Ranma's Travels
(A Ranma One Half / Multi crossover)
By Ammadeau
Roy.Fokker@UNSpacy.org
http://Ammadeau.tripod.com/fanfiction.htm

World 2: Sailor Moon:

Note: This takes place between Sailor Moon R and Sailor Moon S.

	Ranko woke up to the sight of Tokyo with a headache.  She 
shook out her wet hair in anger, nearly drying her clothes with her 
enraged battle aura.  She had just gotten settled; she had a purpose, 
friends, something to live for again.  In moments, it had all been 
snatched away. Well at least she was wearing her old Chinese 
clothes rather than her priestess robes and the sight of Tokyo also 
cheered her somewhat.  Maybe, just maybe, she had made it back 
to her original world.  She just might be able to go home again.
	"Well, first thing is to find a phone," she said out loud, 
trying to gather a positive outlook, "After all this may be the Japan 
that I'm from."  Inside she doubted it though, sensing that this 
journey wasn't finished with her yet.
	Ranko threw down the phone book in disgust.  She had 
called just about all of the Saotomes and Tendos in Japan 
(thankfully there weren't many) and none of them were any of the 
people she had known.  What she wouldn't give to hear Akane's 
voice again.  Hell, right now she'd settle for Kodachi or Kuno.
	"Now what do I do?" she thought to herself, with no place 
to stay and little money in her pockets.
	Ranko walked down the street, head down, not even 
bothering to take in her surroundings.  So she didn't even notice 
when she crossed the path of a man in an official-looking uniform 
or even hear him when he first called out to her.
	"Miss!" he shouted, finally getting Ranko's attention, "Why 
is it that you're not in school?"
	Ranko blinked at him as if he had asked the stupidest 
question ever.  With all that had happened, school was the last 
thing on her mind.  She stared at him for awhile until she realized 
that he wasn't going to do anything until he got an answer.  "Um, I 
don't go to school."
	"And why is that?"
	"Ah, I graduated allready?" Ranko said, pretty sure that the 
guy wouldn't buy it, but unable to think of anything else.
	The truant officer sniffed.  "A likely story.  You couldn't be 
more than fifteen and unless you have proof of this miraculous 
feat, then I have no choice but to bring you to school."
	Ranko could easily take this guy.  She'd need a good night's 
sleep before being at full strength, but she was still strong enough 
to take any normal human.  Still, he was only doing his job so 
Ranko didn't feel right in putting him in the hospital.  Besides, it's 
not like she had something else to do.

	It was only an hour before lunch when Ranko was 
introduced before the class.  Naturally, the boys leered at her 
developed form while all that most of the girls saw was a tomboy.  
Ami, however, looked at the new girl in concern.  Her face was 
downcast, staring at the floor, her shoulders slumped, and only 
mumbled out an introduction.  She reminded Ami of Usagi after 
Tuxedo Mask had turned against them.  She wondered what had 
happened to the girl to make her look so depressed.

