Shadow Veiled Senshi
(Ranma/Sailor Moon X-over)
By Shad4c
Disclaimer: Ranma and Sailor Moon belongs to other people. Not me. This is
purely done for entertainment purposes and no profit is made from it in any
form.
You can find my fics at:-
Lady Cosmos Fanfic Library - http://ladycosmos.anifics.com/
Nighthawks Fanfiction - http://nighthawk.anifics.com/
and
Ranchan Totally Crossed Out - http://tannim.anifics.com/
Chapter 4
Looking through Leaves
A new day was dawning over Japan as people started to awaken and go about their
daily lives, the sun drawing them from their slumber in droves. While in a
forest clearing a lone figure dressed in red and black chinese clothes was
leaping and punching in the dawns red light. The figure leaped and dodged around
the clearing, bouncing off trees and skidding through the remains of boulders,
broken in the previous days practice. This had been going on for an hour and a
half before dawn arrived and only now slowed to a stop as Ranma finished his
morning practice session and relaxed. While warming down from the exertion he
took in the state of his temporary home, the pristine nature that had drew him
here still existed even with the loss of a few rocky features, while the early
morning animal sounds were quieter then before he attributed that to yesterdays
activities.
Strolling back to his campsite, Ranma started cooking, as his stomach informed
him of its needs in a familiar way.
GROWL!
A long suffering sigh escaped him as he waited for his breakfast to cook.
The first part of the morning rolled on without incident as in Juuban the
Senshi, with the exception of a certain green haired Senshi of Time went through
their normal morning routines, putting aside the worries that had arisen
yesterday to enjoy the moment.
Pluto however was far from carefree, she had been standing in front of the Time
Gates, scanning up and down the time-stream for over a day and STILL! hadn't
found the cause of the vision that she had experienced. She was certain that
anyone else would have given up and passed it off as a bad dream, that or
decided that it would be better to concentrate on preparing of this threat then
to vainly search for the metaphorical needle in a haystack.
Pluto stretched straightening out the kinks in her body that had resulted in the
motionlessness for over a day, before frowning in thought. Why! did it seem so
important to find the cause of the vision?
She stood and thought on this for a few minutes, letting the question bounce
around in her mind hoping to spark a response.
After a while she was rewarded, the reason was that there was something familiar
within the vision, something important. If only she could REMEMBER!?
Pluto allowed the frustration to show for a moment before burying it under her
iron will. She would remember soon enough, she just had to look harder.
With this she raised her staff and again focused on the Gate, this time she
would find the threat, she wouldn't fail...not again.
The day had just past midday and Ranma had finished his mid day meal (to anyone
else a feast) and cleaned up, heh, Hidden Weapons sure comes in handy or else
he'd never carry enough food. Pleasantly full he lay back on the grass and gazed
up at the cloud in quiet contemplation. Something he didn't normally have time
for with his life but the main reason for being here.
Ranmas mind roamed the spaces of his mind, his life had changed a year ago when
he had finally settled down at the Tendos, both for better and worse. He smiled
slightly, it was nice to have a place to call home after all those years on the
road. To be able to make new friends and set down some roots without wondering
when he'd be forced to move again. Sometimes in the middle of the night as
Genmas greed forced then to flee.Stupid old man!?
That last thought caused him to lose his smile and turn to the other things that
had happened. Much of what they had been running from had caught up with them,
mostly the Pandas fault but he was man enough to admit that he'd added to the
problems...a little. Now he had a bunch of lunatics out to kill him, a bunch of
girls out to marry him and the assorted craziness that came with them. Sure he'd
gotten a lot more skilled, mostly be necessity, and it was fun at times to but
it had started to get out of hand.
Ranmas eyes grew grim, the problem was that most of the insanity revolved around
the engagements, engagements to 3 different girls, well techniquely 2 and a
tribal marriage but it was close enough, none of which he was sure he wanted to
marry at all. Depression welled up as the weight of his problems fell upon him.
