Untitled Chapter 2 *thoughts* [Signs] ^emphasis^ SHOUTS Insert standard disclaimer here. I don't have any money anyway so suing me will cost you more then you could hope to gain even in satisfaction. James Edward York was what most people would have considered a very well off guy. He had tons of money, a big house in the country, single but not alone, and unfortunately he was also having a nervous breakdown. It had started a couple of nights ago when he had woken up out of a dream filled sleep to what sounded like thunder rolling in his head. The dreams were thing he knew he had never seen before. Images of a palace with the Earth hanging overhead, people dressed in styles that had been out centuries ago and other places that looked like castles, and above all nine girls in really short skirts, a woman in a long white dress, her daughter, and finally a man dressed in silver armor with a blue-green cape swirling about him. That had been several days ago and the dreams kept coming. Now he was hearing a voice that sounded like his own echoing in his dreams telling him to find the Silver Dragon. Unbeknownst to him he was the descendent of the last Spell-Major of Atlantis. A Spell-Major that had enspelled himself so that if the Lord of Atlantis were to rise again his descendants would be compelled to seek him out. *** "Well James are you having a good time?" asked James's date this evening. "Actually I am," commented James. He looked around the room of the Paris restaurant that he was sitting in. It was a very nice restaurant, with quiet tables and a waiting list a mile long. There was even a live mini orchestra. He also noticed that everyone seamed to be more interested in business than anything else. Then he noticed a group of four young people coming in and taking a table. One of the young men was wearing a black tux but seamed to be wearing a black and yellow scarf in a bow rather than the traditional black bow tie. The funny thing about him was that he seamed to alternate between self-consciousness and a smooth clam exterior. His date was a fairly tall, brunette that was wearing a green evening gown and a tiara. The other girl was shorter with black hair done up in an elaborate style and also held back with a tiara. She was wearing a purple gown that perfectly matched her startling purple eyes. Both were very attractive young ladies. However the person of the group that ended up drawing all eyes was the other young man. He was wearing a gray tux with purple tie that matched his date's dress. His Pigtail was held in place by a hair piece that was two silver dragons curling around each other and around two stones, a sapphire and an emerald, that sent little flashes off. The most astonishing thing about his was the way that he seamed to radiate a sense of command and dignity that most people felt very compelling. "I wonder how those kids managed to get in here?" asked James's date. "I really don't know. The girls and sometimes the black tuxed boy don't seam to fit in here, but the other young man has a presence that I would say belonged to a General or a statesman several times his age," responded James. *Thats weird,* thought James as the gray tux was briefly changed into silver armor. Then he shook his head slightly and the image vanished. *** "This is a really nice restaurant," said Hotaru to Ranma who was sitting beside her. Ryoga and Makoto were sitting across the table from them. "Yeah when you asked if I wanted to go out to dinner somewhere fancy I didn't expect to end up in Paris," agreed Makoto looking at Ryoga. "Well you didn't ask and Ranma said that he was going this way anyway, so I thought why not," responded Ryoga with an easy grin. After they ordered Ranma got up. "Just a second I'm going to go and talk to the orchestra for a moment." Then he walked over to the orchestra and talked with them for a moment. A sound stared building in the room from the stage and for a moment no one realized what was going on. Ryoga had no idea what this was about and Makoto was trying to remember where she had heard this song before. Hotaru, having most of her memories due to the fact that her scout powers had had to restore her to a suitable age, recognized it almost at once. As the song moved out of the opening lines Ranma moved to the center of the area in front of the stage and held out his hand to Hotaru. he asked her telepathically. responded Hotaru as she stood and moved over to him. They stepped close and followed a pattern that hadn't been seen on Earth for thousands of years. As the ancient dance carried them along Ranma's arm went around Hotaru and Hotaru leaned her head on his shoulder. About that time Longclaw decided that he had left Ryoga hanging long enough and supplied the memory of the song to him. "I don't suppose you dance, do you?" asked Makoto as she stared at Ranma and Hotaru. Everyone else was also staring at the couple on the dance floor. *How 'bout it? Do you know how to dance well enough to keep me from embarrassing myself?