PLEASE NOTE: for some reason Fanfiction has been dropping my usual section breaks. I’ve tried several different ways of uploading this chapter and in all occurrences it kept dropping the underlines at the beginning and end and the asterisks between the sections.

So for this chapter I am using “------------------------” for section breaks. I hope they fix this soon.

Also when I first perviewed this chapter, the entire last half was in bold. I didn’t use bold in the entire story. Whatever “upgrade” they did, I hope they “down grade” it soon.

Well, a brand new chapter. I hope you like it.

I would like to thank Ghost in the Machine for pre-reading this chapter with his trusty baseball bat and microscope.

Constructive criticism always welcome.

At the insistence of my wife and a few others, thoughts are going to be in italics instead of [brackets] from here on out. (She really griped at me - okay?)

I don't own any of these characters or situations. As always the spelling errors are mine, as are the grammar mistakes - as it should be.


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Juuban part 12

.................................

Fumiki and Aki were sitting side by side on the grass, both still bewildered about what had just occurred. Fumiki hadn't had the time to collect her senses after having her ears hurt like that until she was hauled off, then herded in, with a large group of people. The group seemed to be made up of about four to five hundred people of all ages, from old grandparent types to babies in the arms of their mothers. Fumiki found herself in a ring of humanity around the vortex and felt relief that Aki had somehow ended up next to her.

Studying more of what was going on around her, Fumiki's her eyes drawn to the vortex. She studied the pale blue oval shaped hole that seemed to be suspended in mid air, hovering about two feet from the ground. The opening seem to fluctuate from about ten by six feet to twenty by ten feet. Parts of it seem to waver in and out of existence, almost becoming cloud-like in some places. A feeling of power that left her with the sensation of ants crawling on her radiated uncomfortably from the thing.

Fumiki looked away from the vortex to discovered that she, along with everyone else were being guarded by - things. Most of the things were roughly human size and shape, which meant that they had arms and legs.

Looking closer, Fumiki noted that their bodies were rounded in a sort of heart shape, the long legs had an extra joint between the knee and the ankle. The arms were about as they would be on a human, but the hands that each sported three very long fingers with an equally matching long thumb. There was no head that Fumiki could see, the flesh where one would be sort of hanging firmly between the high shoulders. She also couldn't find anything like eyes, ears or mouth. They all seemed to be made of flesh colored clay and looked more like moving statues. Everyone of the things were identical to each other, with the only thing distinguishing between one group from the next were size. Many where about the size of a man while others were larger by about a third. She wouldn't have taken it too seriously except for an atmosphere of menace that seemed to ooze from the things' very existence.

As she was studying their captors, all the large ones and many of the smaller ones started moving away from the vortex fanning out into the park, leaving some of the smaller ones as guards.

Fumiki continued sitting as she looked around, all the while wondering what in the hell was going on. There was no doubt that she and everyone else were being held hostage, but why? Fumiki was distracted from her thoughts by a hissing sound that came from the vortex that was to her right. Looking over, she saw the vortex grow a bright blue and more of the things came through in pairs, each pair carrying something in between them. Looking closer, Fumiki saw what the new arrivals were carrying looked strangely like very large wads of already chewed gum. The just arrived things dropped them by the opening of the vortex and moved off allowing other things to take the wads. These things then proceeded to "stick" the wads around the perimeter of the vortex starting from the bottom. Fumiki didn't know what they were doing, but whatever it was took time. The things doing the sticking appeared to have to stop often to make some kind of adjustments.

Fumiki was scared, but took some comfort in the fact she wasn't alone. Looking over at Aki, she saw that he tried to give a reassuring smile. It was forced, but he was trying to comfort her the best he could.

.................................

Ranma's head suddenly jerked involuntarily causing her long red ponytail to fly around and ‘swish’ about her face. It was a feeling she had never felt before, but somehow it was vaguely familiar. The closest she could come to describing the sensation was of an overpowering pulling in her mind that was forcing her into a certain direction. Ranma knew somehow on an instinctive level that someone or something had forced a juncture between this universe and another. It was strong enough before fading that she could almost feel the foreign, but not too foreign, space intruding into this one. The feeling was now very vague, but Ranma felt she should go and check it out anyway. Unfortunately...

"Is there something wrong Miss?" the seated portly man asked eyeing her from over his menu.

Snapping her attention back into the here and now Ranma answered, "No, no sir. I’m sorry, I just thought I heard someone call my name. That's all."

The excuse seemed to satisfy the customer who then proceeded to order the number three with squid with a side of fries. Ranma dutifully took the order down and bow respectfully before excusing herself.

Crossing the dining room, Ranma glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, "I won't get off for at least an hour and a half," she thought. Looking around the busy dinning room as she crossed to turn in the just taken order, "I'll talk to granny and see what she thinks. If she thinks it’s something too, I can duck out for a minute, transform, compress time and check out what's going on."

Ranma made plans on doing that as she posted the order at the window between the dining room and the kitchen. While plotting her planned reconnaissance, Ranma tried to feel the space around her with those instinctual senses that alerted her to the oddity in the first place, hoping to mine more information.

Ranma sighed, and concentrated.

Her senses seemed to work no matter if she was transformed or not, but they never bothered her before when she was in her untransformed state until now. With these senses she attempted to attuned to the fabric of space/time to try to detect and trace the distortion that caught her inner senses attention. The sensations were dull and hard to figure. She teased what she could out of these now indistinct feelings.

“Whatever it is, it's coming from the direction of the park - I think,” she thought just as the little bell chimed from the divider window letting Ranma know of a finished order that was ready to serve.

Carrying the completed order over to her customer, she placed it before him and bowed politely before asking if there was anything else he needed. Upon receiving a negative response, Ranma bowed again before returning to her station. Hitomi was already there retrieving a kettle of tea for three men seated in her area.

"How's it going, Ranma?" she asked with a smile.

"Okay I guess. It's busier than I expected," Ranma replied, looking for a chance to take a break.

"Yeah, you ain’t seen nothing yet. On beautiful days like this we get a later rush. As a matter of fact it should be picking up any... time... now," Hitomi said while a crowd of people walk through the front door. "Time to really get to work," she said before carrying the kettle over to her table. In the distance the wail of a siren could be heard.

Ranma walked over to the front and greeted the newly arrived customers, "Welcome to Yoshi Cafe' American. Are all of you together?" A tall man at the front of the crowd wearing a very loud shirt nodded, Ranma then looked around the dining room and spotted an area open enough to accommodate the group. It was in her section of the room.

Lovely - so much for talking to Akiko and getting her opinion.

"Please, this way," Ranma said with a smile, while leading the line of people around other diners and to their chairs. After they were seated Ranma handed out the menus and took the their order for drinks.

Ranma returned to the waitress station and began filling glasses from various dispensers, then placing each glass onto the tray beside her on the counter. On her fifth glass another sensation hit her, making her drop the glass in her hand just before hit the dispenser plunger. This sensation was different from the first and on a level she had yet to explore.

“That was some kind of energy discharge, but what?” Ranma thought to herself, as she picked the unbroken glass off the counter where it fell and placed it into of bin of dirty dishes. “Wait, how did I know it was a energy discharge?” she pondered while finishing the drink orders and carrying them over to her waiting customers.

As Ranma proceeded to set the drinks onto the table, she realized that there were still a lot of memories that were closed to her, “Darn, I wish I could remember more.”

.................................

The police car pulled up to the entrance of the park and with brakes that squeaked loudly, came to a grinding halt by the front gates. The driver then shut the motor off. The car continued to run in a sputtering and chugging way before coming to a shaky stop. The driver shook his head sadly and pushed open the creaking door.

"Monsters invading," Officer Kakinomoto snorted. "I never heard such nonsense."