	"See her there, she's sitting all alone," Ami pointed out 
Ranko to the rest of her friends during lunch.  Rei had to snatch 
Usagi's bento to get her to look, but once she did, she was 
immediately interested.
	"Wow, she looks so sad," Makoto said, noting how the 
redhead was picking dejectedly at her meager, school-bought 
lunch.
	"Well let's cheer her up then!" Usagi declared as she 
quickly finished off her lunch after snatching it back from Rei.  
Without even waiting for the others, she walked right over there 
and sat down right in front of Ranko.
	"Hiya!" she said, smiling and waving at the girl.
	Ranko looked up, right into the face of a blond girl with a 
strange hairstyle, wearing a big, cheery smile.
	"Ah, hi," she replied, a little uncertain as to why the this girl 
was here.
	Usagi's smile didn't falter, despite the lukewarm response.  
"I'm Usagi."
	"Ranko."
	"So," Usagi fished for a topic of conversation that didn't 
involve yomas, "You're new here, aren't you?  Parents just 
moved?"
	Ranko shook her head and replied in the same monotone, 
"Got picked up by a truant officer.  I was sort of passing through."  
Ranko wondered why this stranger was so interested in her.
	"What are you going to do now?"
	The redhead thought about it for a while before replying.  
What was really the point of going anywhere when she had no idea 
what to do to get home?  She was in a world of strangers, so one 
place was as good as another to her.  "Stay around here I guess.  
Nothing really better to do."
	"Well if you only planned on passing though," Ami said, 
having caught up with Usagi.  The rest of their friends were right 
behind her.  "Do you have a place to stay?  Do you know anyone in 
Juuban, any friends or family?"
	Ranko shook her head, it was a thought that had been 
bothering her for a little while now.  "I'll just sleep in the park, I've 
done it before."
	"I don't think that would be a very good idea.  Parks aren't 
always safe in the dark, and besides its supposed to rain tonight."
	Ranko shrugged.  It didn't really matter if she got wet now 
since she was locked in her curse form.
	"Say, I have an idea," Makoto said, "I live in an apartment 
by myself, you can stay with me."
	All the other friends enthusiastically added their support of 
the idea.
	"I wouldn't want to be a burden to you," Ranko told her, but 
her reluctance was for another reason.  It had been hard enough 
sharing house with Miz and the other priestesses, but to be all 
alone with another girl?  It would be hard enough to do with just 
any girl, but when Ranko looked up she couldn't help noticing that 
Makoto was cute, very cute, and it'd be a miracle if she could keep 
from making a total fool out of herself.
	"You wouldn't be a burden at all, in fact, it would be fun to 
have someone around the place.  It gets sort of lonely, especially 
when one's friends don't visit all that often."
	Usagi and the others looked embarrassed by this.
	Ranko really wanted to refuse, but the problem was that she 
did need a place to stay and hopefully some food from since she 
had little money and no real way to get more.  She also doubted 
that she'd get another offer like this one.

	Makoto and Ranko walked to her apartment, talking about 
various things on the way, careful to keep the more secret and 
unbelievable to themselves.  Makoto found out that Ranko was a 
martial artist like her, but had been training hard all of her life and 
had little time for anything else.  That she had been separated form 
her mother at a young age to be raised by her father who she 
obviously resented for reasons that she wouldn't elaborate on.  An 
orphan really, just like she was.
	Ranko learned that Makoto was also into martial arts, and 
like Ranko this was something that often got her into trouble at 
school.

	"So this is the place."
	Ranko looked over the relatively tiny but well-kept 
apartment.  "Isn't a little small?  I don't want to crowd you."
	"It'll be okay.  I've had some of my friends stay over here a 
few times and it wasn't any problem.  I'll show you, I'll lay out your 
futon right now."
	Makoto pulled out a futon from the living room closet and 
brought it into a room where there already was a futon laid out, 
putting the second one down right next to the first.
	"Makoto," Ranko said, "isn't this your room?"
	She nodded, "Yep, normally it's just me here."
	"I wouldn't want to get in your way.  I'll just sleep in the 
living room," Ranko told her nervously.
	"You won't be a problem at all.  Haven't you ever been to a 
slumber party before?"
	"Ah, no."
	"Geez, none of your friends ever invited you to one 
before?"
	"Well, me and pop was always traveling so never made that 
many friends."
	"That's rough, but I sort of know what you mean.  I didn't 
have many friends either before I moved here.  I'd almost forgotten 
what that was like.  Don't worry, Ranko, I think of you as a friend 
now and I'm sure the others feel the same way."
	"Thanks," Ranko replied, looking down at the floor.  She 
was starting to feel embarrassed.  It wouldn't be easy sleeping in 
the same room at Makoto.  Even though she had been stuck as a 
girl for a while now, that hadn't changed how she felt inside.  And 
Makoto was a pretty girl.

