Again, I would like to that everyone who has took the time to review this. It really does help.

Boldly going where others had gone before and meekly going where few have been.

I don't own any of these characters or situations
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Juuban part 8

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The pseudo-cat was feeling low, it had been severely chastised for it's failure to get a complete set of readings from the night before. One super trooper lost and hardly anything to show for it. The council was very displeased, but didn't officially reprimand the pseudo-cat because it was working in what could be termed "enemy territory", however it did make themselves clear there were to be no more mistakes. So with that in mind, the pseudo-cat would leave it's scanners on maximum and on 360 degrees all the time during the next fight, this would tax the processing power of the the scanners matrix greatly, but it would insure no one got the drop on it again.

There was going to be one more test attack before the date for the reconstruction force to invade was set. Plans have already been drawn up, just the decision on when to begin putting those plans into motion was all that was needed. The pseudo-cat would be sure of a complete set of readings this time. That was for later in the week though, right now it was on the prowl for something to eat and then to relax. The pseudo-cat was a bio-machine which meant that it had to keep it organic parts fed, the rabbit in consumed three days ago was good, but lasted only so long since it was sharing. The flyer had better luck at finding consumables, anything in the air and ground was fair game, and the pseudo-cat was limited to what was on hand on the ground and so the hunt was on.

It was fortunate that the reconstruction army that would follow the first waves of the invasion force would have plenty to eat with over 6 billion humans to choose from. From preliminary tests, only about 3% of the human population were salvageable to repopulate.

Passing by an alley, it detected a lower life form and moved in to eat.

*****************

When she first hit upon the ideal that she might be going insane, she panicked and began mentally hitting the walls within her psyche before eventually mentally tiring herself out. Ranma did this all while sitting calmly on the crowded bench and as a river of people made their way past her on the sidewalk. A little drama was playing out in her head. She had, in the past, always pictured someone going insane was a noisy affair, with lots of yelling and screaming involved, she now realized that it could be a very quiet thing. A very, very quiet thing, indeed.

Ranma sat thought.

Ranma sat thought on a crowded bench, in front of her a river of people were moving by her.

Ranma was thinking, or at least she thought.

But was it really her that was thinking or was she think she was thinking?

It doesn't matter anymore.

Nothing matters.

If nothing matters, then what's the point?

The point is that there is no point.

If there is no point, what else is there?

Nothing.

If there's nothing, then are we here? There’s gotta be something.

There’s nothing, us being here is just an oversight, we can fix that.

How do we fix something like that?

By making us not be here anymore.

By making us not be here?

This is wrong, we are here.

We also need to punish those who wanted to take our life from us and then take our life back.

Take our life back? How?

By taking our life back. You know, taking.

Taking?

By taking our life.

Taking?

Taking our life? You mean killing ourselves?

Yes.

How?

You keep guys keep thinking, we’ll make a list.

This is wrong, don’t think about ending our self.

But, they can't get to us anymore if we're dead. We’ll never be used again.

True.

But not before we get them.

Get them?

They need to know what it's like to live in fear.

Yes, fear.

This is wrong, we don’t need to do this.

They need to suffer like we have.

Suffer. Yes, suffer.

They need to learn their lesson before they die.

This is wrong, this is killing needlessly. Think, we don’t want to do this.

They need to be punished.

Yes, they do. Punished.

This is wrong. We should not be the one to judge.

They need to be punished like we were, just for being alive.

Yes.

Before we die.

Die. We must die. The people who are to be punished must die. Wait, what about our friends?

They'll get over us. We will be forgotten.

This is wrong, don’t do this.

We can take them with us if we want.

Take them with us... how?

The power, use the power, we have the power. Our birthright.

This is wrong, taking lives of innocents doesn’t end the pain.

Why should we take them with us?

Our passing would cause them pain, if we take them with us, then there will be no pain.

This is wrong, stop this please, stop this.

We would like that! No more pain for anyone and we won’t be alone!

We knew you would like it.

But, what about our friends families? Won't they be hurting from our friends passing?

Yes, but if we take everyone, then no one will be in pain and then everything will be okay.

This is wrong, this is wrong - don’t think this - come to our senses.

Everyone? Who's everyone?

We can take the whole planet, it would be no trouble at all. Everyone would be happy that they weren’t left behind.

This is wrong, we have not Right. We are the one not to decide for everyone. Stop.

Hey, why are we thinking like this?

Because we don't matter, nothing matters. When you don’t matter, why should anything else matter?

If it doesn't matter, then why bother? We could stay like we are. Forget everyone and everything else.

Because we still need to teach those who took our life that it should matter.

