Knights of Moonlight and Dreams Chapter 1 A Sailor Moon/Ranma 1/2 fanfic By: the DragonBard ******************************************************************************** e-mail me at dragonbard@hotmail.com or at dragonbard@my-dejanews.com ******************************************************************************** Just so you know, I'm using the japanese names for the characters, and the american names for the attacks, as most of them sound better, at least to me. Not to mention I can't remember the Japanese names. ________________________________________________________________________________ It was business as usual for the weekly Sailor Senshi meeting. Usagi and Rei were arguing over a manga, as the other Inner Senshi looked on in embarrasment. Except for Ami, who was busy with something on her Mercury Computer. The two guardian mooncats, Luna and Artemis walked over to her. "Is there something the matter, Ami?" Luna asked. "No Luna, but there's something I think I need to talk with the others about." Ami replied. "So Ami, how did your visit with your cousin go?" Makoto asked. "Did you learn any new moves? Were there any cute guys? Tell us!" Minako turned excitedly to listen, while Rei and Usagi were too busy. Ami took a deep breath. Ami thought. "It was very . . . strange. I've got to tell you I had just gotten there to train with my cousin . . ." --------------EARLIER IN THE WEEK---------------------- Ami Mizuno knocked at the door of the Tendo family Dojo. She was a bit nervous since it had been a few years since she had visited her cousins. She wondered. Ami's thoughts were cut short as a pretty young woman, dressed as a housewife, opened the door. "Hello." She said with a smile. Ami's mind raced to put a name with that face. The smile was what finally gave her the answer. "Kasumi?" Kasumi's face became a bit puzzled, but quickly, comprehension dawned. "Cousin Ami! It's been so long." Kasumi said as she hugged Ami. "Come in, we've been waiting for you." Kasumi led Ami into the dining room, where a panda and a man with long dark hair and mustache were playing shogi. "Father, Cousin Ami is here." Kasumi said. Soun Tendo, Kasumi's father, sprang up and hugged Ami as tears ran like rivers from his eyes. "Oh Ami, it's been so long. How is my sister's little girl?" He cried, literally. Ami didn't remember him being 'this' emotional, though it had been a few years. Just then, there was a large crash from upstairs. That wasn't the strange part (Ami had gotten used to loud noises because of her activities as Sailor Mercury) the wierd thing was none of the people, not even the panda, seemed to notice. Ami thought. She decided to go upstairs and find out what was going on, when a young rehaired woman flew down the stairs, and landed on her head. Ami thought she muttered something about an 'uncute boy,' when a short haired brunnette ran down the stairs, gave the redhaired a look of anger, and then walked by her to the table. "Akane, look who just showed up." Akane turned to Ami, blinked a moment, then grinned. "Ami!" she crowed, as she embraced her cousin. The red-head just looked at the two with faint interest, then turned away. "I'll meet you in the dojo, Akane." She said. Ami 'thought' that she heard the red-head muttering something about, 'ganged up . . . not my idea.' "Who's that, Akane?" Ami asked. For a moment, she thought that she heard Akane mutter, 'Baka jerk.' "She's Ranko. She's staying with us for a while, with her panda." Ami gave her cousin a strange look. "Don't you think it's a bit odd for her to have a pet panda? I mean, they 'are' an endangered species after all." "You don't know the half of it." Akane muttered, under her breath. Before Ami could say something about that mysterious comment, she found herself in the Tendo Dojo. In the middle of the dojo was Ranko, looking at the pair with a slightly impatient expression. "Took you long enough." She said, and then motioned for Ami to come forward. "Come on, attack me." She said. Ami blinked. She wondered. "Shouldn't I put on a gi or something first?" She asked. Akane just sighed. "You might as well do it, Ami." Ami blinked in puzzlement, but the old habit of obeying the teacher quickly asserted itself in her. She used one of the most basic attacks that Luna had coached her in, a simple punch. However, Ranko wasn't there. She tried again, but it was like trying to touch a rainbow, she was always in a different place then he had been. Ami had always been in pretty good shape, especially after becoming Sailor Mercury, but even so, she was quickly getting tired and frustrated by her inability to strike the dodging martial artist. So she was quite happy when her cousin called a stop to it. "That's enough Ranko." She said. Ranko stopped in mid-dodge, a fact that Ami found startling, and nodded. "Not bad. Your form's pretty good, and so's your speed, for a beginner anyway." Ranko continued on in the same vein, quickly dissecting her performance, and laying it bare. She then motioned for Akane to come over. "Since she's your cousin, why don't you show her some of the basics of the Tendo style, since I don't think she's quite ready for the aerial combat of Saotome style." Akane paused for a second, wondering if she should take that as an insult, and decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. "Ok." Akane went into a set of simple stances, which Ami tried to copy. Ranko just watched, and occasionally gave comments on what was wrong with Ami's form, and ways to improve it. Ami heard a loud thump from behind her. She turned her attention there, and what she saw made her drop any pretenses of being in form. Even Akane looked mildly impressed and the speed and agility of Ranko's kata. Especially considering the fact she was