In a flash of light, standing before them was a very healthy blonde, but not the blonde that Mercury was expecting. Mercury was still a cat girl, though Keiichi couldn't figure out why and hadn't yet thought to ask.
"Behold the Genie of Love," the blonde declared. "Venus!" She posed for a moment and then turned to Mercury. "Now, what the HELL happened?"
"One of the dark genie corrupted Mars," Mercury said, tail flicking. "Or else imprisonment drove her mad. Or some combination of the two. She was bound to a mortal possessed by Wiseman according to Saturn, but whether the corruption was starting before or after that, we do not know. And why, pray tell, did we all sense you as Moon?"
"You mean she's not Moon?" Keiichi asked.
"I'm a decoy," Venus said. "Pluto had the Guardians hide Moon, normal operating procedure." Venus didn't seem phased at all by the fact that Mercury was still the cat-girl that Mars had turned her into.
"Do you know where they hid Moon?" Keiichi asked.
"Of course not," Venus said. Mercury and Keiichi sighed. "But I have a feeling we're supposed to head out that way. Okayama."
"Belldandy felt a card in that direction," Keiichi said. "It's on the way, perhaps we should stop there and investigate that."
"It might add to our collective power," Mercury said. "Ranma is not in a state to fight at the moment, though I suppose she would if she had too."
"Ranma? You mean the new Mars?" Venus asked. She felt a pang of sorrow at the loss of her old friend in saying that.
"Yes," Mercury said.
Venus nodded and let the situation drop.
"Off to Okayama then," Keiichi said. "With one side stop. One question."
"Yes?" Mercury asked.
****
"What are we doing here?" Ryuu asked his genie.
"I felt some sort of power, Master," she said. "It wasn't a ring, but perhaps it could help us."
"Either that or it could be a challenging fight," Ryuu added. Jupiter nodded and smiled in support of that sentiment.
They both froze in investigating the old tomb as they heard voices up ahead.
"What are you doing?" an older boy asked.
"I'm looking at these weapons," a girl answered softly, her voice never the less echoing back towards them.
"You should be resting," another girl insisted in a concerned tone. Jupiter's ears perked at the sound of the voice.
"She is resting," a young woman's voice said in a reassuring tone. "Keiichi, the clow card is this way."
"Okay," Keiichi said. "Are you sure we should be adding a card marked as the 'demoness' to our ranks after...you know?"
Jupiter and Ryuu snuck up to look at what was going on. Jupiter saw Saturn and an unknown genie walking very close to each other. Saturn was watching the unknown in a manner she usually reserved for when she was worried about one of her more worthy masters. The boy and the young woman Jupiter didn't recognize.
"I know her," Jupiter whispered to Ryuu. "She's one of my comrades. And...I can sense three other rings here now that I'm looking...wow!" Ryuu arched an eyebrow at the phrase "now that I'm looking."
"Mara is only born a demoness," Belldandy said assuredly. "She is really quite a nice person when she's not trying to kill you."
"That's reassuring," Keiichi said dryly.
"Shall we go out to meet your friends?" Ryuu asked.
"Yeah," Jupiter said. "Let me go first." Ryuu nodded as Jupiter walked out and called out cheerfully. "Saturn!"
She saw the unknown genie, an ifrit, tense for a battle and stand in front of the genie of Death and smiled at the sight of someone protecting Saturn like that.
"Is this one of the other warrior genies, Saturn?" the young woman asked. Saturn nodded and the other three people in her party marginally relaxed their poses.
"Jupiter?" Saturn blinked. "Is that you?"
"Yep," Jupiter said. "I got a nice cute master." Said cute master stepped out into view looking embarrassed. "Who else is here so we can have a reunion."
"Keiichi?" Saturn asked after looking inexplicably nervous for a moment.
"Mercury, Venus," Keiichi called, and the two genies appeared, Mercury still a snow-leopard girl. Jupiter and Ryuu blinked at the tail swishing behind Mercury.
"Uhh...I can feel four rings," Jupiter said. "So who else is here?" Everybody looked visibly pained at that and Saturn comforted the unknown genie.
"This is everybody," Mercury said.
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Fri, 11 Oct 2002 21:53)
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