It was late in the evening; Akane had already gone to bed. Ranma and Pan were in the dojo doing some sparring when the phone rang. Ranma paused when he heard the phone. A quick headshot from Pan and the phone wasn’t the only thing ringing. “What’dya do that for?! Didn’cha hear the phone?!”
Pan flew over and picked up the phone. “It wasn’t that hard.” She lifted the receiver. “Pan here.” She nodded her head a few times as she listened to the person on the other side of the line. “Uh huh. Yeah, be right there.” She hung up the phone. “That was Ami. She said they’ve found something. We need to head to the shrine.”
Ranma popped his neck and cracked his knuckles. “Let’s go.”
They went out the back door and leapt for the rooftops. Once there, Pan reached for her watch and triggered the transformation into the Great Saiyaman. She turned to Ranma. “You know, you should get a costume too.”
Ranma leapt to the next roof with Pan close behind. “Why should I?”
“Keep your identity a secret. No one would be able to recognize you from TV or anything like that.”
Ranma shrugged. “Everyone always recognizes me anyways.”
“It wouldn’t be so bad if you’d tried to hide your face once in a while.”
“I don’t hide from nothin’!”
“Maybe if you would once in a while, you could get a decent vacation from your daily chaos.”
“Nah. Then I’d get bored.” He flashed her his cocky grin.
Pan shook her head. “You’re unbelievable, Saotome.”
Ranma’s smile broadened. “That’s the specialty of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts.”
Pan took to the air. “Come on, hotshot. We need to get a move on.”
Ranma’s aura flashed around him as he took off after her. “Let’s go!”
They took off for the shrine at full blast. Soon enough they arrived at the shrine where the Sailor Senshi were waiting. Ranma set down on the lawn in front of the shrine. “So what’s up?”
Ami gave him an annoyed glance. “Minako and Artemis found an entrance to the dark kingdom.”
Ranma looked around excitedly at the mention of the cat’s name. “He’s not around here, is he?”
Ami gave him another annoyed look. “No. He’s not here.”
Usagi looked at her friend, surprised at the emotions that were playing over her face. “Ami, Can’t you and Ranma get along?”
Ranma looked back at Ami. “Yeah. I already apologized. Not like I saw you in the nude or nothin’.”
Ami rolled her eyes. “Anyway. We need to go there and check it out.”
Pan dropped the visor on her helmet. “Let’s go to work.”
The Sailor Senshi transformed and took off as fast as they could to a closed up crêpe shop. They stopped at the door. Sailor Moon looked around. “How do we get in, without breaking anything?”
Ranma looked around the shop front. “Leave it to me.” He lifted his hands to his chest like rabbit’s paws and faded from sight.
All the senshi flinched. “Where did he go?” Mars asked.
Pan waved her hand dismissively. “It’s a family secret.”
Mercury looked at her computer. “I can’t pick him up anywhere. Is he using magic?”
Pan shook her head. “Nope. Martial arts.”
Usagi had one of fists on her mouth. “Looked like magic to me.”
Pan shrugged. “I guess you could say, sometimes the lines blur.” She noticed that Usagi was carrying some extra baggage. “What’s in the bag?”
Usagi patted the bag and put a finger in front of her mouth in a shushing gesture. “It’s Luna and Artemis. Don’t tell Ranma.”
Pan’s eyes widened. “No problem there.”
There was a low ‘click’ as the front door to the shop opened up. Ranma bowed and waved a hand inside. “Right this way.”
Pan snorted. “Show off.”
They walked through to the back of the shop. There were two large double doors that opened up to the freezer. Ami’s computer started beeping. “The doorways through there.”
Ranma raised an eyebrow. “The dark kingdom is microwavable?”
Ami turned around. “Can’t you be serious?!”
Ranma waved his hands in front of himself. “Sure I can! Just don’t mallet me, okay?”
Ami stopped mid-sentence with her mouth hung open. “What?”
Venus stepped between them. “Enough you two! We have to stop the dark kingdom.”
Jupiter opened the freezer doors to reveal a dark cave.
Pan looked into it. “Well there’s something you don’t usually find in your grocer’s freezer.”
