Sailor Moon, only briefly waylaid by a very suspicious new ice cream shop, leapt onto a rooftop above the battle, finishing her triple scoop special. The scene was not an encouraging one. Pluto was only now staggering to her feet, Mercury was trying to scan Dominus in between onslaughts of snack products, and Mars was busy with a swarm of large beetles that had been dispensed and animated by the youma.
“…and that’s the situation,” she said into her communicator. “Think you can get here in time?”
“I’m already on my way,” came the reply.
Moon nodded and broke the connection. She looked back at the battlefield. If anything, things had gotten worse. She knew it was up to her to provide support until the cavalry arrived. “MOON TIARA ACTION!”
Colonge raised an eyebrow as Ranma finished explaining why he had brought several young women to the Nekohanten. “So,” she said, “if I understand you correctly, Son-in-Law, you say that these girls are in fact the reincarnations of several ancient warrior-magi, and one requires one of the artifacts in my room to access her birthright?”
“Yes.” This came from Sakaki. “If you would be so kind.”
The matriarch met her eye. The girl shied away from the glare almost instantly. “I hope you understand if I am more than slightly skeptical. The items I took with me are to be used only to fulfill my great-granddaughter’s mission of retrieving her husband, and only when more mundane methods have been exhausted.”
Ranma frowned at this “Then how come y’ got all them cheap power-ups fer people who can’t fight?”
“It is best to be prepared, Son-in-Law. If someone were to apply the Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion to Shampoo, her only defense would be the apology-inducing spectacles or a similar countermeasure.”
“Look, Old Gh—” Colonge’s staff twitched. “Look, Cologne-san, jus’ let us look an’ see if we’ve got th’ right thing.”
The elder’s eyes narrowed as she came to a decision. “I will expect compensation for this, Son-in-Law.”
Ranma returned the glare. “Y’ c’n take it outta my wages, ‘cause I ain’t takin’ Shampoo on a date.” He paused. “Where is she, anyway?”
“Delivering an order. She should return in a matter of minutes.” Cologne considered the pigtailed boy’s ultimatum. “You would honestly prefer serving customers in your cursed form to taking your bride out for a night on the town?”
“Any day o’ the week.”
“Hmph. Very well, come with me.” The elder’s gaze swept across the others, all of who involuntarily tensed as her eyes met theirs. “I will only take Ranma and the girl who supposedly owns the item. The rest of you are outsiders and may not see secrets of my tribe if you value your lives. Come, Son-in-Law, Sakaki-san.”
As the three left the restaurant, Mousse entered. “Five orders of the house special?”
With Sailor Moon entering the fray, the fight had entered a temporary stalemate. Dominus’s vending machine form was simply too fast and versatile for the Senshis’ more powerful attacks, and whittling away at it with weaker techniques was proving to be exhausting work. Meanwhile, the composite youma simply faced too many enemies to effectively harm any of them. Whenever one was prone, there was always another to get her out of harm’s way.
Mars summarized it nicely. “This is pointless! We can’t hurt him and he can’t hit us. What do we do?”
Moon looked towards the sky and smiled. “We get some help from above.”
Rei wasn’t quite sure what to make of that. “You want me to pray for divine intervention?”
“Well, I guess that wouldn’t hurt either, but I meant that.” Sailor Moon pointed at a dot in the sky. A dot that was rapidly growing larger.
Mars squinted and shaded her eyes. “What is that?”
“Reinforcements.”
As Sailor Pluto shattered a barrage of eggs with a Dead Scream, the sound of helicopter rotors became audible. All of the combatants looked up to see the most preposterously designed aircraft since the Spruce Goose. It was effectively a sea turtle the size of a van with a rotor planted on top of its shell.
Words came from a loudspeaker somewhere on the thing’s underbelly. “Pretty Aquarius Mecha-Tama 21 reporting, Sailor Moon!”
“Su?” The name formed on three pairs of sailor-suited lips. A smirk was on the fourth.
Mars turned to Moon. “You planned this, didn’t you? Call for backup, stall for time until they get here, then beat Dominus with sheer numbers.” Usagi basked in her guardian’s astonishment until she continued. “Who are you and what have you done with the brat who keeps reading my manga?”
“Hey, I can strategize! Ami even said my chess game is better!”
“So you remember how all the pieces move now?”
“Well, all except the horsies… Hey!”
“Girls, can we focus?” Pluto stopped the two before they descended into a tongue war. Sailors Virgo and Capricorn had exited the belly of the PAM-T 21, which had landed on a nearby roof. As Sailor Aquarius figured out how to get down to the battle, her comrades had met with their Planetary counterparts.
“Sorry!”
“Right. Virgo,” said Pluto, “You and Moon together should produce a powerful enough purification to permanently destroy this thing. Capricorn, you’re with me. We’ll need to generate something potent to keep the thing distracted while Moon charges up. Any questions?”
Sailor Mars had one. “Where’s Mercury?” Her question was answered as the Senshi of Ice was sent flying into her. “Never mind…”
“Sorry to break up the huddle,” crowed Dominus, “but you do still have me to contend with.”
Unnoticed, Sailor Mercury muttered to herself, “This is becoming something of a trend…”
“Touch nothing,” warned Cologne. “Some of these items are rather volatile.” She looked at Ranma. “I hope you know what you’re looking for, Son-in-Law. Otherwise we will be here for some time.”
“No problem.” Ranma produced the Zodiac Crystal.
“Ah yes, the item which was providing that ray of light.”
Sakaki wordlessly took hold of the Crystal. A beam shot out towards a small crate labeled “Special Spices. Do Not Touch. Mousse, this means you.” in both Joketsuzoku dialect Chinese and Japanese.
Cologne pogoed to the crate and rifled through its contents, dismissing the actual spices. Every now and then she lifted some trinket, seeing if the beam followed it, then carefully set it back down. On about the eighth try, she gave a triumphant cackle and returned with a, to Ranma, familiar curved piece of metal. “This is apparently yours,” said the Matriarch. She scowled. “I warn you, though. According to legend, this is a keepsake of the founder of our tribe, Pu Mi Tsu.”
Sakaki kept her comment of “Pumice?” to herself.
“If you are not who you claim to be,” continued the elder, “there will be… repercussions. Do you understand?”
The tall girl swallowed nervously and nodded.
Cologne handed her the Amulet. Sakaki examined it. The symbol, a sort of bent X shape with an arrowhead on the top right end, recognizable as a stylized bow and arrow, seemed to tickle her memory. Words crept to the tip of her tongue. “Sagitarrius Power…”
A violent crash from the restaurant broke her revery. Words of shock passed through three pairs of lips, and three pairs of legs sent their owners to see what had caused the disturbance.
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Animethropologist
(Posted Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:20)
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.