Ranma signed as he sat back against a tree.  It had been nearly six months since he had left his fool of a father in Jusenkyo.

He had stayed around Jusenkyo for about two and a half months.  In that time he observed the Prince of Musk, Herb, and his flying ability.  He had also borrowed scrolls from the Amazons that described a few of their techniques, most notably the Bakusei Tenketsu, the Kachau Tenshin Amiguriken, and the Hiryu Shoten Ha.  The Amazons, however, found out about the missing scrolls, and Ranma was forced to move on.  He’s pretty sure there’re a few Amazons out there looking for him.  He went to Hong Kong and stayed there for a month or so before returning to Japan.  Now he was in Juuban.  But that didn’t mean much to him.  Ranma was still Ranma.  In that I mean he was still using the Saotome name.  Although there was a chance that Genma would find him, but there was also a chance that his mother would find him.  Upon arriving in Juuban, Ranma had decided that he would do his best to life a normal life, or at least as close to normal as could be hoped.  So he had distanced himself from anything unusual.  He practiced his martial arts and fought in secret.  At school he would stay away from most of his classmates and hopefully be looked upon as the silent type.

 

 

            “You guys seen the new guy?”  Minako asked.

            Everyone nodded.  “Seen him, that’s about it,” Makoto said.

            “He’s a cutie, but he’s just to quiet,” Usagi noted.

            “I agree.  I have not heard him speak two words outside his introduction,” Ami said.

            “Maybe he just needs some company?”  Minako suggests.

 

 

            Ranma may have been one of the greatest martial artist on the planet, if you asked him he’d say he was the greatest, he may have been able to master some of the most difficult techniques every created, and he may have been a genius on the battlefield.  But in the social arena he was totally inept.  So when four young girls descended on him, he didn’t know what to do.  “Hi!”  The blonde with the pigtails greeted him.

            “Hi,” Ranma replied.  He tried to act as if he didn’t really care that she was talking to him.

            “I’m Usagi, this is Ami, Makoto, and Minako!”  She continued in her energetic tone.  The girls all greeted him.

            He continued to try and give them the hint that he didn’t want to talk.  “Saotome Ranma.”

            Usagi wasn’t getting the hint.  The others, however, were beginning to understand.  (“He’s trying to force us away,”) Makoto concluded.

            “Well Ranma, we just wanted to say hi and see if you needed anything.”

            “Naw, I’m fine.”  Ranma looked ahead as if the girls at his side weren’t even there.

            Usagi finally started to get it.  But she still tried to be friendly.  “Well if ya need anything let us know!”  Usagi, Ami, and Minako left.  Makoto however lingered.

            “Need anything?”  Ranma asked.

            “That was mean, ya know?  She was just trying ta be friendly.”  Ranma made no movement nor did he speak.  “Don’t you know how to be friendly?”  She sarcastically asked.  That got a response from the boy.  He looked into Makoto eyes.  Eyes that shouted he was in pain and was so lonely.

            “I had a friend once,” Ranma returned to looking forward.  He looked like he was remembering something.  “He’s name was Ucchan.  We used to play together when we were kids.”  He stopped speaking.

            “What happened to him?”  Makoto asked.

            Ranma frowned.  “I haven’t seen him in ten years.  He was the only real friend I can remember havin’.”

            “That’s sad.”  Makoto thought for a second.  “What about your parents?  Didn’t they want ya to have friends?”

            “I ain’t got no family,” He said calmly.

            Makoto was silent for a second then spoke again.  “I lost my parents too.  But that’s no reason to close yourself off from the rest of the world.”  She turned around and began to walk away.

            “Makoto-san,” Ranma said.  Makoto turned around.  “Tell your friends I’m sorry.”

            “Sure thing Saotome-san.  But call me Mako…all my friends do.”

            Ranma smiled as he looked ahead.  “Only if you call me Ranma.”

            Makoto smiled.  “All right Ranma.”

            “Ja ne, Mako.”

 

 

            Elsewhere in Juuban.  Things that did not revolve around healing and making friends were taking place.  Ironically enough these events were taking place at a rundown hospital.  In the lower levels of the hospital people still lived, worked, and planned.  But their activities had nothing to do with what would normally take place at a hospital.  Instead they were experimenting on live human patients.  Patients that they had picked up off the street, the undesirables that no one would miss.  Within one office a man sat.  In front of him was a desk with a small computer and a single photo.  A knock on the door brought his attentions to it.  “Enter,” He commanded.

            Through the door came a ravishing beautiful woman in a nurse’s uniform with the skirt cut far too short to be deemed decent.  Even with her face hidden in the shadows one other thing could be discerned, she had long red hair.  She carried a clipboard in her arms.  “Doctor, I have good news.  Our first successful test subject is ready.”