	"You need new clothes," Makoto told Ranko.  "You told 
me yourself that all you have is what you're wearing now.  Mine 
are way too big for you.  You might be able to borrow some things 
from Minako and Ami, but you still need new underwear at least, 
especially a bra.  You really should wear a bra, Ranko."
	Ranko started to get angry at the suggestion that she should 
wear women's underwear, only to feel embarrassed when she 
realized that Makoto had no idea of her true gender.
	Ranko was almost thankful for the sudden commotion that 
happened before Makoto could drag her to the lingerie shop.  And 
the girl could drag her too, Makoto could beat the tomboy in arm 
wrestling without breaking a sweat.  They both rushed into a 
sporting goods store to find a grotesque parody of a baseball player 
attacking the shoppers.  Already several people lay unconscious at 
its feet.
	"What the hell is that thing?" Ranko said, repulsed.
	"It's a yoma."
	"Huh?  What's that?"
	"Oh, I forgot that you're not from around here.  Yoma 
attack people to steal their energy.  The sailor senshi usually appear 
to deal with them.  We really should hang back and let them take 
care of it."
	"Well, I don't see them here and those people need help 
now, so I guess I'll have to handle it."
	"You can't Ranko.  These yoma are a lot tougher than they 
look.  No normal human can take them on."
	Ranko snickered at that.  If there was one thing that she 
wasn't, it was normal.  Besides, she still had her water ring and this 
thing didn't look any tougher than the Bugrom she had faced.  A 
good fight was just what she needed at the moment.
	It became a moot point when the yoma turned its attention 
over to them and attacked.  Ranko dodged on instinct, then gave 
her ring a kiss to activate its powers.  She once again felt the rush 
as the power of a water priestess flowed into her.  She smiled as 
she turned to face the yoma.  It didn't stand a chance.

	Makoto practically ran for one of the changing rooms.  She 
was lucky her new friend was fast, that would keep the yoma from 
getting her for a while.  She hoped that it would be enough time for 
her to change into Sailor Jupiter to fight off that yoma until Sailor 
Moon arrived.
	When she had finished, she did not expect to see the yoma 
badly beaten or Ranko floating in mid-air while water swirled 
around her.  Makoto blinked, hoping that this was some sort of 
optical trick, but the scene before her remained the same.  Ranko 
was definitely floating.  She was a few feet off the ground and 
Makoto was close enough to tell that there were no strings holding 
the redhead up.  Makoto also could find no way Ranko could have 
faked the water that was suspended in rings around her.  It was 
clear to her that there was much more to her new friend than met 
the eye.
	When Ranko caught sight of a girl in a sailor fuku, she 
almost laughed.  This was the sailor senshi that Makoto was 
talking about?  She hadn't expected a girl in a short skirt to be the 
defender of the innocent against evil.  Still, it wasn't Ranko's turf 
and the yoma was nearly dead anyway.  She floated back to the 
ground as the water flowed back into her ring.

	It was only moments later that the rest of the senshi rushed 
in, Sailor Moon in the front.
	"We are the agents of love and . . . what the heck?"  Sailor 
Moon said and blinked at the scene before her.  The yoma hadn't 
been destroyed, but it didn't look like it was getting up anytime 
soon.  Their special attacks usually didn't make the yoma look like 
it had been beaten all over.
	"Wow Jupiter," Sailor Venus said. "You really kicked the 
crap out of that yoma."
	"It wasn't me," Sailor Jupiter admitted. "It was her." 
Pointing to Ranko, who was watching as Sailor Moon used her 
special attack to finish off the yoma.
	Luna, overhearing the conversation, decided to take a closer 
look at this girl who Usagi had met in school, was now living with 
Makoto, and could kick the . . . could nearly destroy a yoma on her 
own.  There was something about the red hair that was familiar to 
the ancient cat, some memory from long ago that she couldn't quite 
recall no matter how hard she tried.
	Ranko's trained senses alerted her about someone creeping 
closer to her.  She looked down, saw the cat, and reacted as anyone 
who really knew her would have expected.
	"CCCCCAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Ranko 
scream in sheer terror at a decibel level that not even Usagi had 
ever reached with all her whining.  She ran out of the shop so fast 
that things flew all over the place in her wake, including the short 
skirts of the Sailor senshi.
	"We have to go after her!" Makoto shouted over the ringing 
in her ears.
	"What!?" the rest of the senshi and two cats shouted back.
	Makoto found a pencil and paper somewhere, quickly 
writing down 'go after Ranko,' and displaying it to the others.  They 
took a moment to puzzle over the messy kanji, finally nodded, and 
ran from the store in pursuit of the pig-tailed girl.