* *Well it'll be a close thing, but you can try,* offered Longclaw. "To gain the opportunity to be with you I shall learn in but moments," offered Ryoga with a grin. "You're on," responded Makoto. They got up and quickly joined the other two on the dance floor. "You know that looks like fun," commented James's date after watching the two couples on the floor. "Your right. Would you care to dance?" he asked after taking a moment to look at the couples. After the dancing Ranma, Hotaru, Ryoga, and Makoto all sat down to eat amid applause from the other dinners. *** Later that night Ranma and Hotaru were sitting above the top of the Eiffel Tower watching the lights of Paris. Ranma was sitting cross-legged on thin air with Hotaru leaning against his side with her head on his shoulder. They both had their arms around each other. "Have you ever thought about starting a family?" asked Hotaru suddenly. "In this life or the last?" asked Ranma without the grin that she would have expected him to have. "Either." "In this one it was the expected thing for me to do because I had to pass on my fathers teaching, besides my mother would have been upset if I hadn't. In the last one I was worried about the fact that I'm all but immortal. So long as I have the power of the sun sustaining me I can't just die. I can be killed but other than that I'm going to be around for a very long time. However that immortality comes with a price. I devoted my whole life to protecting the Moon Kingdom and seen other grow old and die. I don't think that I could handle watching a wife or child doing so." "Then you don't plan on getting married at all?" "I just don't know. On the other hand I do know that if we hurry we can make it back to Tokyo before the sun comes up." "Lets go!" Ranma gathered his magic around them with a swirl of energy and they disappeared only to reappear above the ocean just in time to see the sun explode above the horizon. "Its beautiful," whispered Hotaru. *** In a Paris Hotel room a man quickly sat up in bed thinking about the dream that had woken him up in a cold sweat. *That young man in the restaurant was the guy that I've been dreaming about,* realized James remembering the dream. There was a city in the background that put anything built nowadays to shame. Impossibly tall buildings gleamed like crystal in the sun, and a command to search out this man and talk to him. He rolled over and grabbed the phone. "Yes Paul I do know how early it is but I have a job for you. I need you to find someone for me." James described Ranma and his group along with that fact that they had been at the restaurant. "And I really need to talk to that boy as soon as you can find him!" *** "Do you have any idea what time it is?" demanded Haruka in a loud voice as Ranma and Hotaru arrived in the kitchen. Haruka and Michuru were both sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast. "Its about six in the morning," answered Ranma promptly. Then turning to Hotaru, "Well I'll see you later." "Yeah, but not before I get my kiss," insisted Hotaru as she pulled his head down and kissed him fully on the lips and then let him go with a smile on her lips. "Hehe, well I've gotta run," rushed out Ranma as he felt Setsuna's life force approaching. "I wonder what scared him so badly?" wondered Michuru out loud, but stopped with a funny look on her face as Setsuna walked through the kitchen door. *** *What am I doing?* Ranma demanded of himself. Ranma had felt the loneliness that Setsuna had felt when she realized that Ranma and Hotaru had been out last night. *With the other girls they were pushing themselves on me and I was playing them off against each other for time. Even if I didn't realize what I was doing, but Setsuna and Hotaru both have real feelings for me. To the others I was just a prize to be won by someone, these two I'm really hurting when I'm with the other. What am I going to do? I won't hurt them anymore, is what I'm going to do!* *** After a long day of school where it seemed like everyone had wanted to pick on the freak Hotaru was home at last. She dashed up stairs to her room and changed clothes. After she had changed she looked over at her bed and noticed something that hadn't been there before. She walked over and pick up the tightly rolled scroll that was laying on her pillow, it was tied with silver ribbon. Knowing who it must be from she quickly untied the ribbon and started reading it. "NO!" she shouted as she finished reading and hurled the scroll across the room where it hit the wall and fell behind the dresser. Haruka and Michuru came running into the room after hearing Hotaru's shout to find Hotaru huddled in a ball on her bed crying. "Whats wrong?" asked Michuru while Haruka was looking around to see if anything was wrong. "You can tell us whats wrong," urged Haruka. The two parents exchanged glances and sat down on the bed when Hotaru didn't say anything. Michuru pulled Hotaru onto her lap and held her while she cried. Behind the dresser unknown to the two older scouts lay the paper that had started this. It was a simple message from Ranma. Dear Hotaru, I'm sorry to have hurt you this way. I'm sorry but I won't be able to see you again. This is not your fault so don't think that it is about anything that you've done. Your Eternal Friend, Ranma Atlantis *** Pluto was wandering around Castle Chrono, she had been since