Chapter Four

 

The Forgotten

 

            Ranma frowns as he exits the police station.  It was as he thought.  The police had received numerous reports about homeless people disappearing, but they had not acted.  It wasn’t that they didn’t care; on the contrary the case was the top priority for them.  It was the fact that they had no clues.  The kidnappers struck at random spots.  It was almost like they were one step ahead of the police.  (“Whoever’s doing this is preying on the weak….  And if there’s somethin’ Saotome Ranma hates, it’s people who pick on the weak.”)  His decision made, Ranma began to make his plan.

 

            Night…for better or worse it has become Ranma’s playground.  In it he can let loss and allow the power of the Neko-ken to spring to life.  But tonight is different.  Tonight he is not using the Neko-ken for practice or to let its power loose.  Tonight he is using the Neko-ken to hunt.  The buildings of Juuban are his jungle, the alleyways and streets are his hunting ground, the fool who would prey upon the Forgotten are his prey.

 

            Pluto frowns as she looks out upon the city.  “And why are we here again?”  Uranus asks.

            “I told you before.  I got a premonition,” Pluto says in an annoyed tone.  “I may not be able to use the Time Gates, but I still get flashes when the Time Gates connect with my consciousness.”

            “And the last time the Time Gates and your consciousness connect you saw something about our mysterious cat and this area, right?”  Neptune asks.

            Pluto sighs and nods.  “He will appear somewhere around here, tonight.”

            Uranus sighs in annoyance.  “Yeah, but where?”

            “There!”  Neptune yells.  Pluto and Uranus turn.  They turn in time to see Ranma land on a rooftop near by.

            “Lets go!”  Pluto says.

 

            Ranma lands and looks over the side of the roof.  His face betrays no emotion.  His mind and heart are experiencing many different emotions.  Anger being the most prevalent.  There in the alleyway is a group of the Forgotten…and a group of men with guns forcing them into a van.  (“Got ya!”)  The sound of three people landing on the roof does not cause Ranma to take his eyes from the group.  “What do you want?”  His enhanced sense of smell has already identified them.

            “Why are you here?”  Pluto asks.

            The rudeness in her voice is apparent.  There is also something else, something that causes Ranma to emit a small growl.  It is a hidden threat.  Although he unsure why the Senshi are here, and why they are acting so rudely to him, Ranma answers.  “Is it a crime to go roof hopping?”

            “That’s not what I meant!”  She yells back.  Ranma turns his head away from the kidnappers and bestows a frown upon the Senshi.  “You have damaged the Time Stream!  Why are you here?”

            Ranma looks at her in utter confusion.  “What are you talking about?”  He hears something and looks back into the alley.  (“They’re on the move.”)  The van slowly pulls out of the alley and onto the street.  Ranma hops on the side of the roof and begins to follow, slowly at first.  “I ain’t got time to deal with you or your questions right now.”  He hops to another rooftop and follow after the van.

            The Outers, however, are not about to let him go.

 

            “So now what?”  Neptune asks.

            Uranus shrugs her shoulders and points to Pluto.  “Ask her.”

            Pluto thinks for a moment.  Her mind plays through all of the possible outcomes.  Finally she comes to a decision.  With a frown she turns to Uranus and Neptune.  “We must kill him.”

            Uranus sighs.  “I don’t really like killing people, but if we must…,” She lets the rest of the sentence die and looks to Pluto for an answer.

            “We must.”

            Uranus shakes her head.  “Come on then.  Lets get this over with.”

 

            Ranma stops.  The van has gone down another alley.  (“Picking up more of the Forgotten,”) He notes.  He forces himself to stay back as one of the Forgotten is hit with the butt of a rifle.  (“Bastards!”)

            “Dead Scream.”  Pluto’s voice is barely above a whisper, but Ranma easily hears her.  He hops to the side and allows the attack to pass harmlessly.

            He turns and regards the Senshi with a frown.  “What is your problem?”  He asks in anger.

            “As I said, you have damaged the time stream.  As such we must kill you,” Pluto explains.

            Ranma growls.  (“Bitch.”)  He isn’t sure what pisses him off more, the fact that she just threatened him, or the lack of emotion she is showing.  “You’re going to kill me?”  He asks.  “Don’t make me laugh.”

            The Senshi tense in preparation for the fight.  Ranma, however, stands relaxed with a smile on his face.

 

            Ranma is not the only one to have heard about the kidnappings.  At their meeting the Inners decided that there was a possible connection between the kidnappings and their new enemy.  So they decided to patrol around the area where most of the kidnappings were taking place.  “See anything?”  Venus asks.