"Maybe we'll luck out and some of the 'Senshi in the Short Skirts'  will show up," Kakinomoto's partner, Mushashibo said with a smile and a touch of humor.

"Well that would be nice. Let's see what's going on," Kakinomoto said as he placed his uniform cap on his head before exiting the vehicle. "Don't forget to call in before leaving the car."

"Already ahead of you," Mushashibo said already standing outside with his door open, holding up the business end of the microphone.

Officer Kakinomoto approached the gates of the park before freezing at the sight of several inhuman things that were coming from inside the park heading for the gates as well.

"What in the hell is this?" Kakinomoto thought as about fifteen man-size and at least six much larger things started nearing the gates. Kakinomoto backed away from the entrance before turning and running back to the patrol car.

Mushashibo had just finished his call in before having the microphone torn from his grasp. Turning to see what in the hell was going on Mushashibo was greeted by an ashen faced Kakinomoto.

"This is car 54, we have a situation at Juuban Park. We need back up, we need back up," Kakinomoto then looked back at the gates to the park, looking for signs of the things. "We need the Army, Air-Force, anything - just get some help down here."

.................................

Fumiki watched in fascination as the semi-human looking things kept up a steady pace of applying the chewed gum looking stuff around the edges of the vortex. With each piece and adjustment the things made the vortex's color seem to turn bluer and the the whole thing appeared more solid. Along with color and density change, Fumiki couldn't help but notice that it was growing larger. What had started as a fluctuating ten by six foot across hole in the air had grown to a steady thirty-five by fifteen foot tunnel.

Fumiki still wondered what was going on. She was not the only one, for people were quietly discussing what this all could mean among themselves. Looking over at Aki she noticed that he was slowly moving closer to her by scooting on his rear.

Suddenly a loud bang was heard, loud enough that it reverberated though the park. Murmurs were heard here and there, no doubt theorizing what it could mean.  Somewhere in the crowd of seated people, children began crying.

"We're all gonna die," the elderly woman seated on the other side of Fumiki said under her breath.

Fumiki looked at Aki and back at the woman, "You don't mean that. I mean, we don't really know what's going on."

"I've lived long enough child to know when I am in trouble. Believe me, we're in trouble," the women whispered to Fumiki. The look in her eyes left no doubt that she truly felt that way.

"Why?" Fumiki asked, trying to stay calm. Even Aki's hand holding hers was of little comfort. "What makes you so sure?"

"Take a good look around you, girlie. You don't think these things are here for a picnic do you?" The old woman then ran her fingers through her thinning graying hair, "These things want something, that much is clear. We are just here to be sure they get it."

"Don't be trying to scare anyone now. The last thing we need is a panic," a voice from behind Fumiki and the old woman warned.

They were quiet for awhile, then Aki said, "Look over there by where the front park gates are."

Fumiki, the old woman and probably more who overheard Aki's comment turned toward the indicated direction and spotted a column of smoke raising up in the air. Murmurs and whispering in the crowd increased.

"I wonder what happened?" someone asked.

"Whatever it is sonny boy, it wasn't good," the old woman snorted out.

"Please don't be that way. It scares me," Fumiki pleaded.

The old woman turned and looked as if she were about to say something unpleasant. She caught the look of fear in Fumiki face and froze. Letting out a sigh, the old woman said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. I'm scared myself, I just don't deal with it well. Forgive me."

Fumiki looked at her before replying, "That's okay." After a moment of thought, she continued, "I'm Fumiki, and this is my fiancé, Aki."

The old woman eyes widened slightly so you can see the green eyes that were hidden by her half closed lids. "Oh? Well congratulations. How long have you been engaged?"

Fumiki giggled nervously, "Just before - " she thumbed over to the vortex, "they showed up."

"Well at least you'll have a story to tell your children when you get older," the older women said with a smile.

Fumiki blushed slightly at that thought as the conversation died and silence ruled the scene.

.................................

Kakinomoto just tossed the microphone back into the car.

"Come on. We got to block this street, not let anyone in or near the park."

"What's going on?" Mushashibo asked.

"I don't know for sure, but there's no way it can good," Mushashibo said. "Now get down on the other end of the street and -"

Kakinomoto was cut off by a large, dull growling noise. Turning to see where it was coming from, both men were greeted by a large something that poked out from behind one of the support columns for the park gate. The thing had one of its arms raised, aimed at the two officers and it began to glow brightly. Instinctively both officers fled the patrol car and hit the ground just as a ball of light struck the parked vehicle. The patrol car exploded, sending smoke and pieces of itself high into the air that rained back down.

Both officers, losing their caps as they scrabbled to their feet, ducked into a dress shop located across the street from the entrance to the park. They entered and slammed the door behind them. Panting, Kakinomoto turned to Mushashibo and thumbed at the people present who were in the middle of sorting through clothes on the racks, "Get these people out of here and use the back door," he ordered.

Mushashibo wiped his brow and nodded.

Kakinomoto then turned to the girl behind the counter, "Where is your phone? This is a police emergency."

The girl blink-blinked for a second before waving her hand to the phone sitting openly beside her on the counter. Kakinomoto grabbed the receiver and dialed the number for dispatch as Mushashibo herded the customers and the shop workers out the back of the shop.

"Come on, come on answer already," Kakinomoto said impatiently. "Finally! Okazaki, listen we have a situation at the park." Pause. "Yes I know." Pause. "Because the car got blown up that's why." Pause. "Yes. Now send some help."

Kakinomoto looked up from his conversation and out the window at the park across the way. "Better call the military in on this... trust me. I think it might be a bunch of monsters or something."

.................................

Ranma was extremely busy as the steady stream of customers that were coming and going prevented her from having a moment to herself. She hadn't even been able to get the chance to talk to Akiko as she wanted in order to get her opinion on the matter. Ranma soon abandoned that idea, as the feelings that had begun twenty minutes ago faded to nothing.

Ranma had just returned to the dining room after busing dirty dishes to the kitchen, as the relative peace of the early afternoon was broken by the roar of loud trucks. Drawn the noise outside, Ranma, Hitomi and most of the patrons of the restaurant all crowded to the front windows in time to see several army trucks disappear down the road and turn in the direction of the park. After the trucks were out of sight, all of the dinners returned to their tables talking and guessing about what could be going on. Ranma's bad feelings from earlier were starting to return with a vengeance, if the military had been called in to investigate the... whatever, then it must be serious.

The customers muttered among themselves, trying to come up with an explanation as to why the military were tearing down the street. As with anything with no information to go on, the theories ran from the plausible to the ridiculous.

"Did you see that..."

"Those were real guns, weren't they..."

"Is it an exercise..."

"It's a revolt. I think they're trying to take over..."

Ranma tuned the babbling din around her out and concentrated on the fabric of space, trying to track down where the trucks were going to see if they were really heading in the direction of the disturbance. It was no good. She could have detected it easily while transformed. But unless the source of what she was trying to track was powerful enough, her untransformed senses were useless. Ranma began fidgeting at the her inactivity, she then decided to check out what was going on - discretely.

"I’ll just go back to the kitchen and into the storeroom. I'll have plenty of privacy there to transform and I'll be back before anyone knows I'm gone," Ranma thought as she turned in the direction of the kitchen - only to be intercepted.

"Waitress, can I get some tea?" a tired looking woman in a nice kimono asked.

"Yes madam, I'll just be a moment," Ranma politely responded as she slipped between the chair backs of some seated diners, still heading toward the kitchen.

"Excuse me miss, can I get the rest of this to go?" another patron asked while motioning toward his plate.

"Yes sir, it'll just be..." Ranma was cut of by another person, who went as far as to wave over to her.

"Miss, I need my check now please, " a man in a business suit called out as he glanced at his wristwatch.

Ranma sighed and worked her way over. "This is not going as planned," she thought as she dug through her apron pocket and produced the requested bill. Since Akiko was in the back helping Yoshi, she wasn’t be available to work the register. That duty was split between Ranma and Hitomi.