she had left the school building in Tokyo. She was thinking about Ranma. *We had so much fun that day when we went shopping. It was just like old times,* this last thought carried her into her own bedroom. She saw a scroll hanging in mid air over her pillow. She quickly pulled the silver ribbon loose and started reading. Dear Setsuna, I'm sorry to have hurt you this way. I'm sorry but I won't be able to see you again. This is not your fault so don't think that it is about anything that you've done. Your Eternal Friend, Ranma Atlantis She broke down and quickly started to cry. *** Several hours later the Inner scouts, except for Makoto, and the cats had gathered for their meeting. They had decided to hold the meetings at Usagi's house instead of the temple because they didn't have to worry about being over heard at her house. They were still waiting for the rest of the group when Michuru, Haruka, and Hotaru walked in. The first thing that they noticed was that Haruka seemed to be mad at someone and that Hotaru was radiating sadness like her best friend had just cursed her with their dying breath. "Whats wrong?" asked the other scouts almost all at the same time. "We don't know," explained Michuru. "We heard her shout 'no' and ran to her room to find her on her bed and she won't tell us what the problem is." "I'm going to find out whose responsible and hurt them," snarled Haruka just as Setsuna arrived. What truly shocked the other scouts, other than the fact that she had showed up and early at that, was the obvious fact that she had been crying. "That's it! Where's Ranma?" demanded Haruka as she took in the fact that Setsuna was also crying. "Ranma won't be here," said Ryoga from the doorway with Makoto. "What do you mean he won't be here?" asked Rai. "Usagi told everyone to be here for a meeting." "The two things your over looking is that until Usagi takes the throne she doesn't have the authority to order Ranma to do anything and even is she did she doesn't have the power to make Ranma do anything against his will." "Did he say why he wouldn't be here?" asked Ami, trying to head off a fight between Rai and Ryoga. "Well up to the point that 'it's none of your damn business' can be an explanation," responded Ryoga mimicking Ranma voice on the quote. "Whats going on here?" asked Mina looking between the two scouts that seemed to be feeling worse now that it was known that Ranma wouldn't be coming and back to Ryoga. "I don't know, yet!" said Haruka. "But I'm going to find out." "I don't know that that would be such a good idea," said Ryoga after a moment of remembering what Ranma had been doing when he had stopped by the tower. *** **Flashback** "Ranma," called Ryoga from the living room of Dragon Tower. Having known what to expect from Longclaw he didn't spare much for the décor. The furniture was done in a flowing style that didn't seem to have many corners to it at all. Paintings and tapestries lined the walls between big windows, the whole place was bright, cheery, and breath taking when you added up the price. When he didn't get a response Ryoga/Longclaw moved deeper into the tower towards the training room. When he pushed open the door he was greeted by a sight he truly feared. Ranma was standing in the middle of the room smashing boulders, targets, and training equipment alike with bolts of pure energy, with tears running down his face. "Whats wrong?" asked Ryoga/Longclaw as he walked in the door. "Huh, oh its you guys," responded Ranma whipping his head around to look at the person who had walked into the room. "What did you need?" "I dropped by to remind you that there is a scout meeting in a little while." "I'm not going," responded Ranma sitting down on one of the pieces of equipment that had reformed it self after Ranma had finished blasting the place. "Why not? I thought you wanted to talk to the others about restoring planets," asked Ryoga also sitting down. "I don't want to go because Setsuna and Hotaru will be there and I realized the other day that when I'm with one I'm hurting the other one. I'm done hurting them, now they can find someone that can love each of them with his whole heart and make them happy." "You realize your not making any sense don't you?" asked Ryoga staring at Ranma. "I can't decide between the two of them and I don't want to keep them wasting their time on me when they could go out an find someone to make them happy. So I told them that I couldn't see them anymore." "YOU WHAT? How could you? Setsuna has been waiting for the last several thousand years or so of real time for you to come back and Hotaru has come back from the dead twice to stay with you and then you tell them you can't see them anymore!" "See I told you they'd be better off without me and don't tell them about this conversation, I don't want them to think that this is their fault." **End Flashback** "Why not?" asked Haruka. "Because he wasn't in a very good mood when I talked to him before," countered Ryoga. "Its all my fault I pushed him away when I started talking to him about him starting a family," said Hotaru faintly. "No, that's not it. He told me himself that it wasn't either of you that were the cause of this," insisted