He sulked brooding over this for a time before pushing it aside, he couldn't do
anything about it at the moment so he may as well move on.
As the clouds shifted overhead so did the focus of his thoughts, from the past
to the future.
Just as his life had changed then he could feel that it would change again. This
power he'd tapped, the memories that flooded him at times...even that stupid
fuku she was forced to wear as Sailor Nemesis. It all seemed to be drawing him
into something....bigger. Sometime more noble he supposed.
Ranma sighed and sat up, drawing his legs in to sit cross legged while leaning
on his hands behind him. Now staring at the horizon he saw nothing as his true
gaze was still inwards, who was he kidding he still didn't have a clue as to
what was really happening.
With that a flash of inspiration, rare outside of fights, hit him like one of
Ryogas punchs. He jumped to his feet and cried out.
"NEMESIS CRYSTAL POWER!"
This time as the power washed over and transformed him into the Senshi of Space
he focused inwards.
The times she'd experienced her new memories the clearest were when she was a
Senshi, those memories must be the key to this mess. If he could get back all of
her new memories instead of the fragments that had dribbled in so far maybe she
could make some sense out of all this.
With this thought foremost in her mind the new Senshi shut her eyes and again
focused inwards, grasping for anything that could help remember. Even this was
in vain as every time she grasped for a memory it drifted further away from her,
slipping through her mental fingers like an eel.
Nemesis kept this up for another 10 minutes before giving up and shaking her
head in frustration, letting her mind wonder freely.
As she walked towards the forest in order to get some more practice in her
thoughts drifted across several things, the memory of training in the forest
with the Dark Dragon Lightning, and the winged sword and inverted crescent
symbol she'd seen on that strange rod she'd summoned. The twin response
staggered her a little, almost causing her to trip. The first, smaller, flash of
knowledge provided her with the exact location of the forest used in her
memories as well as how to get there, or at least how to get there in whatever
time these memories are from.
The second flash sent her again tumbling through her memories.
The great hallway I'm walking down leaves me in awe, both of the wondrous white
marble and glinting crystals, interspaced by paintings and murals of the highest
quality, along with the knowledge of what and potentially WHO I was passing. For
I strode down one of the most presteqous halls in the kingdom. The hallway where
the senshi stayed while in the palace.
This was an honour I never thought I'd have, me, a child of two low level mages,
from a family with no special position or talents. I am almost to my
destination, my thoughts turning back again. Yesterday I was a no-body, doing my
chores like any 12-year old, next a SENSHI walks up my street and points at me.
"Her" Is the only word she says before turning and walking away leaving several
of her escort behind. The guards approached me and my parents who had come to
see what the noises were about. They just looked at me and told my parents that
I had been ordered to the palace. With that one of them picked me up and carried
me away while the others stayed and talked to my parents.
I was placed on a starship and taken to the Moon where, to my surprise, I was
lead to a set of rooms, cleaned up and put to bed for several hours.
When I was awoken I was also given new clothes before being told to dress and
follow a guardsmen in his gray and silver uniform. He lead me to this corridor
were I now stand in front of the door of the one who summoned me here. Her
symbol carved on her door like all the others.
A winged sword with a inverted crescent moon across the blade.
The sign of one of the most feared and respected Senshi of all.
The Warden of the Dimensional Veil.
The Senshi of Space.
The Dark Guardian.
Sailor Nemesis.
Drawing a slow breath I raise my hand and knock. The door swings open of it own
accord and I step hesitantly into the room...
Nemesis blinks as she looks around to see not a room but the clearing again, it
takes a moment for her to realise that she was back in the present.
She lightly smacks her face with her hand to clear her mind, those memories were
so REAL, it's like she's back there living them herself!?!?
These memories are going to be a real pain, Ranma thought, but at least it gave
me something useful this time. She smirked as she went over the location of the
forest in her mind, it was in Japan but a way away from her current location.