“Let’s go!” Everyone turned around to Usagi.
Usagi hid the bag behind her bag. “Let’s go, I said.”
Ranma gave her a questioning glance. “When did your voice get deeper?”
“I just have a cold!”
“Whatever.”
They bounded down through the cave, hiding behind rocks and covering each other’s backs. They went a ways before there was a wisp of smoke in front of them. “Energy!” Venus shouted. They were all blown back as a mystical wind hit them. Ranma and Pan latched onto the walls and grabbed what sailors they could. The winds died as quickly as they had started, and everyone looked forward as a shape materialized.
Kunzite smiled an evil grin at the gathered warriors. “I’d like to show you the to the Dark Kingdom, but we are not ready for you yet. So, I will send you to someplace more enjoyable.”
“No more games!” Sailor Jupiter jumped forward. “Supreme Thunder!”
The lightening bolt sailed forward, but Kunzite disappeared and reappeared to the side unharmed. “Sailor Moon!” He yelled. “Turn over the Silver Crystal and you’ll be allowed to live.”
“Get the hell out of our way and I’ll let you live!” Pan yelled back. “KA-ME-HA-ME…”
Kunzite waved his hands as he weaved his spell. “Enough of your impertinence! To the Multi-Dimensional World of Chaos with you!” He completed the spell and a light-red light struck them all.
They were all pulled backwards off their feet. Moon lost hold on her Moon Rod. “No!”
Kunzite charged forward after the rod. “The Silver Crystal is mine!”
Before he could reach the rod, the gem embedded in it glowed bright. The rod and all the young warriors disappeared from sight.
Back at the dojo, Akane awoke with a start. “Ranma!” I can’t feel him! Oh no!
Ranma, Pan, and the Senshi found themselves propelling through a world of confusion. Different portals and scenes drifted past them as they were pulled between dimensions. They all saw themselves in different lives, as different people, in different lives.
Ranma found a few that caught his eye. “What the?” He saw an older version of himself, bloody and bruised, carrying a limp woman with long lavender hair. “Shampoo?”
Usagi looked over his shoulder as another portal materialized. In this scene a Ranma and Ami looked out from a palatial house as three children played in the yard. A boy with blue-black hair, and two rambunctious girls, one with short cropped red hair and the other with long black hair done up in a pigtail. All the kids had Ranma and Ami’s looks. “Well at least you two get along in one world.” Ami caught a glance of it, and Ranma and her blushed and quickly looked away.
Ranma caught a glimpse of another portal of him in another world. Pan looked over his shoulder. “Ranma, what are you doing kissing my mom?”
Ranma shook his head. “No idea. Why is your mom so young?”
Pan called his attention to a portal right next to it. “Why’s Akane kissing my dad?!”
Ranma threw his hands up. “I don’t know!!!”
The final picture was of Ranma and Akane, both of them surrounded by a powerful demonic aura. “Whoa!” Was all Ranma could say.
Rei floated over to him. “What’s up?” Just then another portal came up. This one had a female Ranma-Chan making out with Sailor Mars in the rain.
Usagi raised an eyebrow at the Senshi of Fire. “I didn’t know you swung that way Rei.”
Rei turned so red she matched her skirt (and the ghost-image Ranma-Chan’s hair).
Several other random Ranma floated by. One had him turning into a car! “What the hell?” Ranma looked around frantically. “Isn’t there any portals here that don’t involve me?”
Minako pointed at one. “Here’s one that has a bunch of robots flying around in space. I don’t see you in it, but I do see five dreamy guys!” All the senshi huddled around it.
Pan tried to elbow her way in. “Let me see!”
Ranma sweatdropped.
One of the portals in front of them grew bright and caught their attention. It expanded and glowed brighter. The brightness engulfed them. They awoke to find themselves lying in what looked like the ruins of an ancient city. Sailor Moon looked up and spotted the earth on the horizon. “Where are we?”
A voice from nowhere answered her. “The kingdom which was at a its zenith of glory a long time ago. These are the ruins of The Silver Millennium.”
Moon looked around trying to find the source. “The Silver Millennium?” A globe of white light fell from the sky and formed into small older, beautiful, silver haired woman with a hairstyle just like Usagi’s. “Who are you?”
