while adding other devices to keep us updated on negative energy use and Silver Milennium energies as well."

The thoughts were relayed to Cologne who agreed with them and said, "The only additional problem to that is Genma Saotome. He was in our village and has since departed for Japan. I am unsure as to his plans from there."

"Mooch off old man Tendo fer awhile I guess, but if I show up he'll try and get me right back into the fiancee' mess again I know it."

Cologne pondered that statement and said, "Well, since you are now officially an Amazon I could adopt you in the Chinese system using the simple fact that you are a minor that was left abandoned here in China. We could use that adoption and Chinese Visas to enter the country and then Genma could not claim any parental authority without major legal wrangling. Something I doubt he is very capable of."

Ranma nodded, "Yeah that's not a bad plan. Anyone who has any claim can go to him with it and I can stay with you in Juuban. Hopefully that should keep most of the freaks and chaos from Nerima out of our hair."

-break-

Moving into a new home took less time than it might have seemed, however shopping for new clothes and other things certainly did take up time and create complaints from Ranma. In spare time Cologne continued training both girls to new heights while Beryl worked with them on magic application and enhancing their magical devices as best as was possible with the current technology.

"If only we had resonic crystal modification devices. But, even those would require superconducting and computers with 500 gigabyte memory along with the programs that run them." The entity within Ranma mentally sighed realizing that even with her knowledge and capabilities to craft things they would always be stuck in a veritable dark ages of technology compared to where she had once come from. That included the Antarctic base they had and the devices that were still working in it. Of course, if she had enough money to buy a Japanese manufacturing plant and pay suppliers the group could entirely revolutionize technology and get what they needed. The problem with that option was that no bank was interested in loaning high school age children Millions of dollars.

Ranma, who had been subject to a few of these rants now chuckled lightly and said, "We'll continue to work with what we have. What about the other possible locations you mentioned?"

Beryl gave a mental shrug, "Even if any of the vaults on Luna or the other planets survived I never had access to them or knowledge of their locations. Considering the size of the planets in question we'd be looking for a veritable needle in a haystack and doing so in atmospheres that lack oxygen."

"Maybe we can find Sailor Moon and her friends and ask them?" Shampoo pointed out and the others agreed to try and find those girls.

It was a combination of good and bad luck that the next day in school the pair did indeed meet up with the girls who had been Sailor Senshi. They had even asked the few girls for assistance and been given some seriously confused looks. Despite registering as having mana and a clear link to Silver Milennium energies the girls entirely lacked knowledge of the super powered beings they had once been.

This led Cologne, Ranma and Shampoo back to their house and once again pondering the situation. The old Amazon spoke first saying, "So it is clear that whatever device she used Sailor Moon must have wished for things to go back to the way they were. Otherwise she and her friends would remember that history just like you two do. You were protected and without the threat of Metallia it may be that no Youma's will attack and that they will not become who they once were."

Beryl's voice came from Ranma's wrist bracer, an obviously recent modification of the device, "There was Silver Millenium energy used in the area by Pluto though. So there may be other threats we don't know about. Plus there's the Ginzouishou."

"That's the crystal that caused this mess in the first place right?"

"That's correct Ranma and it may still be active or potentially active. It's last known location was on Sailor Moon, who we think may be the girl Usagi. As much as we are not generally thieves it is my estimation that this device should not sit within a young school girls hands, especially since she is not currently powerful enough to keep it safe and she used its powers unwisely."

No one disagreed with Beryl's points and so, perhaps a bit unwillingly, the conversation turned on ways to search Usagi's home and person for the Ginzuishou. The final plan was quite simple Ranma and Shampoo would follow the girl home and then search her home another time when she was away. As for searching the girl herself Shampoo would simply hit her sleep point and search her sometime when she could ensure the two of them were alone.

Even as they finished their plotting a voice said, "Ranma Saotome because of you I've seen hell!"

Ramna turned and simply palmed the heavy umbrella thrust from Ryouga and held him still. The fanged teen stared in shock and surprise as Ranma said, "You don't want to do this. I apologize for your curse and the bread. Please accept those sincere and humble apologies and depart."

Ryouga stared at the ponytailed boy and growled out a, "No! Never…I have seen hell and you must be punished."

He wrenched the umbrella from Ranma's hands and attacked again. Ranma slid past the attack and slammed the other boy in the back of his head knocking him unconscious. Ranma stared at the scene a moment and said, "Okay…that was weird."

Beryl explained while Ranma and Shampoo listened. "Not as weird as all that. We have traveled back in time replacing our own selves in that time frame so events that we saw happen have not actually happened. Thus, Ryouga has come upon you seeking his vengeance again in what for him was the first time."

"I agree with Ranma it is still weird to experience."

Ranma nodded and then said, "I suppose Ukyou will come looking too and we still have to deal with my father. Hmm, maybe we could ask Grandmother for that map she gave Herb, find his whatever it was and mail it to him."

Shampoo nodded and said, "Is good plan, but first we follow Usagi home and search house."

A short time later that was exactly what the two teens had done. In the late evening they snuck into a house looking for an ancient artifact. Instead of one they found two such items one very similar to the one at the burned out house and the other a silver crystal of great power. It was the second item that was more an issue as scans showed it would react violently if touched by any other than a Senshi.

Carefully Ranma tipped the crystal into a bag and closed it and even so she felt massive power striking against her shields until the crystal was in the bag and the bag was placed in a metallic box. Once that was completed she and Shampoo teleported back to their base in the Antarctic. There they placed the box and the newly recovered transformation item into a safe area.

Looking at the readings coming off their scanner Shampoo said, "We recover other transformation item too?"

Ranma nodded and said, "I think so. We'll be in Juuban and we'll be facing the threats, those girls aren't trained and we are."

"Besides which, we may be able to incorporate some of the powers into your outfits as long as the primary users are not capable of doing so."

Ranma listened to that and stared for a few moments at the crystal and the two transformation items within the scanning chamber. "That's a lot of power it seems almost like we're cheating you know."

"Believe me Ranma if we face threats on the scale of Metallia we will need every bit of it in order to survive."

-break-

((The End?))

((That's all I ever got to. It's been sitting here a long time and I don't know if I'll ever write more))