"Here you are sir," Ranma said handing him the check while bowing. The business man adjusted his glasses, looked over the check carefully before reaching into his jacket pocket and producing a wallet. He then proceeded to count out the required amount.

Slowly.

"Oh man, I gonna die of old age at this rate," Ranma ranted to herself as she smile pleasantly on the outside while trying not to just leave.

After the man had paid, Ranma once again attempted to head to the kitchen.

"Young lady, my tea?" the lady in the kimono reminded Ranma.

"Oh, yes. I'm so sorry," Ranma said as she tried to stay focused on what she felt needed to be done, but work was distracting her too much. Heading to the waitress station she brought a tea kettle and a to go box for the other diner she just remembered. Pouring the tea for the lady and taking care of boxing up the uneaten portion of the man's meal, then making change for his tab. All of this seemed maddeningly slow to Ranma.

"Finally," Ranma thought after taking care of the demands of her diners, "Forget about the kitchen, I'll just zip upstairs real quick and transform, check out what's going on and be back before I'm missed."

"Waitress, we're ready to order now," came a call from a group of people with three tables pushed together.

"Oh... oh... pooh," Ranma flustered thoughts were as she headed toward her waiting customers.

.................................

General Takei looked through his binoculars, studying the scene in the park from the command post set up on a roof three quarters of a mile away. It didn't look good. There was a ring of people around the... whatever... and the rest of the things, for a lack of better word, were setting up a defensive perimeter around the park's border. "Definitely a military operation," he mentally concluded.

He cursed the fact he was too far back to see what was really going on first hand, even with the help of the powerful binoculars. The scouts he sent should be reporting in to his subordinates soon and then maybe they could figure out what was going on.

Takei sighed. He felt he did not have the manpower to deploy his troops as he desired and called up some reinforcements, with heavy weaponry, just in case. He was about to raise the binoculars up to his face when one of the lieutenants came up and saluted.

"General Takei, sir. We have preliminary reports from the forward scouts," he said.

"Report."

"Collating the reports form our scouts we estimate there are about 2500 to 3000 of those things out there. They seem to be broken into two classes, basically one that is approximately the size of a man and another that's much larger." He paused for a breath before continuing, "We don't know what the actual differences are. They have deployed themselves along the edge of the park, setting up a obvious defensive perimeter."

"A military operation?" the general asked, fishing for a second opinion to his earlier conclusion.

"Yes sir. Most definitely," came the response.

General Takei exhaled and went into deep thought. After a moment of contemplation, he looked up at his subordinate and asked, "What about the science division? Have we heard anything from them?"

"Not yet, sir," the lieutenant answered.

General Takei looked around his command post, lost in thought before motioning the young lieutenant over to a table surrounded by other officers. He placed his binoculars down beside him on the table and rested against it with his arms outstretched.

"These things have demonstrated hostility so far and if more shooting starts I don't want any noncombatants in the way," he informed the lieutenant. "We need to get as many civilians out of the area as we can."

General Takei then turned his attention to a map set up on a table that was protected from the elements by plastic lamination. His fingers darted along the surface as he mentally sized up what he felt was needed. Takei thought more deeply, tapping a few places on the map before taking a dry-erase marker and marking what he wanted.

He spoke with authority to the group around the table, "Lieutenant Takai, when the reinforcements arrive, I want you to cordon off and evacuate Juuban, Moto, Minami, Roppongi south of Gaien-Higashi-dori and Nishi east of Gaien-Nishi-dori. Get with the local authorities and have them divert traffic from the major expressways leading through the area." He pointed to several major avenues that cut through the area to be cordon off.

"Yes sir."

"Lieutenant Ashida," the general continued, addressing another officer at the table, "I'm making you the liaison officer for the meantime. I want you to contact Headquarters and get with someone in the government and start informing the embassies in the area." Pointing to several symbols that represented the Italian, Australian, and other embassies that were in the area. "Be polite, but firm in our suggestion that they evacuate. I also think it would be prudent to inform embassies nearby but outside the cordoned off area."

"Yes sir."

"Lieutenant Daishi, you are it charge of setting up relief stations for the evacuees. Coordinate with Lieutenant Takai on this and set up forward aid stations for any wounded that may come our way."

"Yes sir."

The general sighed heavily, trying to think of anything that he might have overlooked.

"Lieutenant Miyamoto, have Lieutenant Yano report to me as soon as the science people call," he instructed as he picked up his binoculars where he had set them.

"Yes sir," the Lieutenant answered.

"Dismissed," General Takei said as he turned to study the situation in the park and cursing what he felt was his poor vantage point.

.................................

Ranma had just returned to the dining room after busing dirty dishes from vacated tables. She had changed her plans on going upstairs and transforming and opted to try for the storeroom of the kitchen again. Yoshi however, was there and with Hitomi calling for help up front, the opportunity for minute of privacy was nil. Ranma was feeling a little frustrated by her desire to investigate based on her gut feelings, that were now nebulous at best, and trying to find just one moment alone so she could change to do so.

Ranma was getting a little frazzled.

She would not have minded so much except that her instinctive senses were once again rearing their ugly heads. They started from nothing and began slowly to progress into a feeling of something crawling under her skin, a sensation that demanded her attention. With everyone finally settled, distracted by eating their meals and talking to one another, Ranma saw an opportunity to leave. Ranma worked her way over to the ladies room door, a sure fire plan that had her wondering why she didn't think of it earlier.

Reaching for the door knob, Ranma felt for sure she would be able to slip away and see what was going on.

>Rattle, Rattle<

Ranma blink-blinked as she looked at the door knob in her hand, wondering what could be the problem. It took a moment for her to register that the door was locked and the little red occupied slider was showing. Ranma mentally howled in frustration as she resisted the urge to tear the door off its hinges.

Behind her, at least three different voices were calling for service. Ranma's shoulder's sagged, as she sighed heavily. Working her way over to her demanding customers, she wondered if that foreign comic book super-hero Superman ever had these problems.

.................................

The five inner Sailor Scouts assembled just outside the edge of the park, trying to come up with a game plan.

"What do you think?" Venus asked.

Mercury, who was absorbed in examining some images on her computer, didn't reply right away. The other girls waited patiently while Mercury tapped away at the keyboard and raised an eyebrow every now and then. After a moment, Mercury looked up from her screen and said, "We're going to need help with this. A lot of help."

"How much is a lot?" Venus asked.

"As much as we can get. They are a whole lot of these things here," Mercury replied.

"How many?" Moon asked.

"According to the computer there are about 2789 of those things in and around the park."

Silence.

"2700?" Venus said incredulously.

"Yes, according to the scans there are also two classes. The smaller ones would not that much of a problem, except there are a whole lot of them this time. The second ones are those big ones that pounded on us pretty good before we got smart and decided to take them down fast," Mercury informed.

"What do we do?" Mars asked.

"We have to get the hostages out of there. To do that we need everyone. Us, the Outers, the Japanese Defense Force and Sailor Sun." Mercury looked around. "Where is she?"

"Maybe she's doesn't know yet," Moon ventured.

"It's all over the news. How in the heck can she not know?" Mars asked tartly.

"Maybe we should go get her," Venus suggested.

"One thing at a time. Let’s get the Outers here and see what the military is going to do. Maybe even coordinate with them," Mercury suggested.

"You think that's wise? I mean, dealing with the military? We’ve always handled these things ourselves," Mars said questioningly.

"We have no choice from what I can tell," Mercury answered. "We are just too out numbered. We need their help."

"You think they'll listen?" Venus asked.

"We'll make it so they don't have a choice but to listen. After all, we know more about these things than anyone else."

"We must be careful in how we approach them though," Moon said.