“I bring a message from the past. I am the incarnation of the Moon Queen Serenity. I am your mother.”
Moon took a step back. “My mother! What do you mean?”
The others came around and saw the apparition floating in front of Usagi. Ranma took a closer look. “Look! It’s Mini-Moon!” He held up a pinky and put it to his mouth.
Pan punched him in the back of the head, sending him face first into the ground. “Baka!”
Meanwhile the ghost was finishing its story. “It was I who awoke Luna and Artemis from their cold sleep, and it was I that told them to watch over you and the other Senshi.” The aura around the ghost expanded and covered all present. The ghost continued in the background. “We are a race of immortal beings who were born on the moon. We protected the Silver Crystal, the holy stone that has been passed down for generations. We watch over and help the Earth evolve into a better planet.”
“Kami!” Pan breathed. “You were the Kami before Piccolo!”
The woman turned her head and looked at the young Saiya-Jin. “Yes. That is the truth, but there was one kami between us, the one that took over after me. He was the last survivor of our war. He was the one that held the contest that Piccolo bested Garlic for succession.”
“If your race is immortal, than why did he have to pass on the throne?”
“Our race was immortal while it possessed the crystal. Once we lost it, we would age.”
“What about the war?” Ranma changed the subject.
The Queen turned to Ranma. “Watch and learn.” The scene around them showed a great palace on the moon in the midst of a grand celebration. It was a masquerade ball, with several faces recognizable as the Sailor Senshi. Princess Serenity looked out from a balcony towards the earth. “You loved to watch the Earth, Usagi. You loved to romanticize about the greens of the grasses and the winds that blew across it. For you had found love.”
“Princess Serenity.” They all turned to see Tuxedo Kamen dressed in armor.
“Prince Endymion!” The dream-princess answered.
“Oh how sweet.” Ranma deadpanned. Every female present promptly slapped him, including the ghost image. “What?”
“Shh!” Pan shushed him. “I want to hear the story.”
“Okay!”
The scene played on as the prince gazed at his princess. “I’m sorry I’m late for the ball.”
“I’ve been waiting for you.” Princess Serenity smiled back.
“A crises has arisen.” The prince’s face took on a serious look. “Beryl has brainwashed several of my people.
“Beryl?”
“She’s been possessed by an evil force called, ‘Metallia’. She possessed my warriors by playing on their desires to be immortal like your people. She plans to invade the moon!”
Guards came around the front of the palace. “Who goes there?”
Endymion took one look at them and fled. “See you at the masquerade!”
Ranma looked up. “An invasion? Now this story is getting good!”
“Shhh!!!” The girls all shouted at him.
About that time in the cave where it all started, two cats poked their heads out of a handbag. “Coast’s clear.” Artemis proclaimed.
“Great! Now it’s up to us to find the secret hiding place of the Dark Kingdom.”
They bounded out of the bag and through the cave. The cave ended on a high cliff overlooking a snowy wasteland.
Artemis shivered. “The arctic!”
Back in the Multi-Dimensional World of Chaos, the story was continuing. A lonely Serenity was looking around desperately when a tuxedo clad Endymion stepped up to her. “May I have this dance?” They began to dance the night away.
Ranma sat down and leaned on one of his fists. “Can’t we fast forward to the invasion?”
The looks he got from that comment made him take a large gulp. If looks could kill…
The prince brought the princess in close. “I’m sure a terrible war will break out. It would not be good for people to recognize me here as their future enemy. Metallia is not human. She is evil energy incarnate. Beryl is an evil sorceress. She plans to use Metallia’s power to conquer the Earth and Moon. My sister is already fighting them.”
“Sailor Earth?”
“Yes. She’s is doing everything she can to stop Beryl, but I fear she may already be lost.”
The senshi took a quick head count. “Sailor Earth? Who’s Sailor Earth?” Rei asked. The others just shrugged.
“Shh!!!” Ranma mocked them. “You’re interrupting the story!”
“We must act, or the moon will be destroyed. As soon as we can we must destroy Metallia and her evil army. I need your help serenity. Do you believe what I’ve said?”