How?

Sit there, I’ll show you,

Ranma's mind was filled with a vision, a glorious vision:

The city was far below her, sprawling over a wide area, it filled her view as she looked down on it. She was about to pass her final judgment. Ranma spun high in mid- air like a top and raised her arms and power, raw power, flowed between them. It would soon be over with, all her tormentors, all her loved ones would soon be dead. She would be alone after this, but not for long. No one would be spared, her tormentors would be sent to damnation, while her loved ones would be sent to a better place.

Like a reversed hurricane the waves of raw power and heat spiraled outward, covering the vision of the city and the country side and the rest of spreading quickly throughout the Earth. Everything was devoured in a blanket of plasma. The oceans gave up in water in vast clouds of steam, on the land the highest mountains melted and sagged and in everyplace in between was sterilized by the flame of vengeance.

This is wrong. This is evil - this is not us. Stop. Please Stop. Think of what we’re doing.

With that task done, Ranma prepared for the last and final thing that needed to be done. Gathering her power she drew it within herself and suddenly dropping her barriers, released it back outward in her now unprotected body. Her form was consumed in an orgy of energy. Ashes were not even left...

... Not even the planet...

... nor the solar system.

At long last Ranma would be free.

This is wrong, this isn’t us, this isn’t what we what. Stop. Think. Please.

*********************

The pseudo-cat was walking out of the alley after feeding on a small dog that it had found rummaging through some trash cans for a meal. Now, all it wanted was a quiet place to digest what was it share of the food while waiting to observe the next attack. The Ultimate Weapon that it carried within already took the lions share of the food, so the cat didn't look too distended as it made it's way out of the alley. The pseudo-cat felt a little put upon, hunting for two - but it was for a good and greater cause, the resurrection of the Moon Kingdom. With that thought the pseudo-cat found itself on a sidewalk.

A very busy sidewalk.

The sidewalk was over flowing with pedestrians and the pseudo-cat had to dodge around many of hurrying feet that was threatening to step on it. It was considering going back into the alley that it had just left but the tide of moving legs prevented it from doing so. There was apparently sales going on at two popular stores that bracketed a vacant store, the the crowd was busying itself going between the two. The pseudo-cat was feeling threatened by the crowd, but was under orders not to draw attention to itself. What to do? That's when it spied a lone girl nearby, sitting a a crowded bench with eyes closed and a peaceful looking expression on her face.

The pseudo-cat knew from first hand experience that human females generally liked to pet it, it knew that this would be the perfect opportunity to escape the crowd that was, unknowingly, threatening it with its very numbers. Since arriving here the pseudo-cat found that being petted was rather nice, and except for the one girl who tried to make off with it calling it Francisco, the pseudo-cat found it also a convenient way out of situations just like this. So, like any ship caught in a stormy sea the pseudo-cat made for a safe port, the peaceful sitting girl.

*****************

Yes! That's is how we'll do it.

And nothing to stop us.

This is wrong. Stop this. We need to come to our senses, to come out of this. This is bad.

Why is it wrong? If nothing is real, this is our chance to make it real.

This is real, and we can't go around killing innocent people just because a few treated us badly.

Why not? They would just treat us badly too, eventually.

What about Akiko? What about Michiko? Did they treat us badly?

Akiko? Michiko?

Yes, what about them? Our family, would we kill them too?

But, they would be happy, too. Wouldn't they? No more pain for everyone! No pain is good.

Are you sure? Are you sure they would want this? Have we asked them? Are we going to deny them their choice? We were upset with not having a choice.

Why are we thinking about this? Why are we thinking about this now?

We must have vengeance, it is all that we have left. Nothing else matters.

All we have left? Nothing matters?

We are wrong. This is real, everything matters.

We must have satisfaction!

Satisfaction.

We must have blood.

Blood. Whose blood?

The blood of our oppressors.

***************

The pseudo-cat weaved through the crowded sidewalk, barely avoiding getting stepped on a few times. It couldn't wait for the Moon Kingdom to raise from the ashes of this, what it considers a filthy, barbaric world. Yes, the Moon Kingdom would restore order, peace, and justice into this loud and unordered world, just like the Protectors long dead creator’s would have wanted.

The pseudo-cat was satisfied that it’s target looked like the type of human that would respond well from a "cute" cat in her lap. This would give it the opportunity to relax before the next assignment and to observe the other humans around it up close, but just as important, maybe a chance of getting petted.

The pseudo-cat drew closer to the unsuspecting redhead.

****************

Please think. Please think - is this what we really want? Truly?

We need vengeance!

What about justice?

Justice? What about justice?