"Agreed. They can't do this without our help and we can't without theirs," Mercury said.

"What do you mean?" Venus asked.

"We have the firepower. Conventional weapons will work against these things, but not as effectively as they would against... human beings," Mercury said. "We can offer to fix it so they can."

"How?"

Mercury typed into her computer then continued, "We can infuse their weapons with some of our magic.  According to the historic records, it's like what the Lunar Knights would have had done to their weapons, except what we do would not be as permanent. It would make their weapons capable of affecting the Protectors, damaging them and even killing them. But we must act quickly."

"Lunar Knights?" Jupiter asked, joining in on the conversation.

"Since finding out about Sailor Sun, I've been reading up on the history of the Moon Kingdom in my spare time," Mercury answered.

"How do we help the JDF with their weapons?" Jupiter asked.

Mercury turned the computer around, displaying the screen the the rest of the girls. "See," she said. "It is almost like when we combine our attacks. Except in this case we would combine our magical attack with an object - say like bullets or guns and bind the magic with it.  The object would carry the magical effect with it for awhile. Long enough to use against the Protectors."

"Okay. We'll have to get together with the Outers and coordinate with them. Then we deal with the military next, and if Sun doesn't show up soon, we'll send one of us to get her," Sailor Moon said.

The other girls nodded in agreement. Before heading out toward the JDF's command post, they summoned the Outer Scouts and brought them up to speed. This was going to take all of them and then some.

.................................

General Takei was angry at first when eight short skirted girls showed up and requested his help in fighting these things. He was about to order them out of the area until one of his lieutenants informed him of what and who these girls were. He then vaguely remembered going to briefings where they touched upon these "Senshi", but didn't think anything about it at the time. As long as they were not considered a threat to Japan, he wasn't worried about them so he didn't really pay attention. A short and to the point demonstration of their... powers convinced him that they had information and resources that would be helpful in the current situation.

He was listening patiently about the nature of the enemy when they were interrupted.

"Sir," a lieutenant said as he saluted smartly. "We have just received word from command," he said while handing a folded slip of paper to the General.

The general's eyebrows furrowed, then he let out a sigh. "It seems that the science division has confirmed your story about this being an extra-dimensional warp. Also, I have received orders to shut it down," he said the last almost to himself.

"How?" Mars asked.

"The orders say by any means necessary. It also said to try to keep civilian casualties to a minimum." General Takei then sighed again. "I don't know how, with all the people grouped around the warp and guarded like that."

The general then looked at his lieutenant and asked, "What is the status of the reinforcements?"

.................................

A frustrated Ranma grabbed a rag to wipe down another just bused table, trying not to get too exasperated at the situation. Everything that could go wrong or get in her way of getting just one minute of privacy, had or did. If it wasn't one demanding customer it was another, or it was making change for some guy who needed it for the laundry matt across the street, or it was helping Hitomi with a very troublesome diner who insisted on a particular table in the crowded room, or a locked bathroom door, or a occupied storeroom, or people just flat out getting in the way.

Putting it mildly, she was about to pop.

Part of her felt like standing on a table and yelling at the crowded restaurant "Excuse me everyone, I think something nasty is nearby and I have to go check it out," transform and be on her way. A larger part chided her for thinking that and reminded her that a secret identity is only as good as it's a secret.

"What good's a secret if it gets people killed," she fumed to herself. Not that she knew for sure that anyone was in danger, but these feelings she'd been having for the last hour or so weren't good ones. Something in the back of Ranma's mind kept reminding her of how secrecy was paramount, a large part of her agreed and another part could care less. So she sighed and fumed at the injustice of it all, wishing she decided to help out with the Art Show instead. At the school there would have been plenty of opportunities to slip out.

"Next time, I'll go to school instead," Ranma thought bitterly.

Ranma's thoughts were broken by the sound of even more trucks that were louder than the last bunch that had passed through earlier. Hustling again to the front windows along with everyone else, Ranma tried to see what was going on. The din was such that the windows were rattling in their frames. Ranma saw what was clearly more Japanese Defense Force trucks laden with men and equipment move quickly down the road, again in the direction of the park.

There was more.

Flatbed trucks, several of them, each carrying a tank. More were carrying what looked to Ranma like big guns, which was in fact what they were. As the caravan progressed down the street, more and more people came outside for a better look at the passing vehicles. Small groups of perplexed men were gathering, trying to come up with theories about what was going on.

Hitomi spoke as she nervously rung a rag in her hands, "I wonder what is going on? I didn't hear anything about any military thing going on, have you?"

Ranma shook her head as she backed away from the window. "That’s it, I’m outta here, I gotta find out what is going on. To hell with secrecy" she thought.

Ranma was at that point determined to find someplace private to transform or to hell with secrecy and transform in front of a room full of people and leave. She had to find out what was going on, and she wanted to find out now. She didn't want to wait a moment longer anymore, the situation must be getting serious if the army had more troops moving in and she already wasted too much time waiting tables.

It was at this time a Humvee drove up at that moment with loudspeakers attached to the roof and parked in front of the clothing store next door.

>SQUEAK< "May I have your attention please. May I have your attention please." Pause, >SQUEAK<, pause.  "All citizens are to evacuate this area immediately. You are in no immediate danger, however, we are asking you to do this for your own protection. Repeat..."

The customers whispered among themselves as to what could be the matter, again different ideals were batted around from the plausible to the ridiculous. Ranma looked over worriedly at Akiko and Yoshi who by then were standing beside her.

"Whatever could be the matter?" Akiko asked.

"I don't know, but it must be something big for them to evacuate everyone," said one of the restaurant regulars.

"I'll have to call the school and have Michiko come home right away," Akiko said with panic in her voice.

Yoshi stood and surveyed the scene, lost in thought for a moment before turning to Ranma and Hitomi, "We must close as soon as possible. See about getting are customers out as quickly and as politely as possible."

Both girls nodded and began leading the patrons back to their tables and offered to-go boxes for the uneaten portions of their meals. There were a few takers and within a surprisingly short time the dining room was vacated in an orderly manner. Once the customers had left, Yoshi then locked the door and reached for the cell phone that he kept in his pocket. He then punched in a number and quickly and softly spoke into it. Hitomi had gone to the back and retrieved her sweater and purse and stood waiting by the door all the while looking nervously out the window. Akiko had returned from the kitchen with a look of relief on her face.

"Michiko is safe. They evacuated the school first thing and bused everyone over to Seisoke High School over in Shiba-Koen for safety," she informed Ranma.

"Good. Whatever is happening must be big." Ranma then leaned forward and whispered to Akiko, "I got to leave and find out what's going on - you know what I mean."

Akiko nodded, "Let's go upstairs where you'll have privacy to change." Just then Yoshi interrupted while walking up.

"My family has already been moved out. They had the whole block loaded onto trucks and taking are them over to Shiba Park. The Army has set up a relief center on the park grounds. Let's go and see if we can catch up to them there."

"You do that," Akiko said then added, "and please take Hitomi with you and make sure she is safe. Ranma and I will stay a bit and make sure that everything is locked and shut off here, then we'll try to join you there. "

"Are you sure? Maybe it would be best if we stay together," Yoshi said worriedly.

"You have nothing to worry about, except getting to your family. We'll be right behind you, now scoot," Akiko ordered in her firm, yet gentle way.

Yoshi nodded, knowing better that to argue with his mother. He turned and headed for the door while removing his apron, then motioned Hitomi to follow. Then both Hitomi and himself exited the building and re-locked the door. Akiko and Ranma were then alone at the front of the restaurant. A haggard looking Ranma exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding and looked up at Akiko before moving with her through the dining area and into the kitchen.

"You do what you need to do, I'll take care of everything here," Akiko said.

Ranma nodded, touched the magic that was in her and transformed.

