“Sir!”
Anthracite whipped around to see one of his ninjamarketers kneeling before him. Like all the ninjamarketer youma, this one appeared to be a humanoid male (for some reason, when he woke up, he’d found that most of the “female” youma had been summoned by various despots and then taken out by the Senshi—why all the would-be overlords ignored youma with a masculine frame was beyond him). His skin color would probably be a dead giveaway that he wasn’t human, but in his ninja outfit, most of that skin was covered, so it didn’t matter. It took Anthracite a few seconds before he identified the youma as the captain of one of his squads of ninjamarketers. “What is it, Cash?” All of the captains had financially themed names—for some reason, they’d all insisted on some sort of designation that was somehow related to the work they’d be doing.
Cash rose and began speaking to the financier/Dark General. “Sir, there have been several important changes in the status of some of the potential subjects under my squadron’s surveillance.”
Anthracite’s attention perked up at this—Cash’s squad’s primary responsibility was to monitor persons who would be ideal energy stores, but who, for various logistical reasons, could not yet be tapped. “Which subjects?”
“Sir, it appears that quite a few of the subjects my squad has the honor of monitoring for you have become more logistically feasible within the last few days. I have detailed our findings, as well as our initial analysis, in this report.” The ninjamarketer handed a thick stack of paper to his master. “In addition, a few candidates either have undergone or are very likely to undergo changes in their magical signatures that you should find interesting.”
Anthracite only needed to read the first page before he broke out in a grin. “Thank you, Cash. You are dismissed.” The ninjamarketer bowed and disappeared, leaving his master once again alone in his office. As he continued to skim the report, his smile grew wider and wider.
Excellent. This is absolutely perfect! The energy that would be available to him if he acted on this now would be astounding; certainly, it would increase the risk of his stores being detected, but with this much energy, he’d be able to construct adequate defenses against the Senshi. Then he reached the last page. What he read there shocked him so much that he nearly dropped the report.
A few of the subjects had recently had their magical signatures radically altered—and as a result, they were no longer acceptable as energy sources. But this was not bad news. Far from it. If what this report said was accurate, then these people could solve his problem of localized energy buildup—instead of mining their personal energy, he could store his excess magical energy inside of them. Then, with the collected energy properly dispersed, the chances of detection fell dramatically. With any luck, he’d be able to manipulate them the old-fashioned way and he wouldn’t even have to brainwash them. Always a flexible person, Anthracite quickly drew up a new plan. He wouldn’t implement Phase III just yet. Instead, he’d concentrate on harnessing the energy of the subjects who’d recently become available to him, and putting that energy into his “strategic reserves.” With that energy, he could bring the Senshi to their knees. And in the meantime, he’d be able to put some of that extra energy towards breaking through that damnable Senshi disguise magic.
Anthracite set down the report, closed the curtains in his office, and made sure that his intercom was turned off. He then cast a spell to temporarily increase his security against magical eavesdropping. Thus satisfied with his privacy, he did something that he’d only done twice before.
He threw his head back, and let loose a round of maniacal laughter.
“Setsuna? Is something wrong?”
The green-haired Time Guardian paused for a second before answering. “I don’t know… but it’s probably just my imagination. Nothing tow worry about.” Of course, that wouldn’t stop her from checking the Time Gates as soon as possible, but the feeling would have been stronger if it had been more urgent. “Anyway, there are some things I need to discuss with you, Usagi.”
“I’ll say there is! Why didn’t you tell us about your wedding? I know that you like to keep secrets, but something like this is too important to hide without a good reason.”
Setsuna pinched the bridge of her nose. She’d known this was coming, and she’d been dreading it ever since the party had started to wind down. “I assure you, Usagi, that I have a very good reason. And before you ask, no, it has nothing to do with Crystal Tokyo. It’s just that there were complications in Ranma’s life that required me to keep the wedding as low-key as possible. The only people in attendance, other than the two of us, were Nabiki and her sisters, and that was only because they were the ones who first introduced us. Believe me, if there had been any other way, I would have let you know immediately. But as it is, allow me to formally apologize.”