            The doctor nodded.  “Excellent.  Now we need to test his abilities to make sure all has gone according to my plans.”

            The woman nodded.  She flipped to the last page on the clipboard and took out a pen.  “And where shall we send him in order to received an accurate test?”

            The doctor smiled.  “Juuban High School.”

 

 

            Ranma signed as he walked through the halls of the school.  He was trying really hard to act normal.  At first he thought he would have a tough time because of his physical abilities.  But it had proven surprisingly easy to hide them.  Then he thought schoolwork would be his bane.  But for whatever reason Ranma was doing all right.  (“Maybe it’s cause Oyagi ain’t beating me everyday?”) He thought.  He shrugged and put his stuff away.  He grabbed his book bag and began to leave when his senses when into overdrive.  (“What the hell is that?”) Ranma looked around.  Nothing.  (“Whatever it is, it’s getting close.”)  Ranma calmly walked outside and began scanning the schoolyard for whatever had set off his danger sense.  (“Dammit, whatever’s coming’s goin’ have easy pickins with all these people leavin.”)  Ranma leaned back against a tree and waited.  (“Protect the weak.  That is the duty of a martial artist.”)  Ranma thought as he began accessing the lowest level of the Neko-ken.

 

 

            The young girls that were sometimes known as the Sailor Senshi met up near the entrance/exit of the school.  They were about to leave the school when a low beeping sound caught their attention.  Ami hushed them and motioned for them to follow her.  They enter into one of the empty classrooms.  “What’s wrong, Ami?”  Usagi asked.

            Ami does not answer right away.  Instead she takes out her computer and begins to type.  After a moment of typing she closes it and turns to her friends.  “We’ve got trouble.”

 

 

            Sailor Pluto looks upon Juuban High through the Time Gates.  (“Now is the time.  The beginning of everything that will lead to Crystal Tokyo.”)

 

 

            And with a crash everything began.

 

 

            Ranma started to move toward the newly made hole in the wall but stopped.  (“An increase in ki?  Coming from…the school?”)  After a second of indecision, he leaned back against the tree.  (“Lets see what these new comers can do.”)

 

 

            The Senshi arrive just as the dirt around the wall.  They wait for whatever made the hole.  After a few tense seconds, it appears.  It appears to be a man, but his features have been distorted, almost mutilated.  It looks to be nearly seven feet tall (though it is hunched over so it appears to be around five feet tall), its right eye is set slightly higher than its left, its right ear is about one and half times larger than his left, the hair on the back of his head is long and thin, while bald spots dot the front.  His chest is large and contains a handful of scars, his left arm looks normal up to the shoulder, which is slightly larger than normal, and his right arm, especially his hand, is much larger than it should be.  His legs seem to be the only thing that is in proportion to his body, and even then they are much larger than a normal human’s.  It nearly stumbles into the schoolyard.  It is hunched over and uses the wall to support himself slightly.  It raises its head to look upon the Senshi.  “Senshi…” It speaks as though it were half dead or half asleep.

            Sailor Moon gulps and steps forward.  “Hai, we are the Sailor Senshi.”

            The thing looks around at the girls.  “Senshi…” It pulls back it oversized right fist.  “Die!”  It screams out as it punches.

            Sailor Moon eeps and dodges the incoming fist.  It crashes into the ground and makes an indention of nearly a foot in depth.  “What was that for?”  Sailor Moon cries out.

            The creature answers with another fist.  Sailor Moon hops back and rejoins her friends.  “Senshi…Die,” The creature repeats.

            “It seems to have a low level of intelligence,” Mercury notes.  Her visor pops up and begins to analyze the situation.

            “Is it human?”  Jupiter asks.

            “Give me a second,” Mercury tells them as she continues to sort through the data the visor is feeding her.

            The mutant (lets just call it for now) advances on them and throws another punch.  “Scatter!”  Venus cries out.  The mutant begins to attack them wildly.  It doesn’t really aim for any one particular girl.  This action is probably the combined result of its low intelligence and the Senshis’ dodging.

            After a minute or so of dodging the wild attack, Mercury speaks.  “It is human!  Or at least part human!”  She yells to her friends.

            “What do you mean part human?”  Jupiter asks.

            “It looks like its DNA has been spliced with some kind of demon,” She explains.

            “That means we can’t kill it!”  Venus yells.

            “Looks like I’ll have to try and heal it!”  Sailor Moon says as she produces her wand.  She uses the wand on the mutated human, who falls to the ground in pain.  Sailor Moon rushes to the mutant intent on making sure it’s all right.  Instead she is greeted with a rather large fist.  She slams into the wall around the school and falls to the ground unconscious.