She'd probably have to catch the train and that would cost her both time and
what little yen she managed to keep out of Nabiki's mercenary hands. She frowned
in thought, on one hand it would take time and money, on the other it was a
possible clue to figuring out what's happening to her. She scowled, if only she
could get there faster.
With that another ability flowed into her mind, causing Nemesis to fall to her
knees and grit her teeth, as pain so intense it almost caused her to black out
flooded her being. After a few moments it stopped leaving Nemesis on her hands
and knees in an empty clearing.
Slowly dragging herself to her feet Nemesis grimiest, that sure put a new
meaning to the word be careful what you wish for, before summoning the Void
Lance into her hand and pointing it in front of her. Pulling on the new
knowledge that had PAINFULLY sprung into her mind she used her power to
manipulate the fabric of space. The knowledge of how to make astral bypasses and
to create, and more importantly, seal Dimensional Rifts (or D-Rifts for short)
was now hers.
A meter in front of her a black line formed out of thin air before expanding
sideways so that one person could pass through. The space between the edges of
the bypass shimmered light blue with a watery texture. stepping forward Nemesis
strode through the bypass...
...Coming out in a forest that was much larger and much older than the one she
he'd just left. Spinning round she just caught sight of the bypass collapsing
leaving nothing behind to show that it ever existed. Only her new senses telling
her that something had been there. This caused another flash of memory to hit
her.
I stare at the small astral bypass that hangs in front of me between my hands.
I've been standing in the holo-training room for 3 hours today so far and
roughly 5 hours every day since my Sensei showed me how to make them, 4 hours
longer then i should have.
I hear faint footsteps approaching and quickly banish the bypass, before turning
to see Elder Nemesis enter the room. I smile at her, before the expression on
her face causes me to lose it. We stand looking at each other for a minute, long
enough for me to start worrying what punishment I'd have to deal with before she
smiled thinly.
"Congratulations, you've managed to make a bypass I can now move on with your
training" Elder Nemesis spoke taking in my shocked expression.
"How did you..!?" I exclaimed.
She lost her smile and spoke seriously.
"I am the Senshi of Space, Warden of the Dimensional Veil, these are not empty
titles for use in the Queens court. Anything that warps space or deals with the
dimensional wall I can feel, no matter how well hidden, how long ago happened or
even if it has on just begun... I'll sense it. And so will you someday." Elder
Nemesis took a breath before continuing " These are our domain, the things at
the core of our powers, and we can do things with them that no normal mage, or
even another Senshi could. Take that little bypass you just made, it would take
a dozen experienced mages 2 weeks to do that if they knew what to do. You did it
in 3 hours with only the basic knowledge on how to form them. Soon you'll be
able to form far larger in moments. Not even Queen Sincerity can do that".
As she finishes an air of amusement radiates off of her.
That the Gates of Time Pluto feels a faint burst of energy, it distracts her for
a moment before she dismisses it as unimportant and returns to her search.
Nemesis groans as she comes out of the memory, the damn things just seemed to
keep coming today. She was starting to regret wanting all the memories, knowing
her luck the process would would kill her. Shaking her head ruefully Nemesis
took a look at her new surroundings with curiosity.
The forest was definitely the one in her vision, the large trees and flourishing
undergrowth were mainly of the same types as she'd seen in her memory. She
walked deeper into the forest continuing to examine her surroundings carefully,
there was something familiar about this forest...like SHE'D been here and not
just from her memory. This though tugged at her as she walked, after another
hour she came up on a small cottage when movement in the corner of her eye
caught her attention. Turning her head she caught a glimpse of a giant lizard
before it disappeared back into the forest. With that it clicked in her mind why
this place was so familiar. It was Ryugenzawa! The forest with the water of life
and that damn orochi. She muttered to herself about the unfairness of it all
before continuing on to the cottage. She may as well drop in on Shinnosuke and
see how he was. Just before she reached the door she realised that she was still
in her Sailor Nemesis form. As Nemesis was about to de-transform the door in
front of her opened up and an old man stepped out, halting after seeing a figure
in front of him.