Akiko blink-blinked and studied Ranma who was now Sailor Sun. After a close examination she raised an eyebrow and commented, "Don't you think that outfit is a bit - short?"

Ranma looked at her, then down at herself, shrugged her shoulders and replied, "I like it."

Akiko smiled at Ranma warmly, then her face became a mask of seriousness, "You be careful, I wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

"Don't worry about me granny. I'll be fine, just make sure you're safe, okay?"

A quick hug and Sailor Sun, stretched out her full senses and detected the other Scouts. She summoned her sword into her waiting hand. Sun slashed making a cut in the air behind her and stepped through the opening in space.

.................................

General Takei was not happy.

First the local police notified the military that there was some kind of monstrous activity going on at the park and they lost the patrol car of the two officers that went to investigate. Takei arrived at the scene which turned out to be a hostage situation with some creatures from another dimension and who knows what they wanted. Then the Sailor Scouts show up and inform him that this was a vanguard of an extra dimensional invasion and requested his help in fighting it. Then the science people get involved and confirmed for him what the Senshi said about the vortex thing being some kind of dimensional warp. Then after passing all that information up the food chain to the top, what came down wasn't good.

He was to insure that the dimensional gate was shut down. He was to attack as soon as practical and try to keep the civilian causalities to a minimum. To a minimum. How in the hell did command expect him to do that when they're all sitting at ground zero? He knew that there would be a great loss of life and being the one in command, he would be to blame in the public eye no matter what the circumstances were.

He was also sure his superior officers were aware of that too.

No matter what he did or how he planned, he was screwed.

Some days it just sucks to be in charge.

A captain came up with a folder, "General Takei, Sir. We have some more accurate intelligence on the numbers of the invaders."

"Report."

"It appears that we have approximately two thousand of the man size invaders and approximately five hundred of the larger ones."

The General thought how the numbers were in the range given to him by the Senshi. So far the information the Senshi had given him jived with what his intelligence had found out.

"How are they armed?" he finally asked.

"There does not appear to be any external weaponry. However we have located several witnesses that saw one of the larger invaders destroy a police car with some kind of high energy weapon that they claim came directly from its hand." The captain paused to catch his breath, "The science people think that the weaponry is built into the invaders and we must assume that all are armed in some way."

The command post went silent as the other officers and Senshi looked on at the general, who was apparently lost in thought. He was wondering what he was going to do. Every approach and entrance to the park was guarded, so that meant that there was no chance of surprise. General Takei was trying to think of the best way to approach the park without incurring the deaths of many innocent people. Sighing heavily he turned to the Senshi who were gathered at one end of the Command post.

"Can you help us get the hostages out?" he asked very directly.

Moon nodded, answering for all the Scouts behind her, "Yes." She then turned to Mercury beside her on her left, "We need Sailor Sun. Here. Now."

.................................

Ranma stepped through the opening she had created in space. She found herself behind a group of short skirted girls she knew so very well from her dreams. Sun arrived just in time to hear, "We need Sailor Sun. Here. Now."

In spite of the obvious seriousness of the situation Sun had walked into, she couldn't help herself.

"You rang?" She spoke softly in an almost musical way. The Senshi jump and turned. Moon's reaction was predictable.

"EEEEK!Don'tdothat!You'reasbadasPlutois!Whydoyoualltrytoscaretheheckouttame?"

Sun blinked and looked into Sailor Moon and realized, "Her eyes, they're so much like Serenity's." Sun then bowed deeply, "I'm sorry." Sun held her bow, "I should have warned you of my approach. Please forgive me."

Moon looked at Sun and blink-blinked. Pluto had never apologized like that for scaring her. Anyone who apologized so formally and deeply surely must have meant it. Sun was well on her way to being on the good side of Sailor Moon.

"It's okay. Um... just try not to get behind me," Moon said adding a gentle smile.

"Excuse me," General Takei said, "Did you just step out of thin air?"

"Err... not exactly," Sun said while eyeing the General.  "I just made a hole in the fabric of space/time, snagged where I wanted to go, folded space between the two points, stepped through and here I am."

General Takei blinked-blinked and continued to stare at Sun.

"Okay," Sailor Sun said. "Yes, I stepped out of thin air."

"Oh," General Takei thought a moment. Fixing the new Scout with a firm look he asked, "What can you tell me about that?" Motioning to the scene in the of the park.

"It's a forced juncture between this universe and another," Sun replied just as firmly as she had been asked. This was something that the general already knew.

"Can you shut it down?" The General then asked.

"Yes, but we mustn't. Not yet," came Sun's reply.

"Why not? I have orders to shut the thing down. Why shouldn't we?"

"Because if we do, they'll just open up another juncture somewhere else. We should try to keep them here tied to this spot, where we know where they are," Sun replied.

A somewhat tall man in his forties wearing a disheveled jacket being escorted by an officer entered the roof top command post . He sported a goatee with no mustache, behind the dark rimed glasses his eyes sparkled with intelligence. He was clearly excited by what was going on.

"This is marvelous, simply marvelous," he said excitedly while walking up to the general.

General Takei looked at the newcomer and over at the lieutenant questionably. The escorting officer immediately got the hint and made the introductions, "I'm sorry sir, this is Dr. Ikari from the science division. He was sent to look at the thing out there and insisted on checking it out first before reporting to you. Dr. Ikari this is General Takei."

"This is absolutely fantastic. Such a thing should not exist. The power to create and maintain this... this wormhole must be astronomical," he rubbed his hands together with glee.

"How do you mean?" the general asked, his curiosity peaked.

"Well, just creating one would have taken a great deal of 'exotic matter'. You would have to produce a great deal of it to create this... I want to think about how that was accomplished," he thought aloud. Wiping his forehead the Doctor then began to pace back and forth, talking more to himself than to the surrounding people.

"Keeping it open would have required either more power to offset the matter entering it or - you see..." he looked around while adjusting his glasses and gathered his thoughts before addressing the general.

"You see... 'exotic matter' is matter that gravitically repels normal matter instead of attracting it. As far as we know this is required to construct a wormhole," at this point the doctor resumed his pacing. "By finding naturally occurring wormhole in the quantum foam and pouring exotic matter into it you could widen it to travel through it... " he stopped his pacing, facing the direction of the park, "but how would you direct it?"

He then began talking to himself again, "If you have enough exotic matter to create a tunnel, you can travel between both ends freely - if you can keep the tunnel itself open." He took a breath, turned and faced the general again and spoke on, "You see gravity itself would want to close the openings of the wormhole - and any mass introduced into it would be enough to close it."

"So how would you go about keeping one open?'" Mercury asked.

"Well, young... ah... lady," the Dr. Ikari answered while looking at her over his glasses, "you would have to either have enough energy keep it open to overcome the mass introduced into the wormhole or you would have to find a way to negate the mass. You would have to solve this problem before you could travel using a wormhole, they are after all, naturally unstable."

Then he though to himself out loud, "Maybe a combination of both... Hmmm." At this point Dr. Ikari whipped out a calculator and started plugging numbers into it, shaking his head.

General Takei signed to himself and waited for the doctor to continue, hoping something useful information would come out.

"With the amount of power it must be taking to establish a fixed, stable wormhole and allow matter to transverse through it, the only way to shut it down would be to deprive it of the power source keeping it open or introduce enough mass into the wormhole to collapse it," Dr. Ikari concluded.

"Like a black hole if the force keeping the wormhole open were powerful enough," Sun spoke.

"Yes, if the amount of stabilizing power is enough, you may have to overcome it by that much mass," Dr. Ikari agreed.

"What should we do?" asked Mercury.

"I can only tell you what needs to be done, I can't tell how to do it," the doctor said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Thank you Doctor,” General Takei said coldly.

"What is the full situation?" Sun inquired to Mercury.