            “Sailor Moon!”  The other Senshi cry out.  They try to make their way to their fallen, but the mutant swings wildly at them.  They have no choice but to fall back.  The Senshi look at it in shock.  The mutant’s body is morphing and reshaping.  The parts of its body that were not in proportion with its body are slowly adapting.  It is not long before it looks more like a superhuman than a mutated freak.

            “Sailor Mercury, what’s going on?”  Venus asks.

            Mercury searches desperately for an answer.  Finally she finds it.  “It looks like Sailor Moon’s healing powers have caused the demon and human DNA to combine correctly.”

            Jupiter curses as she launches an attack.  “Supreme Thunder!”  She cries out.  The attack streaks across the ground and hits the mutant.  It cries out in pain while the attack courses through its body.  Once it has ended, the mutant merely shakes its head clear before looking at the girls in anger.

            “Senshi…Die.”

            “At least its i.q. hasn’t gone up any,” Venus notes.  She soon regrets speaking when the mutant wheels around and looks at their fallen leader.

            “Shit!”  Jupiter cries out as the mutant rushes towards Sailor Moon.  Its arm is already cocked and ready to deliver the killing blow.

 

 

            Ranma watches the fight in silence.  (“These girls are pretty fast.  They don’t move like fighters though.”)  He looks at the mutant.  (“It’s not that fast, but that first punch had some power behind it.”)  After a minute or so Ranma lets go of the Neko-ken’s power.  (“Looks like they won’t be needing me.”)  His relaxed mode lasts until the moment when Sailor Moon is knocked out.  Ranma doesn’t worry too much though.  (“That punch wasn’t enough to do any real damage to her.  But that thing moved allot faster than it did a minute ago.”)  Ranma frowned at Jupiter launched her attack.  (“So they’re magic users.”)  He had encountered magic over the years.  Most of the time it was only for healing and exorcist.  He had seen a few offensive magical spells, but nothing to the level these girls were using.  And yet that mutant had shrugged it off like it was nothing at all.  Ranma was debating whether or not to help when the mutant made his decision for him. (“Shit!  It’s goin’ for the girl!”)  There was no way the other girls could get to her in time.  But Ranma could.  He didn’t even need the Neko-ken, or superhuman speed for that matter, to get to her before the mutant.

 

 

            The mutant’s fist moved towards the unsuspecting girl even as Venus cried out, “Venus Love and Beauty Shock!”  They hit at almost the same time and knocked up quite a bit of dirt.  “Was I too late?”  Venus asked.

            Nothing moved within the dirt.  Then a boy exited it with Sailor Moon in his arms.  (“Ranma?”) Jupiter thought as she laid her eyes on the boy.

            Ranma moved to the nearest Senshi, Jupiter, and handed her Sailor Moon.  “Here.  Take her and get out of here.  I’ll distract it.”

 

 

            It took everything Sailor Pluto had not to scream out in anger and shock.  Someone with an amazing amount of chaos had just thrown the time stream for a loop.  Now the Time Gates where closing so they could realign themselves.  (“If they close…”) Pluto did not finish her thought.  Instead she teleported, she didn’t care where she ended up.  All she knew was one thing, (“If the Time Gates close while I’m here, I won’t be able to leave until they’ve realigned themselves.”)

 

 

            Jupiter looked at the boy in front of her as if he had grown another head.  “Are you insane?  That thing isn’t a normal human!  It’ll kill you!”

            Ranma shrugged.  “Your friend’s hurt.  She can’t fight anymore and if that thing notices you leaving it’ll follow ya.  Got it?  Don’t worry, I’m pretty good at dodgin’.”

            “Jupiter!”  Mercury cried out.  Jupiter turned to her friend.  “You and Venus take Sailor Moon out of here.  I’ll say here and distract that thing.”

            “And what about him?”  Venus asked.

            Mercury signed.  “It is obvious that he will not leave until we are all gone.  I’ll stay and make sure he leaves after you’re safely out of harms way.”

            Jupiter nodded.  “Don’t do anything reckless.”

            Mercury smiled.  “Of course not.”

 

 

            “Oh, have I got a headache,” Usagi complained as she reacquainted herself with the waking world.  She looked around and smiled when she noted Ami, Mako, Minako, and Rei standing around her.

            “You should.  You took a pretty good shot,” Mako said.

            Ami nodded.  “I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a concussion.”

            “Honestly Usagi, how could you let your guard down like that?”  Rei asked.

            “I was afraid that thing was in pain,” Usagi said with a frown.

            “You’re lucky to be alive,” Minako said.  “If it wasn’t for Ranma you might be dead.”

            “Ranma?  The new guy?”  Usagi asked.

            Mako nodded.  “Yep.  That thing was about to finish you off, but Ranma got you out of the way before it could.”

            “Mako and Minako brought you here while Ranma and I distracted it,” Ami said.