            Mars shakes her head.  “No.  Nothing.  How about you Mercury?”

            She shakes her head but does not look away from her computer.  “No.  The computer has picked up nothing unusual.”

            Jupiter frowns.  “This is annoying.”

            “Yeah!”  Sailor Moon yells.  “I had to cancel my date with Mamoru-chan!”

            “You always go out with Mamoru.  I hardly even get to go out with Ranma.  I was going to ask him out tonight too,” Jupiter pouts.

            Sailor Moon smiles.  “How are things with Ranma?  You two look really close.”

            Jupiter blushes.  “We’ve only gone on one date,” She says in defense.  “I don’t even know if he really likes me.”

            “That’s not the point,” Mercury says.  “Ranma hardly says a word to anyone other than you.  I would have to guess that you are very important to him.”

            Venus smiles.  “She’s right Jupiter.  You’ve got quite the hunk there.  Course if you don’t want him, I’ll be happy to take him off your hands.”  Jupiter turns and glares at Venus.  “Joking!  I was only joking!”

            There is an awkward moment of silence before they all share a good laugh.  Moments later, Mercury’s computer goes off.  “What is it Mercury?”  Sailor Moon asks.

            “The Outers,” She responds while punching more buttons.

            “They’re patrolling too?”  Moon asks.

            Mercury shakes her head.  “No.  They’re fighting something.”

            “What?  Where?”  Jupiter asks with concern showing in her voice.

            Mercury points.  “There!”  The Inners are roof hopping in an instant.

 

            By the time they arrive…it is already over.  The Outers are lying on the roof with cuts and bruises all over their bodies.  The Inners rush to them.  Uranus opens her eyes as Sailor Moon cradles her head.  “Princess?”  She asks.

            “Hai, we’re here.”

            “Be careful…so powerful…,” She mumbles.

            “Who?  Who did this to you?”  Moon asks.

            Uranus points and says.  “Neko,” Then loses consciousness.

            The Inners follow her hand and are shocked to see the transformed Ranma standing near the edge of the roof.  Moon gentle lays Uranus’ head back down on the roof and stands.  “Why?”  She asks.

            Ranma does not answer.  Instead he begins to slowly move along the edge of the roof, making sure to keep his eyes on his prey.  With one mighty (not that mighty to him anyway) he is on another rooftop.  He is slowly increasing his speed.  But his eyes…his eyes are always on the van.

            Sailor Moon moves to the edge of the rooftop.  “Where are you going Sailor Moon?”  Mercury asks.

            “Mercury, stay with Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.  The rest of you follow me,” She commands.

            “What are you going to do?”  Jupiter asks.

            “Find out what’s going on,” She says.

 

            Ranma frowns.  (“So the other Senshi are following me, huh?”)  He doesn’t really care.  He took it easy on the others; in all honesty they were lucky to be alive.  He didn’t want to fight the Inners, especially Mako, but if they got between him and his prey.  He shook his head clear of those thoughts.  (“Best not to think about that.”)  He landed on another rooftop and stopped.  The van had to stop at a traffic light.  The Senshi landed seconds later.

            “Why?”  Sailor Moon asked once more.

            Ranma frowned.  “Because they attacked me,” He stated matter of fact.

            (“That can’t be right.  Why would the Outers attack him?”)  Moon thought.  “But why did they attack you?”

            “Don’t really know.  Don’t really care.  I have more important things to worry about.”  The van started to move and so did Ranma.

            “Maitte!”  Venus called out.

            Ranma ignored her.  His prey was all that mattered now.  (“Prey?  When did I start thinking like that?”)  He wonders.  The Senshi still followed.  The van moved through back alleys, avoiding the main roads as much as possible.  It made no more stops.  Finally the chase came to an end as the van came to a stop at a warehouse near the harbor.

            The Senshi slowly approached Ranma and looked over the edge of the roof.  “Why were you chasing that van?”  Jupiter asked.

            “Watch.”

            And they did.  It wasn’t long before a group of five men, all armed with pistols, exited the warehouse.  They were joined by a group of three from the van.  It took them only a moment to force the Forgotten out of the van and herd them towards a rollup door.  “So they’re the kidnappers?”  Jupiter asked.

            Ranma nods.  “I found them just before your friends attacked me.  Lucky for them.”

            “What do you mean?”  Jupiter asks.

            Ranma snorts.  “I don’t like it when people threaten to kill me.  If I wasn’t busy following the van I would have pounded them more.”

            Jupiter nods.  She looks back to the group on the alley below them.  “Now what?” She asks.

            “Do you need to ask?”  Venus asks.  “We go down there and stop them!”  And with that she is airborne.