“Yes!” The princess breathed.
The two joined into a passionate kiss. Ranma made a motion like he was hitting the fast forward button on a remote control. “Come on. Get to the good part.” He muttered. At that point, a huge army came from out of the sky. “Now we’re talking.”
The two moon cats came running onto the scene. Pan had to hold Ranma down, reminding him that they were only a picture. They were shouting, “Emergency! The Earth is attacking us!”
A massive explosion rocked the palace and towers began to fall. People were running for their lives, only to be cut down in cold blood. The Sailor Senshi did their best to fight back, but they to fell. The four dark generals stormed through. Beryl rose up on one of the fallen walls laughing maniacally. “The Earth and Moon shall be mine!” She cast another spell and more of the palace fell in ruin.
The princess ran for her life, but Beryl appeared in front of her. “So you’re the princess! I’ll destroy that pretty face!” As her claws extended toward their intended victim, a rose struck her in the wrist. “What?”
Endymion stood in full armor. “I will not let you harm my princess!”
Beryl looked at him. “Why don’t you side with the Earth? You are the prince of Earth. Don’t be foolish like your sister.”
A worried look crossed his face. “What have you done with my sister?”
Beryl waved her hand and a woman fell to the marble floor. She was beaten beyond recognition, but the outfit was unmistakably a brown-red Senshi uniform.
“Sister!” He cried.
“Now you shall die as well!” A dark demonic presence opened its hand and let loose a powerful blow at the couple. Endymion started to be pulled away.
“Endymion!” The princess shouted and jumped after him. Another bolt from the dark force, and the two stopped moving.
“No!” Queen Serenity shouted.
“They’re dead and the moon is mine!” Beryl proclaimed.
The queen mounted the silver crystal to the moon rod. “It stops here.”
“No!” Luna shouted to her queen. “It will kill you!”
The Queen would not be swayed. “This has gone on long enough! MOON HEALING ESCALATION!”
Two mighty blasts of magic collided as all the forces tried to survive. The only thing left alive was the moon cats and a prone Queen Serenity. The queen regarded the two cats. “Luna! Artemis! If the Silver Crystal is used with the energy of a pure heart, it will help in the preservation of peace. If used by an evil heart, it is a deadly weapon.” She winced as pain wracked her body. “I was able to seal away Metallia, but she may one day revive. Only one of our bloodline can use the Moon Rod. If Metallia rises again, then I’ll give this to princess Serenity and the Sailor Senshi to protect the earth. You must look after them.”
“We will.” The cats intoned.
The queen used the last of her energy to seal away the seven great youma in the rainbow crystals and send the souls of the Senshi to the future. “May you find your loves in the next life on the Earth of the future.” With that, the Queen expired.
The warriors found themselves flying through dimensions again. The landed in the cave where is all began. Kunzite was waiting there with the unconscious cats in his hands. “Pesky little furballs.” He threw them aside.
“Mother…” Moon cried.
Ranma was cringing at the sight of the cats.
“All right buddy! That’s it!” Pan tore her helmet off.
Kunzite stared at her and the others. “How are you here? How is this possible?”
“I still owe you a present!” Pan’s aura leapt around. Her eyes flashed green and her hair turned blonde, completing the transformation into a Super Saiya-Jin. “Hold that pose!” She blinked out of sight and reappeared in front of Kunzite, landing a fist in his gut. He flew back and struck a stalagmite on the ground. It broke apart and he tumbled over. He picked himself up in time to see Pan crouched with a Ki ball forming in her hands. “KAMEHAMEHA!” The blast enveloped Kunzite.
“Nooooo!” His dying shout trailed off. His form and the energy from the blast carried off through the cave and landed outside with a gigantic explosion.
Pan was breathing hard as she reverted back to normal. “That’s that. Now to get the last fish.” She started to walk down the cave.
“Wait!” Ami called after her.
Pan turned to look at Ami. “What?”
“We need to regroup! We need the cats and Sailor Moon to finish this. We need time to digest everything.”
Pan shrugged. “Okay.” She reached over and picked up her helmet. “But you’d better get those cats under wraps so Ranma can get home.”