	It was actually Makoto who had found Ranko, after 
changing back into her civvies first.  The redhead was hiding under 
a bridge, huddled in on herself, her eyes wide with terror as she 
constantly searched around her.
	When Makoto touched Ranko's shoulder, the girl jumped 
ten feet straight up to cling to the underside of the bridge.  The 
senshi could see that her new friend was actually shaking in fear.
	"Are you all right, Ranko?" Makoto asked softly, though 
already knowing the answer.
	"I'm fine, really," Ranko said, more to reassure herself than 
her new friend.  "Is the c…cc.c.cat gone?"
	Makoto nodded.
	Ranko sighed in relief and then fell from her high perch, to 
make a perfect landing on one foot.
	Even with all that she had done before, Makoto was still 
impressed by Ranko's effortless grace and near superhuman 
abilities.
	"Why don't we go to my place so you can lie down for a 
while?"
	Ranko nodded.

	While Ranko was relaxing on a futon, Makoto was in the 
kitchen having a whispered conversation with the other senshi via 
her wrist communicator.
	"Ranko is in my room now, resting.  Apparently, she has 
some acute fear of cats over something that happened to her as a 
child."
	Makoto couldn't help snickering at the image of Luna 
looking offended.
	"Before the girl ran off, I noticed something familiar about 
her, something from the Silver Millennium," the cat told them, "It 
was the red hair that really tipped my off though.  Artimis and I 
talked it over and we think we know what it is."
	"Is she a new senshi?" Ami asked.
	"Not exactly," replied Artimis, "We're sure that the other 
senshi haven't awakened yet, most of them at least."  The moon cat 
frowned slightly when he thought of Pluto.  "They will be 
awakening soon, but not soon enough to help with the current 
crisis, I'm afraid."
	"So what is she then?" Usagi asked, impatient as ever.
	"As I was going to say," Luna replied, irritated, "It was 
during the time of the Silver Millennium.  All of the power of the 
planets had been harnessed to make the senshi, but there were still 
concerns that this wouldn't be enough to counter Beryl should she 
attack with full force.  Other modes of defense were looked for.
	"One such notion was to harness the sun, which had enough 
power for several senshi.  The first attempt was a complete failure 
though and the poor girl who volunteered for it was burned alive.  
Queen Serenity banned the project.  Those behind it turned around 
and continued in secret anyway."
	"So they didn't listen to my mom, huh?" Usagi said, 
"Weren't they loyal?"
	"Oh yes, they were loyal, too loyal," Artimis continued the 
story.  "They were so loyal that they put the queen's safety before 
her orders.  We don't know how many lives it took, but they finally 
succeeded.  Five girls linked to the power of the sun, but without 
the use of the Silver Crystal so they weren't senshi.  They were 
powerful, but unstable and limited.  The strongest was equal to the 
power of Saturn, but all of them became weak unless exposed to 
sunlight.  Their power also fluctuated wildly and they had little 
control over it.  I remember one trying to light a candle and 
destroying a wall instead.
	"The ones that created them presented them before the 
queen, thinking that they would be commended.  The queen instead 
demanded that they reverse the process.  When they admitted that 
they didn't think that it was ever possible, they were thrown in 
prison."
	"The queen knew that these 'Solar Senshi', as they called 
themselves, were like time bombs waiting to go off," Luna took up 
the story.  "She put her best scientists on trying to reverse the 
process, or at least make them more stable.  They started running 
out of time when the girls began to die.
	"The first one to go had simply been practicing her powers, 
despite being ordered by the queen not to.  She stood under a 
sunbeam and ended up being burned alive by one of her own 
attacks.  They tried to keep the others away from the sun as a 
precaution after this.  They all grew weaker and weaker until one 
of them died.  The three remaining ones banded together and 
escaped.  The next we heard of them was one of them dying in an 
explosion when her powers went out of control.  She had been 
trying to stop some criminals.  She succeeded, and killed many 
innocent people as well.
	"When the queen announced that they had a treatment that 
might help the Solars to control their power, they both came back 
to undergo it.  For one, the treatment appeared to be a complete 
success, but for the other it had several adverse effects.  It drove 
her mad.  She escaped and tried to destroy everything in sight.  I 
believe it was Sailors Uranus and Neptune who finally stopped her, 
though the result turned an entire city into a wasteland and nearly 
killed the two senshi."
	"So what happened to the final girl?"  Minako asked.