Ryoga. "There is someone else that he says is responsible." "Whos fault is this then? I'll take care of him and these two don't need to worry about it," said Rai with a look that promised something bad for the person that hurt these two. "Good bye," said Setsuna as she vanished. "I'm going to go with her," said Hotaru also teleporting away. "Now suppose you tell me what the heck is going on here," said Haruka in a tone that told Ryoga that she didn't believe that he didn't know anything. "Did something happen this morning that involved both of them and Ranma?" "Well Ranma and Hotaru went out last night and Ranma took off just before Setsuna walked into the room, but what does that have to do with anything?" asked Michuru. "That must have been it. Ranma decided, sometime this morning apparently, that he should stop seeing both of them because it was hurting one when he was with the other. So he wrote to them both and told them that he couldn't see them anymore and told me that they should each find someone that can love them whole heartedly." "Your telling me that he told them he couldn't see them anymore because he was sure they could be happier with someone else, is that right?" commented Michuru. "That's pretty much what he told me and then I yelled at him for being an idiot and doing this to them and he said 'see they deserve someone better' or something to that effect," replied Ryoga. "And then there's the fact that Rai here offered to toast the person who started this, which would probably not be Setsuna and Hotaru's first choice of action, by the way, and now we have a mess." "That's so sweet that he thinks so much of them that he would walk away instead of hurting them," said Usagi in a dreamy voice. "You didn't think it was so neat when it happened to you," pointed out Rai. "The point remaining is that somehow we have to fix this," spoke up Ami. "The two of them aren't going to be happy at all if he just avoids them." "Well what can we do, its not like he can marry them both," insisted Mina. "Yeah its against the law, both laws in fact, and the only person who is more stubborn than Ranma is Akane and we don't even want to get her involved in this," agreed Ryoga. "What do you mean both laws?" asked Ami out of shear curiosity. "The other one is Moon Kingdom law and he's less likely to break that then Japanese law," explained Ryoga. "I remember a bit more about Draco then the rest of you except for Longclaw and does anyone think that if he went this far he might decide to get married to convince the girls to find someone else that is 'better for them'?" asked Luna from where she was sitting on the couch. "Your right that's just the kind of hair brained idea he might come up with!" agreed Ryoga/Longclaw in horror. "We have to do something," insisted Artemis. "And fast!" *** "Hello mom," called Ranma as he walked into the Tendo home. "Son we have to talk about this business of you abandoning your fiancée," said Genma getting up from the shogi board. "I don't want to deal with this just now," said Ranma in a flat tone. "You have to face up to your responsibilities, son," Genma insisted. "Forget it! I don't have any responsibility toward you!" "My son, I'm glad to see you," called Nodoka walking into the living room. "I'm glad to see you too," responded Ranma proceeding to totally ignore Genma and Soun. "Are you read to go back to your place and move your stuff? I hope you don't plane to take the whole house by the way, even I might have trouble with that," laughed Ranma. "Your just going to have to live up to your responsibilities now," insisted Genma as he jumped at Ranma intending to carry him to the floor so they could catch him. However a mere foot before he would have connected he encountered a wall of lightening that hurled him, smoking, across the room. "Gee I should have probably mentioned that," commented Ranma idly. "You'll find that I'm a bit harder to stop commented Soun, leaping at Ranma. "Take that!" yelled Fire as she snaked her tail around his throat and yanked him backwards hard enough to send him to the floor. "My turn," called Star. He hissed to himself and wove his foretalons around causing Soun to sink up to his neck in the floor. "That was even easier," was the quick comment by Ranma. "That doesn't matter, you have to marry me," cried Akane rushing over to him. "STOP!" yelled Ryoga from the door. "Whats the matter?" asked Akane looking back at Ryoga. "You'll never get through his Spellmantle. It'll stop you the same way it did Genma." "Whats a spellmantle?" asked Nabiki. "Don't worry about it," suggested Ranma. "I'm leaving now." With that Ranma extended his arm for his mother and when she took it a hole opened in the air behind them and swallowed them. "What was that?" wondered a stunned Nabiki out loud. "Also something you don't need to worry about. Kasumi, would you allow us the honor of your company tomorrow night at a little dinner that we're having at the tower?" asked Ryoga/Longclaw in very urban manner. "Well I really should be here to fix dinner, and the house could use cleaning," worried Kasumi. "Not to worry. I can get some help with the cleaning and Akane can cook dinner for the rest of