Justice and protecting the weak... and trying to do what’s right.

A martial artist duty is...

What about Happosai? He's a martial artist. Would a real martial artist do what he did?

... to protect the weak.

Our vow. What about our vow?

A vow means nothing if the people you give it to misuse it!

Blood. There would be so much blood.

Vengeance will be our justice. Nothing else should matter.

Think. Please think about what we’re doing. Come out of this. We don’t really want to do this.

How do we know if this is me? What we really want?

You don't, but if you destroy all that would hurt you then that would be real - no one their to give you pressure point or mess with you life. You could be a world all your own.

... a world of my own.

********************

The pseudo-cat growled as it got it's paw stepped on. It continued to move toward the seated redhead, it dashed under the bench that she was at, avoiding a bike that charged down the crowded sidewalk, parting the crowd. The pseudo-cat rested for just a moment, then strutted under the bench to the end where the girl was sitting. Coming out from the end where the redhead was at, it gauged its jump and prepared to land in a surprised and hopefully happy lap, a good vantage point for observation.

And maybe a good back rub, too.

*********************

Yes. We’ll do it.

We'll end it all.

We'll take the world with me.

No more pain for me. No more pain for anyone.

A world of my own making, with no pain, everyone happy.

Yes.

Yes.

We'll do it.

*****************

The pseudo-cat leapt and landed where it hoped. The girl jumped slightly on impact, but otherwise didn't not respond. This was strange, usually there would be a squeal of surprised and a “Oh, how cute!” then followed by a nice rub, which it found was always good after a meal. Hmmmm. Maybe some verbal communication was in order, it had picked up some of the "lingo" while here, maybe this will get a reaction.

Plus, it still hoped to get petted.

*****************

What was that?

What was what?

Something touched us.

Where?

Our lap.

Maybe it's a pervert.

Maybe it's Happosai. I bet he’s back to “test” us again.

Let’s test him instead.

It would be good to begin with him, the little mind-altering bastard.

*****************

The pseudo-cat opened its mouth and spoke...

*****************

MEOW

What?! NO! NO! NO! NOT WHEN WE WERE SO CLOSE!

So close? What? so close to what?

MEOW

Ranma opened her eyes and looked down at the horror in her lap.

She remembered fear.

A fear that was very, very real.

***************

The pseudo-cat saw the eyes of the girl open, for a second it seemed all was alright, just for a second. The redhead then let loose a scream of primordial fear and terror that rattled the nearby shop windows and nearly deafened passerby's. It didn't do the pseudo-cats ears any good either. The pseudo-cat didn't even realize that the girl had gone like a vapor, until it found itself on the bench, in the place where the red headed had girl occupied mere seconds ago. So fast did she move that it that to witnesses she just seemed to have just simply disappeared.

Puzzling.

Humans, who could figure them.

*****************

Ranma, breathing heavy rested against one of the support girders that crossed through the roof of the observation deck of the Tokyo Tower. Panting and trying to shake the fear that suddenly consumed her and had derailed her thoughts. Wait... her thoughts...

Her thoughts.

OH NO!

[Oh, god. Oh god, I almost did it. Oh no. No. No. No. No. No.]

Ranma slid down the girder and rested against it, she looked around to find herself on the roof of the observation lounge that was half way up the tower. She didn’t even remember how she got up there, all she remembered was the cat and the fear. As Ranma sat, she began shaking, but not from the cold, even though there was a cool wind blowing, more so from her present alleviation, it was from the memory of what she was about to do, gladly. The tears came slowly, then like water that was leaking from a old pipe that had suddenly burst, Ranma cried her soul out, for all she had and all she had almost lost.

As the afternoon was beginning to wane, Ranma had cried herself out. Raising her head from its resting place from her hands, she felt physically and mentally exhausted. What a waste of a perfectly beautiful day, nothing was accomplished and she felt as lost and without hope as ever. Well, she did accomplish something, she was no longer running the same thoughts through her head over and over again. She was no longer planning on literally ‘ending it all”, it was the shock of that damn cat in her lap that snapped her out of that.

For the first time since the cat-fist training, she was glad to have seen a cat.

Real or not, this was her life and she would have to find some constructive way to deal with it. Madness was not an option.

Ranma thought about the afternoon, her serious foray into contemplating suicide was probably one of the lowest points in her afternoon. Ranma remembered how it seem like such a good ideal at the time, she wouldn't have to worry about what was real or unreal, she wouldn't have to worry about anyone messing with her head or her life and she could escape all her troubles. The problem was she extended that line of thought to include everyone around her. Happosai, Sailor Pluto, Cologne, Genma, Akiko, Michiko... no... no.