	"She wanted to become a senshi, but the queen refused 
because even though the girl had more control over her powers 
now, she was still unstable.  Corona, as she called herself, was still 
a determined girl and struck out to fight crime on her own.  She did 
well, even gained a protector like Tuxedo Kamen.  The senshi were 
instructed to keep out of her way as long as she kept out of theirs.  
Everything worked out fine for a while."
	"What happened?"
	"Apparently, her protector turned out to be working for 
Queen Beryl," Artimis told them, "Beryl used the same mind 
control trick she had on Tuxedo Kamen and forced Corona to fight 
the senshi.  She struck when everyone was least expecting it and 
nearly took out all of the inner senshi if it hadn't been for the 
sudden intervention of Saturn.  The two fought for a while, neither 
getting a clear advantage, until Corona unleashed a giant solar flare 
that nearly killed the senshi of Silence.  That attack had cost her 
though, for there wasn't anything left of Corona expect the 
scorched ground on which she had stood."
	"This is all very interesting," Rei said in such a way to 
indicate that it wasn't, "but what does it have to do with Ranko?"
	"Not a thing," Artimis replied solemnly while everyone else 
face-faulted.
	"What Artimis meant to say," Luna said in a tone that made 
the white cat feel lucky that he was actually several blocks away 
from her at the moment.  "Is that Ranko looks a lot like Corona.  In 
fact, she could pass for the girl's twin if it weren't for the fact that 
Corona had red eyes."
	"But she died right, so that's impossible," Usagi said. 
"Unless mom reincarnated her too?"
	"I know for a fact that Queen Serenity didn't reincarnate 
Corona, but we were never absolutely certain that she had died.  
While her body should have been burned up by the intense heat of 
her final solar flare, there was a small chance that she escaped."
	"Are you trying to say that Ranko is really Corona?" 
Makoto asked incredulously, "She'd have to be what, over a 
thousand years old? And besides, Ranko used what looked like 
water to attack, not some solar rays."
	"We don't think she's Corona, but we do think that she's 
connected to the almost-senshi in some way.  How, we don't know.  
Everyone should be careful around her, especially you Makoto.  
She could be working for our new enemy."
	"What?  You've got to be kidding.  She's the one that beat 
up the yoma today, remember?  I don't think any one of us could 
have done a better job that she did."
	"Did you actually see her fight it?"
	"Well, no."
	"Doesn't it seem a little suspicious that this girl just shows 
up today, and single-handedly beats a yoma without any senshi 
powers?"
	"She had powers.  She was hovering over the ground and 
had some sort of water-based attack."
	"Yes, but where do these powers come from?  As far as I 
know, there are only two groups with attacks like that, the senshi 
and the Dark Kingdom."
	"But the Dark Kingdom is over!  Beryl and Mettalia are 
dead!"
	"Yes, but not all of their servants are known to be dead and 
these yoma that you've been facing lately are a lot like the ones that 
Jadite and Beryl's other generals sent after you."
	"Ranko might not be willingly working for them either," 
Artimis added, "They may be controlling her mind like they did to 
Corona, only more subtly.  Either way, we have to all be very 
careful around her from now on.  She must not know that any of 
you are senshi."
	"Damn!  I was hoping that she could fight with us! We 
could use the help," Minako said.
	"That may be true," Luna agreed, "but it's too much of a 
risk right now."

	In was not a large room, though the near darkness made it 
look emense.  Purple banners that clung to the walls fluttered in an 
unseen bridge.  In this room, a man sat on a throne and waited.
	Suddenly, a woman appeared before him, though with 
short-cropped orange hair and a dark purple man's uniform it was 
hard to tell.
	"The yoma was destroyed before it could locate the Oynx 
Crystal," she told him.
	The man looked up at her for the first time.  "The senshi 
again?"
	"No," the woman replied, a note of confusion entering her 
otherwise confident voice.  "There was a girl there before the 
senshi.  She was the one who did the most damage."
	"Are you telling me that my new yoma are so pathetic that a 
normal girl can defeat them?"
	There was an edge of anger to his voice that made the 
woman take one step back.  "No, sire.  This girl was anything but 
normal.  Though she did not appear to be a senshi, she had power 
over water and could float in the air.  She was also obviously 
trained for combat."
	"I'm intreged by this new ally of theirs," the man admitted.  
"What did she look like?"
	The woman snapped her fingers twice and an image of 
Ranko fighting the yoma materialized beside her.
	The man stared at the image and whisped, "Corona."