"Well..." Mercury filled Sun in on what had happened to that point. Afterwards, Sun stood there mentally assessing the situation when her thoughts were interrupted by Mars.

"By the way... what took you so long? We were getting ready to send someone after you." Mars spoke in a demanding way that rubbed Sun the wrong way.

Sun paused and looked at the longed hair Senshi, bit back a sharp retort and replied, "I was busy."

"Busy? Doing what? Don't you watch the news? Its been all over the place..."

Mars was about continue when General Takei intervened. "First order of business is to free the hostages," he said, putting the conversation back on track. "Do you have any ideas?"

Sailor Sun thought for a moment, "If I can take care of all the guards at the front gates, in the park and surrounding the hostages, how long would it take you to get all the hostages out?"

"Lieutenant?" the General said while motioning his subordinate forward.

"We have strike teams waiting here, here and here," he informed while pointing out places on the map on the table before them. "If you can do as you say, we should be able to get in, secure the area and evacuate the hostages out in about fifteen minutes."

"In and out in fifteen minutes," he thought for a moment. "Have you arranged for the transportation as I instructed?" General Takei asked of his lieutenant.

"Yes sir," the lieutenant answered. He then swallowed hard and continued, "We managed to commandeer about eight buses and coupled with some of our trucks, we can move all of them out rather quickly and into the aid stations that were set up."

"How long would it take to infuse our weapons with your magic?" The General asked of the Senshi.

"Not long. With nine of us working and going around - say about twenty minutes?" Mercury ventured a guess, the other girls nodded in agreement, except for Sun.

“I don’t know how to do that,” sun said. “I was never shown how to combine my magic with another’s much less an object.”

“Well, with eight of us it shouldn’t take much longer,” Mercury responded.

"Okay," Sun said. "I'll wait here for word that you have finished doing that and then I'll take care of the guards. It shouldn't take long," Sun said. The General raised an eyebrow at that, Sun noticed this and said, "I can move really, really fast."

The general grunted at this, "Very well, I'll have my lieutenants inform our forces to expect you, have them radio in when you are through - infusing, was the word?" Mercury nodded, "- our weapons."

.................................

Fumiki heard Aki sigh. Looking over she noticed that Aki was looking in the direction of the front gates, looking lost in thought.

"What are you thinking?" Fumiki asked in a low whisper.

"I'm wondering why we haven't heard anything. I would think that the police would have shown up by now," he answered.

"Maybe they have and went to get more help," Fumiki ventured.

"That's probably what happened," the old lady sitting on the other side of Fumiki said. "They probably took one look at these ugly brutes and took off for more help."

"I hope something happens soon," Fumiki said looking back to Aki. "I'm getting nervous just sitting around - especially near that thing," she finished with a nod of her head toward the vortex.

"It does give one the willies, doesn't it?" the old lady said.

"Yeah," Aki whispered. "Like... itches across your skin or something."

Somewhere in the crowd a child started to cry again, whether it was the same child as earlier, they couldn't tell.

"I wish something would happen," sighed Aki.

"Don't be in a hurry young man," the old woman chided. "Wishing for the something you might not want yet."

Aki and Fumiki just looked at the elderly woman as the conversation died once again.

.................................

Private First Class Okamoto didn't mind admitting to himself that he was a little scared. He was not, however going to admit that or show that in front of anyone else. Especially in front of his buddies that he had been with since basic training. Training for something like this and actually doing it were two different things he soon discovered. If it wasn't for the training he'd gotten and the subtle support he received and returned to his fellow soldiers, he would have probably booked out of there. No, he was no coward, but seeing something like headless things shooting small balls of light from their arms at parked cars along the street was not what he envisioned when he joined the JDF.

When they were first deployed, Okamoto thought that this was a unannounced practice drill. When they arrived outside Juuban Park they were all briefed on the possibility of terrorist activities. Japan was no stranger to terrorists. The history of one cult had proven that in the past, when the cult gassed attack Tokyo subways with fatalities. Okamoto, thinking it was something along those lines, set up a machine gun nest opposite the front gates while the rest of his squad got ready to move in at a moment's notice. That's when, looking through binoculars, Okamoto got his first good look at what the terrorists were. He shuddered at the memory of what he saw.

They weren't human. Okamoto had the overpowering feeling that the thing was watching him as he watched it. It was an unnerving and creepy feeling, considering that the thing had no visible eyes.

Okamoto didn't know what to think.

An hour later, word came down from the top to expect a visit from a Sailor Scout. Okamoto wondered at first what the Navy had to do with this operation. Soon a girl with long black hair and wonderfully long legs wearing a very short red skirt showed up. To Okamoto she seemed pretty even though for some reason he couldn't really see her face when she was ten feet in front of him. Okamoto and the rest of the men in his company were ordered to form up and prepared to have their weapons treated. The strangely beautiful girl began some kind of movements that reminded Okamoto of a ballet that he saw with his younger sister. The short skirted girl finished in a pose with her arms outstretched and what looked like flames that broke up into tiny balls of light coming from her fingertips.

The guns and other equipment that Okamoto and his fellow soldiers had started to attract the motes of light and began to gathered around them. The weapons glowed for a moment as the points of light formed around them before fading, leaving everything as it was. The strange, long haired girl, who Okamoto thought of asking for a date, then moved on.

It wasn't until after she was gone, that Okamoto wondered what it was all about.

.................................

"Sir, the last unit has called in. All our weapons have been treated by the Sailor Scouts," the lieutenant reported.

"Everything's ready, let's go," General Takei said.

Sun nodded and compressed time. To those who watched, she seemed to disappear. Sun leapt out of the Command Post that was on the roof and gently landed onto the street below. There she summoned her sword and went to work. Walking toward the park entrance Sun took out the Protectors stationed there by cutting them in half.  It was kind of weird slicing the things down the middle or to the side and both halves would stay together as one. The only indication of Sun's passing was a thin bisecting line in their bodies.

Entering the park and working her way over to where the hostages were being held, Sun cut down every Protector she ran across.  Plus a few she went out of her way to get at. She felt she had plenty of time with the amount of power she was putting into her time field. To her it has been about 45 minutes yet not even 1/100th of a second had passed in normal time. She decided to take the entire force of invading Protectors out - after all she had the power and the all the time she needed. She would remove the guards around the hostages first and work her way around the park.

Walking around the area where the hostages were being corralled she swung her sword here and there, cutting the guards in half. Working up and down the rows of seated people she almost casually sliced at the guards. Sun was very cautious though, in spite of her almost whimsical looking attitude for she was aware that she was surrounded by innocent people. After she had finished up the guards and before moving on to the other Protectors that ringed the park, Sun decided to investigate the wormhole more closely.

Sun noticed the blueish gummy clumps adhering to the edges of the vortex that also seem to support it. "That's must be what they're using to power and stabilize the wormhole on this end," Sun thought.

Stopping just inside the ring of hostages in front of the wormhole, Sun extended extended her senses into it. She detected some kind of mass from within. Alarmed, Sun reached further and powered those senses into the blueish haze a little more. She found that the channel between our universe and the universe of the Protectors was full of...

... troops. A lot of troops, heading this way.

Sun thought some more, "I have to do something about this. I could get close to the opening and fire a Solar Flare into it. Not too powerful of one though, too many people that are too close."

Looking about her some more, she realized that the ring of people was just too nearby to deal with the oncoming troops. Even though Sun trained hard to limit her attack, she still didn't feel comfortable enough to attempt it with all these people here. Sun would have to wait until the area was clear. Without the magical protection that she and the other scouts had, even getting near her when she launched a Solar Flare would be deadly.

She shook her head, "Better not risk it. If I miscalculate even a little, a lot of people will end up dead." Sun opted instead for a closer look at the wormhole.