literally bouncing off the walls while doing it. What was even more impressive, was the fact that she was 'still' critiquing her performance while doing the kata. "Nitwit, we know you're good but you don't have to go overboard." Akane muttered. Ranko just continued going through the kata as if she hadn't heard. Then, when she was done, she turned to the ladies. "Get out of the way!" She yelled. The two cousins glanced at each other, then Akane pushed Ami to the ground, just as a reddish blur shot through the space that had shortly before been occupied by Ami's chest. Ranko moved to stand between the cousins, and whatever it was that had tried to attack them. Akane picked herself up, and moved to stand by Ranko, while Ami looked around, trying to find a place where she could hide and transform. The blur had resolved itself into a short, ugly, old man, dressed in a dark red gi. "What do you want, Gramps?" Ranko yelled. Ami stared at him. She looked at the midget. Whoever it was, it wsa showing a powerful energy field that Ami had no intention of dealing with, without transforming. She reached into her pocket, and pushed the EMERGENCY button on her communicator. She took her attention off of the little demon for a second, when suddenly it flew to her. Ami just a split second to brace herself for the blow, and the likely repercussions of being hit. She was surprised when all she felt was a gentle push. She opened her eyes, only to find that the little monster was feeling her up, and rubbing it's face in the space between her breasts. Akane screamed at it. "You pervert! Leave my cousin alone!" She slammed a fist into the creature's skull, sending it to the floor. It looked up at her with puppy dog eyes. "Akane-chan, why did you do that to a poor old man, who just wants to comfort himself?" "Yeah right, you old Freak!" Ranko yelled. Then, in a move that startled Ami, Ranko fired a powerful energy blast, which appeared similar to the Venus Crescent Beam, at the little old man. 'Gramps' easily dodged it, and threw himself at Ranko, who caught him with an uppercut, throwing him out of sight. * * * "He shot a fireball?" Makoto yelled. Ami nodded. "He told me that it was just a martial arts technique that he learned some time ago." "But what about the monster? Didn't you go after it?" Rei asked. None of them had been able to get to the Tendo Dojo before Ami had given the AllCLEAR signal on the communicater. "Akane said that he wasn't a daimon, but just a perverted martial artist. In fact, she told me he had taught Uncle Soun and Ranko's father when they were younger." The Senshi shook their heads at the fact that a human being could so easily be mistaken as a monster. "What about that energy blast you say Ranko fired? Are you sure it's like my Venus Crescent Beam? How can she do that?" Minako asked. Rei got a funny look on her face. "Grandpa said that some martial artists could focus their ki, their spiritual and life energy, and use it as a weapon. It's something like what I do to read fires, but it would take years of training, he said. And he didn't think that anyone alive could do it, because the techniques to focus that power were supposedly lost centuries ago." Makoto got a dreamy look to her eyes. "What I wouldn't give to be good enough to do that." She said. Everyone sighed. While it wasn't as bad as her 'He looks just like my old boyfriend' trance, it was still a pain. Ami attempted to answer Minako's question. "From the tests that I have run on our powers, and some research, I've concluded that our powers draw on certain energies, which are remarkable similar to those that the Negaverse steal, which from Rei's description, is the same as ki. Especially your attacks, Mina-chan, because they seem to be ki in a raw, but focused state. Bascially the differences in our abilities is how it manifests. Most likely, the Silver Millenium and Dark Kingdom, and most of our previous enemies, have all used technology which is based on ki energy, instead of EM, like modern technology. If this is true, than all of our weapons, and our powers, are just a different kind of technology, not magic like we've always thought of them. And, Ranko's skills, may be left over from the theories that were used to create them. "If that's true, than if we can get training from Ranko, we may be able to improve our powers." Ami finished. Makoto was definitly for it, while Rei considered how the skills she might learn could help as a Shinto priestess. Minako was considering being able to fire off an even stronger Crescent Beam, and being able to use her Senshi powers in normal mode. Usagi was busy reading Rei's manga. "Usagi!" Luna yelled. Usagi glanced guiltily at the group, and hid the manga behind her back. "So, we're learning martial arts from Ranko?" She asked. Everyone sweatdroped while nodding their heads. "But that'll be a lot of worrrrrk." She whined. "Oh, stop being such a lazy cry-baby Meatball Head!" Rei snapped. "I'm not a lazy cry-baby!" Usagi yelled, which promptly started a tongue war. The others sighed. _____________________________________________________________________________ __ Well, sorry it took me a while to get this done, but sometimes the muse doesn't hit me hard enough to get a story going quickly. I'm planning on working on some of my other stuff, so part 2 will take some time getting out there, but it will, come Y2k or hell. --- "To see a world in a grain of sand, And a Heaven in a wild flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your Hand, And Eternity in an hour." William Blake (1757-1827) "Lord, What Fools these Mortals Be." Puck "If we shadows have offended, Think of this, and all is mended . . . and this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream." Puck-Midsummer Night's Dream