No, suicide was out, at least for now.

She did however, keep the compiled list on different ways to do it, just in case.

Ranma looked at the sun, lower in the horizon and wondered if this was all there is to her life, one damn thing after another. She was tired, so very tired, but not about to give up yet, even after coming so close to losing it. As she saw it now there were only two ways out: suicide, which would be easy to do that now, considering she was half way up the Tokyo Tower, or try and join with the crystal.

Ranma could think of no other acceptable solutions.

"You know the way, you just need to decide to take it." came the voice.

[I wondered when you were going to show up again.]

"I've always been here, even through your moments of weakness, when you were thinking about ending your life and the lives of everything around you."

[Then why in the hell didn't you try to stop me?]

"I did, I kept telling you it was wrong. But in your mental state, you were not very receptive to my calling. It was fortunate that the cat came along and distracted you from your destructive lines of thought."

[Yeah, first time I was ever glad to be afraid of cats.]

"I remembered when we use to love cats, talking and gossiping with them in the royal courts."

[Yeah, I remember that, I wonder if any of them are still around?]

Silence.

[There is really no way, join or death, is there?]

"I'm sorry, I’m afraid not." the voice said, sounding sad.

[I'm not ready to die yet, but I can't go on like this either. If there is a chance I'll come out alive or something, I'll take it. Let's get this over with.] with that thought, Ranma leaned back against the girder, closed her eyes and concentrated.

She found the crystal that represented her soul easy enough. Her "other self" was there too, trying to reach the magic within the heart of the crystal, Ranma shuddered when she thought how close her alter-ego and herself came to succeeding in going insane. Ranma watched as her female twin grappled with the glowing crystal, but each time she touched it "she" became a "he". Frustration was clearly marked in every movement that her "other self" was making. She couldn’t help but smile at its plight. After a moment of watching the spectacle before her, she moved in and pushed the other her out of the way, in a surprisingly gentle way.

“You are ready to embrace who you are?” the voice said.

"No!"her now male other self protested, "I was so close! I just need more time!"

"Times up, buddy." Ranma snorted at him, then turned her attention to the crystal.

"Are you ready?", the voice asked patently.

“Not like I had any real choice in the matter, did I? It was either join with you, let some “punishment” happy nut case lose upon the world or kill myself. I mean, you knew I really didn’t have any choice, why did you have to drag it out like this?”

“Sometimes the illusion of choice is as important as having any real choices.”

“What is that suppose to mean?”

“It means that if I were to suddenly come to you and say you had to join with me and embrace a past you have forgotten and never suspected existed, what would you have done?”

Ranma pondered, then said, “I guess... I guess I would have said “No way”, and fought it tooth and nail.”

“By giving you the illusion of choice, you explored all the avenues of possibilities by yourself and came to the correct conclusion. Like everything, there was risk, you nearly went insane. It was the compilation of Happosai’s alterations to your mind that nearly made everything end in disaster. But, in the end, you overcame and we didn’t have to struggle. You now know what you must to do.”

“This stinks, I didn’t really have the power to change anything did I?”

The more power you have, the less choice you have.” the voice answered.

“What do you mean by that?”

“It means you had more choices living on the streets than where you are now, but were you happy living like that?”

“No I wasn’t happy like that, and I didn’t have any choice on the streets either.” Ranma snorted.

“Perhaps, but the truth is the more responsibilities you have the less possible choices you have. The individual with the least amount of responsibilities has the most choices open to them.”

“Whatever, let’s get this over with.” Ranma said, now truly wanting to get it over with.

“Touch your soul Ranma, reach into it and touch the magic that is within you.” the voice directed.

Ranma walked up to the crystal that represented her soul in her mindscape and tentatively touch the glassy surface, it felt warm, smooth and hard. She intuitively push gently against the surface and it yielded, she watch in fascination as the mental projection of her fingers slowly made is way to the center, it looked strangely like pushing through jell-o. The moment the tips of the fingers reached the center a warmth flowed up her arms and then just as quickly, throughout her body. The tickling that had always seem to be a part of her increased dramatically then sharply fell as Ranma started to feel “in tune” with something, something she felt before. The warmth increased into a fire, a fire that didn’t burn and seem to fused within her very being together. Everything was bathed in a light that devoured her “other self” and continued to increased in brightness until in swallowed everything... then...

... she watched as the Techo-mages infused the power into her very soul...

... she watched as she vaporized high-tech training drones in deep space...

... she watch as Genma, carrying a four year old Ranma over his shoulder as the young child cried and desperately grabbed air in the direction of the retreating form of his mother...