As Sun approached the large opening she noticed something, the air before her was distorting. At first she thought it was some kind of optical illusion being caused by the wormhole itself. The fact that it was right in front of her and kept getting worse as she neared but that idea aside.

"What the heck is this?" she thought as the distortion grew. It wasn't hindering her movements in any way or keeping her from approaching the wormhole, but it still didn't change the fact that there was something going on. Something that she should know, but couldn't remember what.

Sun stopped and studied the phenomenon and noticed how the distortion looked like oil mixing with water in mid air. "No! It's like... two... things meeting. Colliding... but what?" Sun pondered this mystery, before concluding, "I hate not knowing something I should know."

With a shrug of her shoulders, Sun pressed on. Moving closer to the wormhole, the distortion turned into streaks of light striking against one of Sun’s fields. The appearance was that of rain water striking a windshield. Sun chose to ignore this - figuring that she could handle anything that was thrown her way...

... then she unexpectedly reentered real time.

The guards she had sliced before fell into or exploded into sludge. That was the signal that mobilized the other Scouts and the JDF to move in.

Sun hadn't finished clearing the park yet.

.................................

Nothing was heard until orders came down to prepare to move in on the park. The signal to do so being when the alien creatures at the front gates were taken out. Okamoto and his unit's job would be to move in and protect and provide cover for the teams that would get the hostages out. So Okamoto and his friends watched the creatures as they meandered back and forth, on guard looking with unseen eyes. As they waited for the sign to move out, the soldiers passed the time checking and rechecking their own and each other's equipment and talking.

Ariwa turned to Okamoto, "You think anything will happen soon?"

Okamoto replied, "I don't know, just watch the... creatures. Then we'll know."

Haga who was to Okamoto right said, "Did you see the legs on that chick that came by here? They went all the way up to her neck. Man, what I'd do to go out with her. I wonder if she's single?"

Okamoto answered, "I think maybe she's kind of young for you. Besides, don't you already have a steady girl?"

Haga looked at Okamoto with a mock hurt expression on his face. "You know I do. Just because I'm attached, doesn't mean I'm dead. Besides, you were checking her out pretty good yourself. I'm surprised your eyes are still in your head."

Okamoto looked flustered, "I'm not that bad."

Haga looked past Okamoto to Ariwa, "So says the only virgin in our outfit."

"Hey!" Okamoto exclaimed indigently as Ariwa chuckled.

"Is there a problem soldier?" a voice with authority asked from behind.

The three soldiers jumped and turned to see their captain behind them. "No. No Captain Ichigawa, sir. We were just all wondering when we'll see some action. That's all," Haga stammered out.

"Just watch those things out there," the major motioned with his hand. "Then you'll know."

"Yes sir," Haga said.

Turning back to face the gates of the park, the whole unit seemed to grow impatient. It hadn't really been that long. It's just that when you're waiting for something to happen, time seems to drag on and on. It also always seems that when the human mind gives up on something ever happening is when things start to happen. Case in point: Okamoto, tried of waiting and getting a case of nerves considered hitting the can. That's when the creatures guarding the front gates just exploded out of existence in a shower of gory sludge.

Okamoto, Ariwa and Haga were stunned for a split second by the suddenness of the event. Until their commander, Captain Ichigawa began yelling, "Come on men! What are you waiting for, an invitation? Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"

The three, along with about two hundred other men, rushed into and through the park gates. Fanning out widely, Okamoto and his companions kept their weapons at the ready, looking for any signs of the enemy. First entering the park all they found were puddles of slime on the ground. Working their way toward where the hostages were being kept, Okamoto and his friends were taken by surprise by a large thing that suddenly reared from behind some bushes and extended a glowing arm in the direction of the soldiers.

"Holy shit!" Haga cried out as he raised his gun. It was too late, too late for the creature that is. A lance of fire hit it squarely in the chest, cutting it down. Looking behind them, the three JDF soldiers were greeted by the same Sailor Scout that treated their weapons. She smiled at them and winked before disappearing further into the park.

Okamoto turned to Haga, "Still wanna ask her for a date?"

"No."

"Come on, let's move!" the captain's voice boomed in the distance somewhere.

The three soldiers kept moving, this time with their weapons more ready.

.................................

The pseudo-cat was surprised by how swiftly the Old Moon Kingdom warrior had decimated the guards that were watching over the hostages and the troopers that were stationed at the main gate. This new threat was different from the other warriors they had been feeling out for the last few weeks. This one was entirely too fast and powerful for any of the pseudo-cat sensors to get readings on. One second the warrior, or Scout as they were referred to here, was conversing with the other Scouts and the local military. The next she was in the middle of the ring of people around the wormhole with a swath of dead troopers in her wake. The pseudo-cat studied the situation and readied itself to deploy the Protectors ultimate weapon: the Super Duper Trooper.

.................................

Sun looked around frantically, wondering what the hell just happened. One moment she was taking out the bad guys and the next... the wormhole! How could she have forgotten?! It punches a hole and distorts space. Since space and time are interlocked, it disrupted her own time field.

"Crap," was Sun's only comment to this unpleasant surprise.

Sun dashed away from the interfering wormhole and felt the space around her for any incoming Protectors that would have witnessed their companions fall. There were a few and she felt the need to take them out before they alerted any of the others. Sun went back into compressed time... or tried to.

"What the heck is going on here?" she ranted to herself as she tried to force the compression. Before it was natural, now she really had to concentrate on it, something she wasn't used to.

Something was very wrong.

Examining her time field, Sun discovered to her dismay that the field was unstable and wildly fluctuating. Feeding more power into it, she tried to stabilize the field and enter compressed time again - this time with interesting results. Instead of everything freezing like she was used to, everything seemed to freeze and speed up again, all matching the beat of fluctuating time field.

It was so disorienting that Sun quickly abandoned trying to stay in compressed time and decided to work out the problem later, after the hostages were cleared out. The hostages for the most part where stunned by the sudden loss of their guards, just sat there looking around themselves confused, making no effort to move.

"What's wrong with you people? Get out!" Sun yelled provoking some of the crowd to their feet.

Spying a large group of approaching Protectors, Sun rushed them and was about to prepare a Solar Flare to deal with them. She stopped herself as she remembered that too many people were too close and if she screwed up, a lot of people could get killed. With her time field acting up, Sun couldn't even do her "friction" attack that she’d spent so much time perfecting for close quarter work.

It was time to get back to the basics.

With sword in hand, Sun charged into the oncoming Protectors that were moving to intercept the hostages that had enough wits to flee. With one stroke Sun cut two of the attackers down and delivered a roundhouse kick with such force that a third Protector was crushed into sludge. The last four were taken out by something that Sun hadn't done in quite sometime, since she first discovered she was Sailor Sun. Her ki training.

Sun focused on an emotion she hadn't used in quite sometime, since she was thrown out into the streets and lost her confidence...

... and found it again. Focusing her will, Sun channeled her ki through her body and lauched it toward the Protectors.

"Moko Takabisha!" Sun yelled out unnecessarily, but it was good to hear it anyway.

A very large ball of controlled, super charged ki shot from Sun's hand and vaporized the last of the Protectors.

Sun smiled.

.................................

The Scouts were at the point of the attack, using their magic to take down some of the larger Protectors that had hidden themselves behind or in some of the tall bushes. The JDF, with their automatic weapons, took out the smaller ones as they tried to intercept the combined forces and cut them off from entering the park. Sailor Sun retreated to the wormhole, opposite of the front gates where the hostages were being evacuated. From there she had a good vantage point for any of the Protectors from that side of the outer perimeter of the park that tried to make their way back toward where the people were.

Sun was careful not to attempt to compress time near the wormhole because that the field was slowly stabilizing.

Once inside the park, some of the JDF forces set up a protective ring around the hostages that were still seated as other soldiers moved in and got the stunned people to their feet and moving toward the gates. More soldiers assisted in herding the mass toward the front gate and into waiting trucks and buses that had been commandeered for the rescue.