            “Baka!”  Ranma nearly yells.

 

            Venus lands with Sailor Moon and Mars close behind.  They take out the kidnappers rather handily.  Venus smiles in triumph.  She holds up the victory symbol as Jupiter lands.  “Piece of cake!”

            Jupiter frowns at her friend’s actions and shake her head.  She is about to help release the Forgotten when the rollup door flies open.  Light streams from inside the warehouse momentarily blinding the Senshi. When their eyes readjust they are shocked to see nearly 20 men pointing guns towards them.  A man near the end of the line smiles.  “If it isn’t the Sailor Senshi.  We were told that you might show up.”  He looks at the group of the Senshi and the Forgotten.  “Well it would seem that we’re missing a few, but I can’t pass up a chance like this.  Four Senshi grouped close together with a group of innocent people behind.  No where to run, no way you’d dodge and let the innocents die.”  He smiles.  “Fire!” 

And they do.  However, Ranma lands and cries out, “Hungeki no Neko-Ken ⁽¹⁾!”  His hands blur.  Seconds later the alley goes silent and Ranma stands with his hands still out stretched.  “Hungeki no Neko-ken, the combination of the Chi Claw and the Kachuu Tenshin Amiguriken.”  He opens his hands and lets the bullets fall to the ground.  The man, that ordered the attack, disappears back into the warehouse.  The others begin to reload.  Ranma, however, does not let them.  “Moko Takabisha!”  He lets loose a small ki attack.  By the time all the smoke and dirt has settled, all of the gunmen are on the ground unconscious.

            The other can hardly believe what they have just witnessed.  (“He caught all of the bullets.  And to top it off he used a ki attack!”)  Mars thinks.  (“To have enough ki to produce a ki attack!  That shouldn’t be possible!”)

            Ranma looks up at the rollup door and frowns.  The reason he is frowning is obvious.  The man from before has returned…and this time he has friends.  Five deformed mutants.  The man smiles.  “So the Cat has appeared?  We were also told that you might show up.  We’ve got a few friends for you to play with,” The man pats one of the mutants.

            “Bakayarou!”  Ranma yells out.  “Your little pets mean nothing to me!  They’d be a challenge in my normal form, but that’s about it!”  He looks at the mutants and frowns.  (“I’m angry.  Angry to the point where I’m have trouble controlling the Neko-ken.”)  He quickly decides on the best course of action.  Kijin Dai Ran Bu!”  His arms blur and seconds later all of the mutants fall to the ground.

            “Nani!?”  The man cries out.  All the Cat did was move his hands and the mutants fell.  He looked down and nearly lost his lunch.  Blood was pouring from the wounds and severed body parts.

            “Kijin Dai Ran Bu, forbidden attack of the Mutsubetsu Kakuto Ryu.”  Ranma steps forward.

            The man pulls out a gun and points.  “Stay away from me you monster!”

            Ranma’s figure blurs.  The man looks around in confusion.  Surely the Cat had not retreated.  Then a voice came from behind him.  “Monster?  I am not the monster,” The voice said.  The man turned just in time to see a fist impact with his face.  “You are.”

 

            “Arigatougozaimasu!”  The Senhi say with a bow.  The fight has long since ended.  All of the Forgotten have been freed, and the kidnappers have been tied up.

            Ranma growls.  “Bakayarou!”  He screams out.  The girls jump back in confusion.  Ranma points to Venus.  “You!  What do you think you were doing?”  He yells.

            “Huh?”

            “Jumping into a fight like that.  You had no idea what you were up against.  Not only that but you blew our chance to find out where they’re home base is!”

            “But I wanted to save the people they kidnapped!”  She cries out in defense.  “Were you going to sacrifice them?”

            “Venus.”  Venus turns to Jupiter.  “He wasn’t going to abandon them.  We rushed in without thinking.  If we would have waited we could have followed them back to their home base.  Obviously this,” She jesters to the warehouse.  “Isn’t it.  So they were going to have to take some of those people to their home base.”

            Venus hangs her head.  “Sumimasen…” She mutters meekly.

            Ranma growls and heads towards the warehouse.  “Stay here.”  Seconds later the Senshi hear him cry out, “Bakusai Tenketsu!”  The warehouse shutters and wobbles for a moment, then caves in on itself.  The Senshi are shocked.  They immediately run to the rubble in an attempt to save Ranma.  However, “Perfect Shishi Hokodan!”  The green column of ki shots up from the debris.  It gathers in the air and seem to hang there for a second before crashing back to the Earth.  The attack destroys whatever was left of the warehouse.  Ranma hops out of the crater he created and looks at the Senshi.  “Stay out of my way next time.”