“Formally apologize?” Usagi looked confused for a while, and then winced when she realized what would probably happen at some point in their conversation. “Am I going to have to start acting like Princess Serenity again? I’ve already done that once tonight, and I’d rather just be ‘Usagi’ for the rest of the party.”
“It won’t be for very long.”
The ponytailed teenager groaned before responding. “Fine. But you owe me.”
“Understood.”
“So,” continued the Moon Princess, as the ‘Serenity’ aspect of her personality came forward again, “what do you require, Pluto?” She was being excessively formal in calling Setsuna “Pluto,” but that was mostly to drive the point home that she did not appreciate it when she had to abruptly stop acting like a normal teenager.
Of course, when Serenity acted formally, the rest of her court did the same—especially Pluto, who still remembered the rules of etiquette from the Silver Millennium. “Your Highness, now that I have wed, my spouse will need to be informed of my status as a Senshi in the near future.”
“I see. When do you plan on telling him?”
“I seek your counsel for that purpose.”
The princess was taken aback—she’d expected Setsuna to continue the formality, but not to this degree. It took her a while to translate the Senshi of Pluto’s response into something she could better understand, and what it came out to was “I’ll tell Ranma as soon as I have your permission.”
“Well, Setsuna,” she replied, using her Senshi’s real name to try to defuse the formality, you have access to the Time Gates, so you should know when he’ll be ready to accept the news…”
“I beg your pardon, Usagi, but I neglected to tell you something important. I cannot view Ranma through the Time Gates.”
“What? Why not?”
“Right now, his life is so chaotic that looking at him through the Gates puts a lot of strain on them—that’s why I didn’t learn of his curse until today.”
“Like Nerima?”
“Yes. I am certain that once his life settles down somewhat, I’ll be able to examine him through the Gates again, just as I am certain that I will eventually be able to view the Nerima area.”
“You are assuming that his life will settle down, then?”
Setsuna sighed. “No, your highness, I’m not. There is a very good chance that the Time Gates will never be able to handle the chaos surrounding him.”
The princess looked concerned. “Will your marriage affect the existence of Crystal Tokyo?”
“It shouldn’t be too much of a problem—I actually can monitor him form the Time Gates, but I need to do so very obliquely and very briefly. The last time I tried to do that was just before I proposed to him—”
“Hold up. You proposed to him?” interrupted Usagi as she briefly abandoned her Serenity persona.
“Only because he never would have thought to do so himself. But to get back to the subject at hand, though my marriage to Ranma makes the details of Crystal Tokyo fuzzy, all of the important parts are still there.”
“Like Small Lady?”
“Her birth actually predates Crystal Tokyo by several centuries. Exactly when she’s born depends on you and Mamoru.”
Usagi’s resulting blush finally deflated the air of formality that had permeated the conversation.
“Look, Setsuna, I trust your judgment. I’ll leave it up to you to decide when Ranma finds out about all of this. If you want me to put it formally, then, um… I guess I, uh… entrust you… with the, uh, task of telling your… beloved about us… as you see fit.” Usagi finally exhaled—she never could figure out why formal proclamations came to her so much more easily when she was in “Serenity” mode.
“Thank you, Usagi.”
Setsuna was about to get up, when the odango’ed girl stopped her. “Setsuna, I’m wondering, how is Ranma going to survive to Crystal Tokyo? You can’t expect me to believe that you’re going to just watch him grow old while you stay as young as a 25 year old.”
Setsuna sighed. “No, Usagi, I don’t plan on letting that happen to him. But there’s a lot that I need to tell all of you about the ups and downs of an extended lifespan, and now isn’t the time for it.”
“Well, then how about some time after you tell Ranma about us?”
Setsuna cocked an eyebrow and gave a small smile. “Well, you are the Queen, after all.”
After the party ended…
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Kwakerjak
(Posted Thu, 15 Dec 2005 02:28)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.