them. She needs the chance to prove that she can cook, since you make all of the meals." "Well now that you mention it..." "Fine I'll pick you up about sixish and give you a ride to the party. Until then, tata." He vanished in a small flash of light and left Nabiki in a cold sweat, Akane jumping for joy at her chance to prove that she can cook, and Kasumi wondering what for sure just happened. *** "I hope you have plenty of time for this. It could take a while to pack," said Nodoka. "It'll only take a few minutes at most," Ranma assured her. "Did you want to take all of the furniture or would you like to pick out a new set?" "Well could we take it and see if I need a new set after I see the place?" asked Nodoka. "Would that be too much trouble?" "Nothing is too much trouble for you mother," he replied pulling out a suitcase, with the initials DA on it, from nowhere. "What were you going to put in there?" Nodoka was looking at the small suitcase realizing that she really didn't have any boxes to pack in. "Everything. Could you step just a little behind me and stand on the bare floor." After Nodoka moved Ranma closed his eyes and wove a dome around the house that made anything in it as hard as diamond. *Hehe, not very useful since diamond pillows aren't very practical, but makes moving a snap,* thought Ranma. His second spell pulled everything in the house except for the people and the walls into the suitcase. Normally this would be a problem, however the suitcase was actually Draco's suitcase that he took with him when he traveled. *It was so nice not to have to worry about which clothes I should being. I could just bring everything and I was never unprepared,* thought Ranma with a laugh to himself. Just before things would have started colliding above the suitcase they started shrinking. In moments the entire contents of the house were in the smallish suitcase. "I always believed in traveling light," said Ranma with a grin as he handed the suitcase to his mother so that she could tell that it felt as though it were empty. "What were you planning to do with the house now?" asked Ranma taking the suitcase back. "I'm not sure, but I was wondering if you would object to me getting rid of your-, that man," finished Nodoka after hesitating near the end. "Not at all." Just then there was a knock at the door. "Who is it?" asked Nodoka. *I wonder who would be coming around here?* "My name is James York," called a man in broken Japanese. "What can I do for you Mr. York?" asked Ranma opening the door. "Actually I've been looking for you to see if you could answer some questions for me. Such as who is the Silver Dragon and who was Jennifer Firegem?" "Where did you hear those names?" asked Ranma as he detected a thread of spell around the man and started examining it. "In my dreams after I was shaken out of my sleep three nights ago by something that sounded like thunder in my head. It was the day that Saturn started changing if that helps," responded the man breezily. "Now whats the chance that you could help me with this?" "That depends could you take a little trip with me and my mother?" "This lovely young lady couldn't possibly be your mother, maybe your sister and probably younger as well," exclaimed James bowing over Nodoka's hand. "How charming," countered Nodoka with a blush. "And yes I can accompany you on a trip, as long as I can get transportation back here at some point." "Good because this is going to take some explaining." *** "Sorry about that I had to go and take care of something," apologized Ryoga as he arrived back at Usagi's house. "Did you ladies come up with any solutions while I was gone?" "I still think that we should just pound some sense into him," insisted Haruka from her set beside Michuru. "That won't work. He's not a naive kid no matter what he looks like. He's still the Commander of the Crescent Guard and could probably kill all of us without much trouble. Also at some point while he was training Justin he either recovered or constructed a new spellmantle." "Whats a spellmantle?" asked Ami. "It's a shield of sorts. Most of them were simple walls or such that stopped magical attacks. Some were better and could stop physical attacks as well. However Ranma was and is a mage that knows his business, his was actually an interlocking series of spells that could stop magical and physical attack, protect him in space, underwater, plus a lot more, and to make it worse he used it as a rack to hang battle spells on. After he nearly finished them he would place them into his mantle and when he needed them he would place the last bit in and it would go off." "That incredible!" exclaimed Ami. "How long does it take him to set it up?" "That's what made them so popular, they're always up and ready. Most took a flicker of thought to start them, but I think Draco had a little bit better way of making them work. I'm not really sure how though." "Back to the subject at hand, what are we going to do about Ranma, Hotaru, and Setsuna?" asked Mina. "You don't think we could make him see reason do you?" Makoto asked Ryoga as he sat down beside her. "He is probably the most stubborn person I've ever met, so no I don't think talking to