Ami found Usagi’s duffle and carefully laid the cats back inside. “You can look now, Ranma.”
Ranma shook himself like he was coming out of a trance. “What? Oh hey, are we going to kick Beryl’s butt now?”
Ami shook her head. “No, we’re going to regroup first. Get some rest. We’re going to need a better plan if we’re to get anything accomplished.”
They all nodded and started to walk back to the cave entrance. “Let’s make this a little easier.” Ranma commented as he grabbed Moon and Venus around the waist. “Put an arm around my neck.” They did as they were told and he started flying toward the beginning of the cave.
Makoto pouted when he didn’t take her. “How’re we supposed to get there?”
Pan shook her head. “The same way.” She grabbed Mercury and Mars. “Get on my back Jupiter. I’ll carry you all.” They did and caught up with Ranma and the others.
Eventually, they were all back at the crêpe shop. Ranma dropped the girls at the freezer, and good thing too, because as soon as he stepped outside, he was tackled by Akane! “Oof!”
Akane buried her face in his chest. “Don’t ever do that again!”
“What?”
She looked up at him; she had tears rolling down her face. “Leave to fight without me! I was so worried! When you disappeared, I feared the worst!”
Ranma finally put his arms around her. “It’s okay. I always come out on top, right?”
She nodded her head. “Just don’t leave me behind again.”
“Uhh…”
She looked back into his eyes, a little anger starting to show. “Promise me!”
“But what if…”
“PROMISE ME!”
“Okay, okay! I promise! Just you promise to clear out if it gets too bad.”
Akane chewed on her lip. “Okay, I guess.”
Ranma was a little too weary from the trip to argue any further. “I guess will have to do. Let’s go home.”
The next morning, they were all gathered at a coffee shop, minus cats who were still recovering. Ranma was sitting in a booth with Akane beside him, Pan and Ami sat across from them. The other senshi were sitting at an adjacent table. Ranma took a drink from his tea (he didn’t consider coffee healthy). “We need a plan.” He said flatly.
Ami sat down her cup. “I’ve actually been thinking about it. I’ve had several ideas.”
“So let’s hear them.”
“Not all of these are the greatest of ideas, but…” Ami began to rattle off of several battle plans, some of which sounded to Ranma like suicide.
“Uh, how about a distraction? Pan and me come in the front, and you girls sneak around in back?”
“That could work, but they’d be expecting Senshi. They’d still be looking for us.”
Akane excused herself to go to the restroom.
Pan snapped her fingers. “What if we dressed up like the Senshi?”
Ranma raised an eyebrow. “You ain’t getting me into one of those fukus.”
Pan looked off to the side as if considering something. “You’re right. I wouldn’t be caught dead in one of them either.”
“Hey!” Usagi shouted from their table. “What’s wrong with the fukus?”
Ranma shook his head. “Besides we’d need five of us. Where are we going to find three other girls?”
“There’s Akane.”
“Two other girls.”
“We could ask Bra and Maron.”
“Maron is out of the question. Bra would just start being a pain again.”
“Then who?”
Ranma leaned back and put his hands behind his head. “I have no idea.”
“Nihao, Ranma!” Ranma heard over his shoulder.
Ranma didn’t even look. “That’s not going to work twice, Akane.”
“What do you mean, ‘work twice’, sugar?”
Ranma’s eyes went wide in recognition. No, No, No. Not them, not now! He slowly turned and saw what he feared. Ukyou and Shampoo standing right behind him.
Ukyou looked around at the Senshi. “Hanging with a younger crowd now, Ranchan?”
Ranma held up his hands with warding gestures. “It’s nothing like that!”
“Obstacles is for killing!” Shampoo started walking forward.
“Stop right there, Shampoo.”
Shampoo turned to see Akane with her hands on her hips. “Ranma’s mine now. Go away!”
Shampoo gave her a funny look. “Pervert girl not want throw Ranma out?”
Ukyou looked confused as well. “What the heck’s been going on around here?”
Ami pointed out a couple spare seats. “Why don’t you sit down and we’ll talk about it.”
Ranma turned to Ami. “What are you doing?”
Ami gave him a small smile. “I’m just imagining them in fukus…”