They blinked at each other in surprise, Nemesis at the sudden appearance of the
man, the old man at Nemesis' presence and outfit. The old mans mouth opened to
ask who she was when his eyes tracked across to the Void Lance held at her side.
As soon as he caught sight of it his eyes widened in shock and awe before
flicking back to her face. He ducked back into the cottage with surprising
speed, leaving the door open.
Nemesis blinked again at the reaction, looking across at the Talisman before
shrugging and following the old man through the doorway. Inside she walked down
a hallway, with a number of rooms branching off from it. From the end room on
the left she could hear the noise of someone moving and headed for it, as she
stepped into the room she was witness to the sight of an the man pulling books
off a shelf, flicking through them and throwing them aside. After doing this for
several minutes, and accumulating a large pile of discarded books, he suddenly
stopped and stared at a particular page in the book he was holding. He turned
towards the door and flinched when he almost ran into Nemesis. He stared and
began to stutter.
"Y..y..you! Your...your...her. That's...That's the Void Lance isn't it! So you
must be Her!?" His voice picked up strength as he talked "My apologies, my name
is Daisuke, I'm one of the caretakers of this forest".
He bowed slightly with this, holding the open book in one hand.
"It's...nice to meet you Daisuke. I'm called Sailor Nemesis, it's nice to meet
you". Nemesis replied returning the slight bow. Missing the slight widening of
Daisuke's eyes at the statement.
"Of course I have been rude please come to the living room and I'll get you some
refreshments, I insist". Daisuke spoke, walking past Nemesis and heading into
the living room. After making sure that his guest was comfortably seated he
headed to the kitchen and returned to the refreshments. Seating himself opposite
to his guest across a small table he placed the book down. He turned it to face
Nemesis, as she looked at it she immediately saw why he had reacted the way he
did, there in perfect detail was a picture of the Void Lance. She flicked vision
between the picture and the real thing comparing them. They were identical, her
gaze returned to Daisuke to see him watching her.
"How did you get this?" asked Nemesis
"It has been passed down my family line since ancient times, the book, like
several others of its kind I have here has a powerful spell on it that keeps it
in perfect condition". Daisuke replied " The knowledge in these books are passed
down my line to each new caretaker. The weapon is said to be the Talisman of the
one who charged my ancestors with looking after this place".
He sat back as he said this, contemplating the living legend before him. Nemesis
stared back, before looking down.
"I'm sorry but I don't remember that...I probably will eventually but..." She
raised her head and stared back at Daisuke "I came here because
I...remember...practicing here in the past. I'm looking for anything that could
help me remember more".
She stared at Daisuke intensely, hoping that trusting him with this wasn't a
mistake. Her grip on her Talisman tightened as he closed his eyes. After several
minutes he replied.
"Perhaps...perhaps there is something that can help you. There's a cave in the
north of here, if you follow the path you'll find it. Inside it is said to be a
gateway according to the books this was where Sailor Nemesis always appeared".
Daisuke opened his eyes and looked thoughtful. "If you leave now you can get
there before nightfall".
He stood and gestured for Nemesis to do the same, she followed him to the front
door and stepping outside before turning back to Daisuke.
"Thank you, I'm grateful for the help". Nemesis spoke to Daisuke.
"Thats ok. I'm just sorry I can't come with you but I have to be here when my
grand-son returns, good luck".
"Heh, no worries I'll see you around".
With this Nemesis gave a cocky wave and turned away, headed north along the path
that Shinnosuke's Grandfather mentioned earlier. Daisuke watched her as she
walked away until her figure faded into the distance before closing the door.
Back in the darkened room, Jedite was almost finished collecting the energy left
in the Negaverse. A frown of concentration set on his face betrayed how much of
his strength it was taking to control the brightly glowing energy ball in front
of him. Soon, soon he would be ready, then he would have his revenge. He smirked
slightly.
Author's Note
Well here's chapter 4 I hope you like it.
Please send constructive comments (Flames will be used to heat my room) to
[email protected].