him is the answer." "Who do we have that has any kind of leverage that they can use. A respected teacher, role model, or well I guess parents are out," finished Michuru thoughtfully. "Not necessarily. There is a possibility that he would listen to his mother now that they straightened everything out between them," disagreed Ryoga after a second of thought. "Well if we're going to try that we have to decide which one of them we're going to champion," said Artemis. "Huh, what do you mean?" asked Mina with a confused look at her cat. "We decided that he can't marry both of them the law is clear, so we have to decide which one he'll marry before we approach his mother," explained the cat. "But how could we possibly decide that?" asked Michuru. "You didn't think it was so bad when it was Ranma that had to make the decision," commented Makoto from where she was leaning up against Ryoga. "I, uh, well. Your right I hadn't considered just how hard it would be to make that kind of decision," admitted Michuru at last. They sat and thought and discussed for the next hour but couldn't come to a decision and finally split up and went home. The all promised to think on it a see if they could come up with a solution to the problem. *** "So what do you think?" asked Ranma. He was looking at James, who was standing looking around the Atlantis Palace. It had been several hours of work for Ranma to move his mother into the Palace and trace down the spell that was as much a part of James as his DNA. "Let me see if I've got this right. I'm the descendant of the last Spell-Major of Atlantis and my ancestor cast a spell on herself that would require any descendant of hers to search for the Lord of Atlantis should one ever arise again, right?" asked James with just a hint of disbelief in his voice. "That's essentially it," agreed Ranma pleasantly. "Will my children have the same compulsion?" "Probably. I'm not sure because in a way the spell has been fulfilled. The easiest way to tell for sure would be to ask them if they've had the same dreams that you have. If they says yes then call me and I'll stop by and see them. That should end the problem and then I'll fix all of you so that this spell ends with this generation. That is if you want me to?" "I think I will call him and yes I'd appreciate it if you would take care of this spell. Also could I talk to you alone for a moment?" James asked gesturing toward the door. "If you'll excuse me a moment mother," said Ranma heading out the door. "Of course, I'll just go and check the china to make sure it survived the trip intact," responded Nodoka. After they were outside James turned to Ranma and said, "This is kind of awkward for me to say, but is your mother married?" "Huh?" "I think your mother is a wonderful woman and very pretty. I wanted to know if she was married and also if you would have any objections to me courting her?" asked James bluntly. "That's what I thought you said. I don't have any objections, but she is still married if that's what you want to call it." *Well, I have to say he's much better then the Panda from what I've seen while examining the spell, but if he hurts her I'll kill him!* thought Ranma to himself. He had heard a great deal of the man's thoughts as he traced the spell through him, and was genuinely pleased at what he found, this was a nice guy. "Huh?" this time is was James's turn to be confused. "The man that fathered me took me on a training trip ten years ago and up until a short time ago I hadn't see my mother in years and even now they were living in different houses. Also we've distanced ourselves from him. So if you would like to try and replace him you have my blessing, but be warned if you hurt my mother you'll regret it. In other words if you're not serious don't start." "I would never intentionally hurt your mother. I admire her and would definitely like to get to know her better." "Then you have my permission." They turned and went back into the palace. "Hey mom I have to take care of something, could you get James here back to Tokyo?" asked Ranma as they entered the kitchen. "Sure, I can help him. You just go ahead and take care of your business," Nodoka assured him. Ranma vanished in a flash of light leaving the two alone. "So I hear your trying for a divorce from your husband," said James. "Yes I am. The man was using my son as a bargaining chip to live off of." "Well then I can suggest a good lawyer to you. He really knows his business," James assured her. "Really well then why don't we have some tea and talk about it." *** *Lets see, now I have to do something about Usagi,* thought Ranma as he arrived in Dragon tower. *She has absolutely no idea at all how to use the Silver Crystal. Fortunately so far all she's had to do was produce some blasts of energy and use it to super charge the crescent wand. I wonder where it got to anyway?* He created a flat three foot disk of energy perpendicular to the floor and almost a once it showed Usagi in her room reading a comic book. "Usagi," called Ranma. "Huh, who's that?" asked Usagi looking around the room. Then she saw the disk of energy hanging in her room. "Ranma, what in the world is that?" "Its my version of a telephone. I was calling to see if I could convince you to under take some training with me," explained Ranma. *Geez, I can feel the energy of the crystal pulsing through the room. I forgot how much it interacted with the royal family.