... she watch as she flew through the sky, riding a wake of distorted space...

... she stood by and watch a middle-aged Genma throw a young boy, that was her, into a pit of starving cats,. She heard the screams from within the pit....

... she watched as she laughed and danced with a variety of partners across a ballroom...

... she watched...

... she watched...

... she watched...

... she watched...

... other memories filled Ranma's mindscape as she watch different scenes from her life played out before her, jumping around from one point in time to the next. She saw all the pain and the joy that was her life...

... she watched...

... She even saw the points in time where Happosai had used the pressure points that effected her mind into thinking that innocents were being threatened...

... She saw the drugs that Cologne had put in the ramen to try to get him into the tribe, how she missed that the first time around she couldn’t figure...

... She saw the pain of being betrayed by people she thought of as family and the happiness of being truly adopted by such a caring family...

She saw parts of her life, many memories, but not too many, she could only hold so much. Ranma choose to keep the most important one’s close to her, making them part of her. Others she filed away with the greater whole where they would be available for reference, but not at the core of her being, the cat fist being one of them.

A great peace came over her as the bright light and images faded from her minds eye.

With that Ranma opened her eyes.

This was not what she was expected. She had thought that she would cease to be what she was and turn into something else. It wasn't that she really changed all that much, she was still her at the core, it was as if Ranma now had a new outlook, a new perspective on life and everything in it. Everything seem sharper for some reason, like a slight fog had been lifted from her eyes; colors seemed brighter, smells seem stronger and the feel of the wind around her body seemed a little more firmer.

She looked out over the roof and out into the city with the same eyes as before, the same thoughts, and the same memories. No, wait. There was more, the memory of the dreams seemed sharper and more real, she remembered them clearer now. But, there was so much in there now, her heart started racing with excitement.

[No. I must take this slowly, if I go to fast I could hurt myself.] Ranma willed her heart to slow as she rose from her seated position and strolled toward the edge of the observation levels roof.

She looked out over the city, a city she had a visions of destroying earlier, and pondered why she had thought of doing such a horrible thing. She also wondered why she waited so long to become whole, but understood at the same time it was a difficult thing to do. The unknown is always difficult. No matter, she was whole again and nothing short of death will ever change that.

She also felt she could deal with “certain people” that came close to destroying her without meaning too, without destroying everything else. She would think of something - creative for them - it might be fun too. She giggled to herself.

Standing on the edge of the roof with the whole city was laid out before her, she then decided to get a better view. A view she felt, not remembered, that she hadn’t seen in quite a long time. She touched the magic within. She didn’t have to say the words, but she wanted to hear them with her own ears, her words of liberation,

“Solar Crystal Activation, make up.”she whispered.

If anyone was there to watch Ranma, she just seem to glow as bands of light flowed up and down her body, then just as suddenly cleared revealing a new her. It was all over quicker than a flash from a camera. For her though, time slowed as she danced and swayed about with the magic that ducked and weave over her form, changing her clothes, changing her. Ribbons of light wrapping about her limbs adding were needed and removing what was not. When the dance was done a different Ranma was looking out across the city.

She was now dressed in a short teal fuku trimmed in white and a white sailor body suit trimmed in teal. The bow on her chest was red as was the larger one on small of her back with trailing ribbons. A golden teirra ringed her forehead with a blazing red stone set in the middle. Her long red hair was was now tied back with a teal bow into a pony tail that brushed against the bow on her lower back. Ranma’s feet were adored with black flat slippers, her legs covered in thigh-high white stockings and on her arms she worn black bracers decorated in unusual pattern. (yup, all this from the one-shot.)

Picturing a sword in her grasp, she began to close her hand and as her fingers near each other, a hilt sprang into life and a glowing blade shot forth. Examining the Solar Sword now firmly in her hand, it seemed to be made of energy and matter at the same time, fluctuating between the two. Everything was as it should be. [How do I do this again? Oh yeah!] With that thought, she stepped off the roof.

She did not fall.

Up, up she rose, riding the wave of distorted space that surrounded her feet and lower legs.

The sky was cloudless, she would have preferred some clouds, but right now she didn’t care as she shot straight up, higher and higher. The curvature of the Earth was becoming apparent as she went higher still, finally stopping at the edge of space, she was breathing normally. She then looked out across the vast expanse of ocean in one direction that held the approaching darkness of night and the vast land mass in the other side, still in the light of the day. Below her she regarded the island nation that was her home.

Regarding herself, she smiled.

For the first time since her death at the end of the Silver Millennium, Sailor Sun was reborn.
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