            “Tell me what happened!”  Usagi demands.

            “Well…after Mako and Minako took you from the battlefield Ranma and I distracted it.  I was really impressed with Ranma.  He was able to get in close to that thing but didn’t get hit once,” Ami started.

            “Was he that fast?”  Usagi asked.

            “Not really.  He got lucky a few times.  Anyway, after a few minutes I told him that you were far enough away that we could leave.”

 

 

            “All right, lets get out of here!”  Mercury called out to Ranma.

            Ranma nodded.  He had done a surprisingly good job of making look like he was normal and dodging all the punches were luck.  The panting he was doing was nice touch.  “Problem is it’ll follow one of us,” He reminded her.

            “I’ve got an attack to deal with that.  When I use it there will be a dense fog over the school.  That way we can escape without it knowing where we’ve gone,” Mercury explained.  She had no intentions of leaving without stopping this monster.  But she was sure Ranma would stay if she told him that.  (“Macho bravado.”)

            Ranma nodded.  “All right, do it!”  Ranma had no intentions of leaving.  When this fog came he would duck behind the school and use the Neko-ken.  But if he told that girl he was going to stay and fight, she wouldn’t leave.  (“Idiot girl.”)

            “All right!  Shabron Spray!”

           

 

Ranma smiled as the battlefield became obscured.  His eyes became cat-like as he accessed the first level of the Neko-ken.  He sniffed the air and used his increase in sight to carefully make his way to the side of the school building.  Once there he frowned.  (“Stupid girl didn’t leave.”)  He tossed his shirt off to the side.  His eyes became red for second as he began drawing up the power of the Neko-ken.  It only took a matter of seconds before Ranma’s body had changed.  All of his muscles bulged, his hands and feet became like claws, his ears became furry and pointy, and his teeth became shape and fang-like.  His legs, chest, and arms gained a light coat of fur that made him look like a tiger.  Ranma smiled as he looked at himself.  (“One good thing about the third level of the Neko-ken, it’s really hard to recognize me.”)

 

 

            Mercury frowned as she faced off against the mutant.  “Senshi…Die,” It said again.

            (“Great.  Why did I have to play hero?”)  She asked herself.  She prepared to attack the mutant when someone spoke up.

            “Hey!”  A voice called out.  It rather deep voice that boomed, nay roared as if it were a lion or tiger.  Mercury and the mutant turned to where the voice had come from.  Mercury blushed as she beheld the boy, nay man, that stood before her. 

            (“Wow.”)

            “It ain’t nice ta try an’ kill people,” The man told the mutant.

            “Senshi…Die,” It spoke like it was trying to explain itself.

            “Not gonna happen.”  Ranma disappeared in a blur and reappeared with his fist buried in the mutant’s stomach.  He stepped back and the mutant doubled over in pain.  Ranma looked at his fist.  “Using the third stage makes this fight way too easy.”  He sounded almost bored.  The mutant screamed in rage and shot up to its full height.  “That’s more like it!”  Ranma said excitedly.

            The mutant pulled back its fist and swung.  “Die!”

            The punch connected.  But Ranma just stood there as if it were nothing.  (“How did he do that?”) Mercury thought.

            Ranma sniffed the air, then growled.  “You might have the blood of a demon in you, but you fight like weakling.”  Ranma cocked his fist.  It blurred forward and struck the mutant.  It flew back and struck the wall.  “What’s wrong with you?”  Ranma cried out in anger.  “I only hit ya 200 times!  That shouldn’t hurt too much!”  Ranma signed and walked towards the mutant as it pushed a few pieces of the wall off of it.

            (“Only 200 punches?  He’s acting like that was nothing!”)

            Ranma frowned at the mutant.  “You maybe strong, but you’re no match for the third level of the Neko-ken.  Course you wouldn’t be much of a challenge even if I wasn’t usin’ it.”

            “S…Senshi…D…Die…S…Senshi…”

            Ranma frowned and shook his head.  “You’re nothing but a weapon.  Somebody did this to ya, then sent ya to terrorize people.  I doubt there’s a way to turn ya back inta a normal human.”  Ranma raised his claw hand as he spoke.  “The only thing I can do is end your sufferin’.  Forgive me.”  His fingers blazed with an eerie red light before it solidified into a red glow that pulsated.  “Chi Claw!”

 

 

            “Then he slashed right through it,” Ami ended her story.

            “He killed it?”  Usagi asked.

            “He told me that he ‘ended its suffering.’  He didn’t enjoy killing it.  He even stood there and said a silent prayer for it.”

            “But I could have healed it, right?”  Usagi asked.

            “I’m not sure.  If you would have tried to heal it again it might have worked.  Or it might have empowered the thing even more.”

            “But…But it was human, right?”  Usagi asked as she began to cry.