* "Training? You mean like marital arts and stuff?" "Well we could do that to but I was thinking more along the lines of using the Silver Crystal. You know how when you're in Sailor Moon form your much stronger and fast?" After she nodded her head Ranma continued. "Well I can show you how you can use that all the time and even do it better." "Really, would I be as strong as you?" "Probably not. At least not at first because I've been practicing longer than you, but I have no idea how far you can go. Would you like to try it?" "Yeah what do I do?" "Well first leave a note to your parents telling them that you are coming over to my place to study. Then reach out and take my hand," explained Ranma. After she wrote her note she reached out her hand and he took it and she was standing beside him in the tower. "WOW! That was neat," exclaimed Usagi. Ranma lead her through the tower to a room that had one beat up table and a pair of battered stools. The whole inside of the room was covered in runes and designs. "What is this place?" asked Usagi looking around. "And why does it have such old furniture?" "This is one of my work rooms. The designs on the wall generate an inside out spellmantle over this entire room. The mantle is just as strong as the one that protects the tower from outside attacks. Its there to prevent the rest of the tower from being reduced to splinters if someone in here has an accident." "What kind of accident?" "This room is one I use for training people, in this case you. The shield is there in case you lose control of the magic once you summon it. That way no one gets dead, and the furniture was selected because if you reduce it to match sticks it doesn't mean anything. I'll just run out to a second hand store and get another set. Trust me it works, your mother had an accident when she was training that filled this entire room with plasma direct from the sun." "That's bad, right?" "Yes it is. Lets get started. This is a shield..." Ranma quickly realized that Usagi wasn't as air headed or as clumsy as she acted. The crystal had been calling to her since she was born and unlike the rest of the royal family she didn't have an independent set of shields to keep its influence out of her head until she could control it. It was trying to place itself at her disposal and in doing so was causing her no end of trouble. It was like she had someone giving her a boost of speed every once in a while, but since the crystal had never connected properly it was sporadic and she couldn't be ready. So it was like someone was waiting behind her and giving her a push sometimes. As for what it was doing to her concentration was also bad. It was like someone was having a full-scale rock concert in the back of her head all the time. Before they finished for the day Usagi had finally bonded to the Crystal fully. Which meant that she was now a lot less clumsy and a great deal more level headed. *** "Auntie Saotome," called Ryoga as he arrived at Nodoka's house to find it totally empty. *Hmm, they must have moved out already.* He teleported to the palace's main gate in Atlantis. *Well someone moved in today.* "Auntie Saotome," he called again. "Who is it?" she yelled back from the depths of the palace. "It's Ryoga. Is Ranma here?" "No he left just a little bit ago to do something. Why did you need to talk to him?" "Really I wanted to talk to you and I didn't want him to overhear what I'm saying. Do you have a few minutes to talk about Ranma?" "Of course I do." Ryoga told Nodoka everything that had happened with Setsuna and Hotaru. "You mean he was dating them both and now he has told them that he couldn't see them because he didn't want them to be upset when he was out with the other one?" "Yes and now both of the girls are taking it very badly. We were wondering if it would be possible for you to talk to Ranma and convince him that breaking off with both of them is the wrong thing to do, at least without explaining it to them in person." "Yes I could. Which one do you think he should be with." "Well we were discussing that every since he broke up with them and we can't make that decision. We like them both and they both love Ranma, just as they love him. Since he obviously can't marry both of them we couldn't decide whom we favor. Just like him," finished Ryoga with a lopsided grin. "What do you think?" "I think that I would like to meet both of them before I make a decision like this. Could you arrange for me to meet these two ladies?" "I think I can." *** Earlier in the day when Hotaru and Setsuna left the meeting. "So he told you that he couldn't see you either, huh?" asked Saturn as she arrived on top of one of the mountains of the Moon. "Yes he did," confirmed Pluto. "Why do you suppose he stopped seeing both of us? At first I was sure that you had won his heart. Then when I saw you at the meeting you were just as upset as I was and I knew that it wasn't true." "I thought the same thing until the same