The rest of the Scouts rushed up to Sailor Sun. Mercury asked, "How did you do that? My computer couldn't detect anything."

"I'll be happy to tell you later, right now we're going to have company - and a lot of it," Sun said with a hint of worry while thumbing toward the wormhole.

"What's coming?" Neptune asked.

"More of these - Protectors. I felt a whole bunch of them. They must be reinforcements for what is already here." Sun's natural combat leadership skills were starting to come alive at this point, "I need a clear field of fire so I can do a Solar Flare and clear the channel out. How much longer for the evacuation to finish?"

"In a few more minutes the park should be clear of any people."

"Good, how are the JDF holding up?"

"Well with their weapons magically enhanced, the JDF can hold their own for awhile. The magic won't last long though," Mercury said while removing her computer from stuff space. "If the current rate of degradation holds, then they will have about an hour of effectiveness before the level of magic fades."

"I hope that will be enough time," Sun said while watching for stragglers among the people being cleared out. "We don't have much time and a lot of these -"

Sun was cut off as the wormhole began hissing loudly. She was surprised, they were arriving far sooner than she thought, how can that be? The wormhole flared a brighter blue and sprang into life as more of the fleshy things started to pour out of its wide aperture. Sailor Sun quickly repositioned herself in front of the opening and began to gathered her energy in her hand for a Solar Flare. Taking one quick look around and chastising herself for continually falling back on an attack so instinctive to her, she realized that the area hadn't been cleared yet.

That what she gets for trying to depend on one thing to get by.

Changing plans, Sun summoned her sword and began to hack away.

"Dammit! I need some help here," she shouted as she launched a Moko Takabisha across the wormholes mouth taking a bunch of Protectors trying to exit. The other scouts were already in the middle of powering up their magic to assist in the defense.

The Scouts combined their attacks and with the aid of Sailor Sun, who was using her sword and firing off Moko Takabishas, were able to keep the invading forces at bay by cutting them down as they came through the wormhole. Before the Senshi got their wits together for a defense, a large group of Protectors managed to slip by them. These Protectors managed to fire off balls of plasma from their arms, sending explosions around the scene before being cut down. A few of the hostages that were straggling were nearly hit, but Ranma couldn't tell if any were hurt or not for she was preoccupied in helping hold the brunt of the invasion force at bay.

.................................

Fumiki was pulled to her feet by a uniformed young man and dragged in the direction of the park entrance. There were loud popping noises that she guessed were gunfire, never having heard the sound of real gunfire before. The only thing she was used to hearing was what she heard in the movies. The old lady that was seated beside her was caught up in the same wave of people that were being herded and on her other side...

... Aki wasn't there! Where could he be? Fumiki hesitated for a moment as she craned her neck around hoping to catch a glimpse of Aki anywhere. She was quickly pulled along and chastised by another man in uniform for slowing the flow of people from the park. A hissing sound was heard and explosions rocked the area. Fumiki lost her footing as someone slammed into her right side, bringing her to her knees. Fumiki held her side were the unknown person struck her and tried to catch some of the wind that had been knocked out of her.

More loud popping sounds were heard, much closer and deafening. The air filled with the smell of gunpowder.

Hands grabbed her roughly around the shoulders and she found herself once again pushed and pulled toward the waiting park entrance. Getting her wits about her, she held her injured side and concentrated on moving toward the front gates and looking for Aki.

He was nowhere to be seen.

.................................

The pseudo-cat concentrated. On the side of its fake cat body appeared a large boil that grew until it ruptured the skin and burst forth. The fur and skin of the pseudo-cat resealed itself as the pseudo-cat sagged to the ground, spent from the exertion of releasing the Super Duper Trooper. The blob that it deposited shivered like jelly and was still. After a few moments the blob began to swirl with a blueish color and little blue specks of blue light dancing about it.

Each speck began to glow before dulling into flesh-colored blobs that joined together and grow until it resembled its companion troopers. The only difference in appearance was its size. It was a good one third larger than even the largest trooper to have come through so far. It's vaguely human shaped body without a head tilted downward in the direction of the pseudo-cat.

The pseudo-cat raised its head and began to communicate the current situation to the Super Duper Trooper. The SDT stood over the prone pseudo-cat absorbing all the information while it was finishing forming and powering itself up. The first goal would be to eliminate the Old Moon Kingdom warrior identified as Sailor Sun. The second would be to secure this end of the wormhole. Deal with the threat first and secure passage for the rest of the force that was trying to get through. Simple and straight forward instructions.

Making a wormhole was a power intensive process. Even with all the resources that the Protectors had, creating one where they could move an army through was taxing their energy resources. Securing this end was paramount to the plan. If they couldn't then they would have to try to spur the existing one off, taxing the power sources on the Protector's end even more. The stabilizers that were place around the edges of the wormhole drew power from this universe and helped power the juncture. This opening between the universes must be allowed to function unobstructed and unhindered.

The SDT sized up the situation and then leapt high into the air. It locked onto its primary target, the Scout known as Sailor Sun.

.................................

Sun was busy helping the other scouts fight back the tide of Protectors when she spotted more coming in their direction from the outer areas of the park.

"Great, just what we needed," Sun thought unhappy at the turn of events as she dashed over to intercept the oncoming enemy.

Still fearing in using the Solar Flare, Sun hoped to compress time and use the heat of her friction to mow down the newcomers. Feeling she was far enough from the interference of the wormhole to make an attempt, Sun powered that field. She found even though it had stabilized a great deal she was having problems getting the amount of time compression she was use to.

Generating friction in compressed time and funneling the super heated air through her fields using a warp in space, she burned dozens of Protectors down. The many Protectors that were attacking meant that Sun had to keep moving between compressed time and real time, this was causing problems.

Her successful defense was soon becoming a strain. Sun found that moving back in forth from compressed time to normal was slowly but surely taxing her. Also the amount of shear will it required her to move back and forth between real time and compressed time was having an effect on her combat efficiency.

Sun blamed this on the effect the wormhole had on her time field and a lack of training. She would usually spend her time in compressed time or normal time and had not really practiced going back in forth between the two like she had been doing. She found to her dismay that too much back and forth coupled with whatever happened to her time field was slowly wearing her down.

"There's gotta be a way to stop these things. At this rate we'll be overrun," Sun thought frantically. Looking around for something, anything, to stem the tide she spotted Saturn off to the side felling a few of the Protectors that came her way with her Glaive. Something reached into the depths of Sun's mind and clicked.

"Saturn! Get over here!" Ranma screamed over the noise of battle as another batch of oncoming Protectors tried to force their way through the wormhole. Ranma burned down some of the newcomers with a Moko Takabisha, the other Scouts took their share. Saturn responded to Sun's call. Weaving around the fighting and cleaving a few of the enemy here and there she was soon at Sun's side.

"Can you throw your wall thingy over the wormhole's opening?" Sun asked over the din.

Saturn blinked, "Wall thingy?" Then she realized what Sun had referred to, nodded and yelled an attack that got lost in the sound of the fighting.

The Silence Wall formed over the mouth of the wormhole. It was almost comical to watch the oncoming Protectors slam into the barrier and flatten out, some even splatting into sludge.

"That should buy us some time. Can you hold it there?" Sun asked tiredly.

"For a while, it's a bit of a strain," Saturn answered, trying to sound brave.

"You're gonna have to hold it as long as you can until the all the people have cleared out of the area. Can you do it?"

"I'll try," the littlest Senshi replied.

Sun smiled and turned back to the fight. She flowed through the battle-lines and took out the few Protectors that were left with her sword. Upon slaying the last one that was around the wormhole, Sun on a whim held her fingers in a "V" for victory pose.

That's when she noticed something large from above bearing down on her.

.................................