time. I think I know why thought. He was there this morning and left just before you came into the room. I think that because he's a telepath that he knows that we've both fallen for him and that it tares him up inside when he realizes what we feel when he's with the other one." "I think your right, but you're also right that I've fallen for him and until he tells me that he doesn't love me I'll keep trying to win his heart." "I feel the same way. So what do we do?" "The first thing we have to do is get him to come back in rang so I-we can strangle this idea of his out of him, after that I have no idea." "You know it's a real pity that we can't just make two of him." *** The secretary that was on duty in the front desk of the York Corporation headquarters was just a little surprised when Mr. York himself came wandering in off of the street whistling a happy tune. "Mr. York, sir. We weren't expecting you back yet. They told us that you had moved on to Japan on personal business and probably wouldn't be back for several days," rushed out the secretary. "Not a problem. You still haven't seen me for several days yet and I want to talk to Ms. Steelwell. Tell her that I want her on the phone by the time I get to my office," responded James in a cheerful tone as he walked past the desk and to the elevator. *I'm in love,* thought York as he rode the elevator up to his office. He was just walking into his large office when the phone rang. "Hello." "James, I heard you took a short vacation," said the woman on the other end of the phone. "Yes I did, Patricia. I've finally found her." "What the woman of your dreams?" "I think so. There's just one small problem, she's married." "Only you would call that a small problem. Where did you meet her?" "In Japan, sort of and yes it's a small problem. She is getting a divorce as soon as she can. Which is why I needed to talk to you." "Let me get this straight you found a woman that you would like to marry, but she's just now moving for a divorce so you want the number one lawyer in your company to help her finalize it, is that right?" "Yep," said James. *You know its not everyone that can call the mother of his children and ask her to get another woman a divorce so he could have a relationship with the other woman.* James reflected on how it had happened, while Ms. Steelwell said she would see what she could do. Seventeen years ago a lonely James York had become friend with his head lawyer. They had realized that while they would never have made it married they were good friends. Then one night Patricia had confessed that she had no intention of getting married but would like to have children one day. James hadn't found the woman that he would marry yet but also wanted kids. So they had ended up with twins. A boy and a girl that they had raised between them. They had continued on as they were, neither side pushing or pulling both happy with what they had. Patricia had had two children by a man that she admired and hadn't had to get married. James had also had two children to raise and was still looking for Ms. Right. *** "So here you are," said Ryoga as he finally tracked Sailors Pluto and Saturn down. "Yeah we've been here since this afternoon. What did you want?" asked Pluto without even turning around. "Nodoka Saotome would like to meet you two if you would be willing," he told them. "For what an interview to see the two girls that Ranma didn't want to get involved with?" asked Saturn with a bitter edge to her tone. "I wasn't like that," insisted Ryoga with a sigh. "Then why don't you tell us what it was like," suggested Pluto. "I can't he asked me not to," admitted Ryoga. "Because he didn't want you two to think that it was any fault of yours." "Well it looks like we were right," said Saturn in a much happier voice. "Huh?" asked Ryoga looking from one much happier girl to the other. "We had a little talk with Ranma just after he had it out with his family and the Police but it didn't seem to have sunk in. So we're going to have to catch him somewhere and have it again," explained Pluto. "Lets go see his mother." They arrived at the Outer's home and waited for Nodoka to arrive. The decision to us the Outer's house after Pluto remarked that Ranma would probably notice what they were up to if they did it in Atlantis. "So you're the two girls that has my son so tied up in knots," remarked Nodoka when Setsuna answered the door. "That's us," seconded Hotaru. "You two seem much happier then Ryoga here described." "Well we figured what he was up to and when Ryoga dropped by we got enough out of him to confirm it," said Setsuna. "Also we've got a plan to take care of his little problem," snickered Hotaru.*** TO BE CONTINUED. Ok, I'm tired of calling this thing Untitled. I've received several titles and since I can't decide I'm going to list them here and we'll have a vote. Please only vote once. 1. Return of the Moon Kingdom had three people suggest it 2. Silver Dragon 3.Silver Rebirth 4.Dragon of the Moon 5.Return of The Past 6.Time of the Dragon's Rebirth 7.Dragon Moon 8. Silver Dragon: The Flames of rebirth If I missed one I'm sorry if you'll send it back I'll make sure everyone knows about that one too.